At McLain State Park

Photos by Kumiko Takahashi

Lighthouse at McLain State Park. Click on photos for larger versions. (Photos © 2008 Kumiko Takahashi)

After the visit to the beehives, garden and beaver dam, we went to the beach at McLain State Park. Here are some photos by Kumiko:

Nick says the water is cold, but he's the only one who got in this far ...

He didn't stay in too long ...

Moto was content to take a walk on the beach.

Some of us returned to the beach later and took a swim ...

"It's me!" says Kumiko.

Kumiko and friends cook hot dogs at the beach.

Beaver

By Takaaki Niikura (Nick)

I went to a pond on a field tip, and I saw a beaver dam and trees that were brought down by beavers. I had heard of beaver; but I didn’t know much about beaver, so I studied about them. Beavers have both good and bad effects on nature.

According to the article "Beaver," in Wikipedia (English), beavers are mammalian and they mainly live in Europe and North America. They will grow to about 2 feet long not including the tail. Their most popular characteristic is their ability to make a dam and their nest in the dam. The largest dam was found in 2007, 2790 feet (850m) in Canada ("Beaver").

This is a stream we saw on the field trip. Beaver have built dams in several places along the stream, or creek. (Photo © 2008 Takaaki Niikura)

In a Japanese version of Wikipedia, an article about beaver states that from the 17th to the 19th century, gentlemen wore a castor, which is now called a silk hat; however the hats were made from the beaver’s fur then. In the early 19th century, 100,000 to 500,000 beavers were killed in a year, so they were almost extinct. Material of the castor was changed to silk in the 19th century, and also humans started to protect beaver "Beaver").

According to the article "Beaver," in Zakkayasan, beaver make dams from trees, stones and mud. They cut the trees themselves with their teeth. One beaver can cut a tree, which is 3 inches in diameter, in 5 minutes; two can cut a tree 10 inches in diameter in 4 hours ("Beaver").

This is a tree cut down by the beaver's sharp teeth. (Photo © 2008 Takaaki Niikura)

The reservoir which beaver make will be a good habitat for fish, birds or insects; and also the reservoir plays a role in controlling rainwater flow and preventing floods. After many years, the reservoir will be filled up; then beaver move to other place, and the land will be good pasture ("The Beaver").

On the other hand, as the Japanese Wikipedia article notes, beaver can devastate a forest. In the 1940s, the government of Argentina imported 50 beaver into the Fuego islands from North America. The government planned to get money from the beaver’s fur, but beavers increased by about a hundred thousand in 2008 because there were no natural enemies of beavers there. The beavers are crunching many trees, and the forests are decreasing. Now the government is planning to exterminate them. In contrast, Scotland is trying to import beaver and to recover their ecosystem ("Beaver").

In any event, we have to find a way to live in harmony with animals. Instead of killing them, we need to protect them. Animals' existence is influenced by their habitat and food, and by human behavior. The earth is not only for humans, but also for animals; so human beings must think about sharing the earth. In my opinion, until human beings die out, the ecosystem will not recover.

Works Cited

"Beaver." Wikipedia (English). 2 Sept. 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver

"Beaver." Wikipedia (Japanese). 2 Sept. 2008.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC

"Beaver." Zakkayasan. 2 Sept. 2008.
http://clubuuu.ld.infoseek.co.jp/zka/zakka/06/10/16.html

"The Beaver." Wetlands and Wildlife (BