Whekī or Kātote?

The words kahikatea, rimu, totara, katote, and toatoa would have sounded like nothing more than gibberish or words from a Maori waiata before Joe Sheldon arrived to teach Terrestrial Ecology. Over the past 2 weeks, we've spent a lot of time out in the New Zealand bush taking a closer look at the flora and fauna that inhabit it. Early Monday morning we loaded up the vans and headed to the west coast for our big terrestrial adventure.

With the help of Joe and our forest savvy staff, the students were able to develop a lens to look at the forest more clearly. We learned about birds, trees, lichens, mosses, and more. From the pancake rocks at Punakaiki, to the Franz Josef Glacier and Rowi kiwis, to the enormous boulders of Castle Hill, we saw a number of the amazing sights that New Zealand's South Island has to offer!

Students kept a field notebook throughout the course detailing what they saw and learned about each day. This came in handy in order to study for the field identification exam. It was also an important tool when it came time to do research projects. Split into four groups, students chose various projects to complete over the course of two days while we stayed in Arthur's Pass. Projects ranged from bird surveying, epiphyte and understory growth comparisons between forests, and studying macroinvertebrates. 

Everyone worked hard, but there was plenty of time for fun too! In Hokitika we were just in time to get free ice cream from the Tip Top ice cream delivery truck at New World. Long car rides created the perfect conditions to make silly music videos. We had a fun night of fondu and sleeping bag  themed games to celebrate Mieke's birthday. And last, but not least, our visit to Castle Hill, the filming site of the final battle in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, was the perfect time to recreate some classic scenes. Check it out!

Getting our Feet Wet with Ecology

We've had an action-packed week of Marine Ecology, the first component of the three week course New Zealand Ecosystems. Complete with one early morning of Dolphin Encounter, four days of tide pooling, a dozen blue penguins, 13 pairs of gum boots, and one awesome Westmont professor, the week was the perfect recipe for learning about and experiencing some amazing marine creatures.

We were able to find some amazing nudibranchs and sea slugs, lots of beautiful sea anemones, colorful sea stars, and even got up close and personal with an octopus (all pictured in the collage below)! Swimming with the dusky dolphins was quite literally a "breathtaking" experience, as we plunged into the frigid water early one morning (the rough sea conditions also made it "breakfast-taking" for some). They were pretty impressive to see up close and personal. We also got to take a closer look at many kinds of algae in the tide pools. Algae may sound boring, but the variety of shapes, textures, and sizes they come in proves otherwise. Below you can see Jacob holding a large piece of bull kelp. We went tide pooling at a number of sites in all sorts of weather, and even got to learn about and see the little blue penguins nesting under the Coastguard building. All in all, a very busy, but amazing week!

Just a small look into our amazing week!

"Marine Ecology was a blast. It was so great to learn by escaping the classroom to enter the world of tide pools. Beth Horvath is the greatest professor you could ask for, being so passionate about what she's teaching. It was a crazy week with absolutely no free time, but it was well worth it! Swimming with wild dolphins was the icing on the cake to an already awesome week!"

-Toni Erickson, Westmont

For Homemaking this week, Kathy Chirnside tuaght us how to make ginger beer. She explained how to make and take care of the "bug" and gave us the recipe for the drink. We bottled it all up in used soda bottles we'd been saving for the occasion. Wait two weeks, and voila! Delicious drinks await!

Kathy Chirnside shows us how to make ginger beer. Important ingredients? The "bug", ginger, sugar, lemons, and water. Pretty simple!

The Fantastic Family Feast!

Most of the CCSP whanau with Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson after our family feast

God and Nature has come to a close. To sum up all they have learned these past two weeks, students completed various projects. The students were split into groups and completed a BioBlitz, art project or family meal. For the BioBlitz, students had to identify and learn about as many plants in our yard as possible, then take us on an educational tour. Melissa (Westmont) shared a little about her involvement with the project:

"As I was doing the research for the project, I was definitely interested in the plants. I like learning things; I enjoy it. Even so, though, that was all I really had: knowledge. I had developed a liking toward the plants, but there was nothing in my being really tying me to them. It was only after spending hours outside with them, touching them, seeing them, still armed with my knowledge, that my liking grew into love."

-Melissa, Westmont

The art group was encouraged to look at nature in a new way by presenting it artistically. 

Top Left: Sylvia (Calvin) shows a photo slideshow. Bottom Left: Sylvia (Calvin) talks about her pieces made from willow branches. Right: Courtnay (Staff), Jacob (Messiah), Daniel (Staff), and Mieke (Calvin) looking at Sarah's (Biola) project

"I really appreciated the comprehensive and holistic nature of the class. As we studied how the Bible talks about the entire creation and then looked at ways to live out a biblical perspective on creation care, I felt like what we learned was directly applicational. Because of that, the class was actually inspiring. For the final project where I made an art piece, I was able to tie in themes of not only this class but the last couple of classes we’ve had. My goal was to symbolize the importance of us humans delighting in the creation around us, for its functionality, beauty, and most importantly intrinsic value of it attributed by God."

-Sarah, Biola

The group making the family meal had to get as many local ingredients as possible, plan the meal, and prepare the food for all 25 of us. Matt went spear fishing throughout the week, we got some wild boar meat from Pastor Brent, lots of local veggies, and lavender honey-flavored ice cream, thanks to our garden.

Left: Jacob (Messiah) making ice cream for dessert. Middle: Matt (Messiah) preparing the fish he caught for dinner. Right: Mieke making wild boar meatballs. Yum!

"Through the process of this project, I really learned respect for the people who not only grow my food, but all of the people it takes to get that food from the seedling in the ground and onto my plate so that I can eat it. I had a really great time prepping for the meal, especially stopping at the Stoney Creek Fruit and Vege stand and talking with the owner. It was really great to be able to have a conversation with someone who had actually grown my food and be able to learn more about how that food was grown. Although the actual preparation of the meal got really stressful at times, I had a lot of fun planning and actually cooking the food with my team members. Overall, I felt that the God and Nature course really helped me gain appreciation and thankfulness, not only for the food that I eat, but also for all aspects of God’s Creation."

- Mieke Dykhouse

Our meal was complete with fancy place cards, menus, a presentation about where our food came from, and new napkin rings from Loren Wilkinson!

Everyone did a great job. Thanks to all the students for sharing your hard work with us!

Happy Halloween!

On Wednesday night we had a Halloween party. We had some great costumes turn up for the occasion!

After being broken into 4 teams, we competed in 3 challenges for a bag of Minties, a highly coveted NZ candy in the Old Convent community. 

The first challenge was the Minties challenge. Wrapped Minties candies were tied to a string. Contestants were blindfolded and had to be the first to locate, unwrap, swallow, and yell the slogan of the candy. This proved to be a little challenging and completely hilarious. Sam (Eastern) uploaded a video of the nonsense to Facebook at this link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151161091632897

Row 1: Agatha got into the spirit of things! Legolas (Melissa, Westmont) made his 3rd appearance this semester and went hunting for peacocks (Toni, Westmont)
Row 2: Students competing in the Minties challenge. Jemaine (Kristen, Staff) and Brett (Sarah, Biola) from Flight of the Conchords showed up to the party!
Row 3: Jacob (Messiah) dressed up as his roommate Matt (Messiah). We went bobbing for apples. Scuba Steve (Tyler, Messiah) came most prepared for this challenge!
Row 4: Caleb (Staff) dressed up as Batman, while roommates Kris (Messiah) and Allie (Wheaton) came dressed as Russell and Mr. Hendrickson from the movie Up.

The next challenge was a nontraditional Jack-o-lantern contest. Each time had a different item of produce and had 15 minutes to create something. We had a pomegranate, pumpkin, pineapple, and swede. Everyone got to vote for their favorite carving. "Swede As", the pig carved from a swede, won this round.

Top Left: Two Face the pomegranate
Top Right: Timmy the pineapple hedgehog came in a close second
Bottom Left: "Swede As" the pig carved from a swede won this round!
Bottom Right: A Maori pumpkin, complete with waka and taiaha

For the final round, we went bobbing for apples. Some got a little more wet than others, but everyone who tried succeeded in retrieving their apple eventually!

As a bonus question, teams were asked to answer what vegetable was used as the original Jack-o-lantern. Amazingly, 3 groups gave the correct answer: a turnip.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Pasta, Scales, and Little Lamb Tails

Mangiamo!

This past Tuesday, God & Nature professor Loren Wilkinson taught us how to make pasta from scratch.

First, Loren explained to everyone how you must get the right mixture of flour and eggs blended together. After that, we started flattening out the dough by hand, and then through the roller.

Loren (Proffesor) shows Kris (Messiah), Allie (Wheaton), Sylvia (Calvin), and Mieke (Calvin) how to pass the pasta dough through the roller

We continued passing the sheets of dough through the roller multiple times, each time making the opening smaller for the dough to pass through. This makes the sheet thinner and thinner. After passing each sheet through, we hung them so that they wouldn't stick to themselves or each other. It's great to have someone tall around for this, like Mieke!

Mieke (Calvin) hanging the pasta sheets

Once the sheets of pasta were the appropriate thickness, we put the cutters on the roller. Depending on the piece you choose, the pasta will be different widths. We used two different ones, allowing us to make linguini and spaghetti.

Sylvia (Calvin) and Allie (Wheaton) making spaghetti

And voila! You have your flattened and cut pasta.

Loren and Mary Ruth cooked the pasta for us for dinner. They dressed the linguini up with a coconut crayfish sauce (thanks for the crayfish, Caleb!) and left the spaghetti plain for us to choose our own toppings. The meal was fantastic!

The coconut crayfish pasta was great. Thanks Loren and Mary Ruth!

As the weather has warmed up even more, the ocean has been becoming more and more inviting to divers. Staff and students have been hopping in to harvest some fresh food. Matt has been trying to catch as many fish as he can for our family feast this coming Friday. The meal serves as a project for God and Nature, where some students will have to find and prepare local food for everyone. 

Top Left: Jacob (Messiah) and Caleb (Staff) show off their fresh catch
Top Right: Daniel (Staff) ready for a dive
Bottom Left: We'll have lots of wrass this Friday at our family feast!
Bottom Right: Matt (Messiah) shows off his paua and wrass

Many students were keen to spend Wednesday afternoon lending a hand at the Topps' sheep farm. Some students helped Brian collect manure for the gardens on campus, and others had the chance to help with lamb "tailing" and herd marking. Did you know that sheep are born with tails? They're removed at a young age to keep them clean and healthy. You can keep this in your arsenal of random facts for the next family party; the holidays are coming after all!

Top Left: Sam (Eastern) with the disinfectant spray for the tails
Top Right: Betsy (Messiah) helps Kevin Topp with the lambs
Bottom Left: Daniel (Staff), Jacob (Messiah), and Caleb (Messiah) packing down the manure
Bottom Right: Jacob (Messiah) finishes off his hard work with a game of tennis with Sandy Topp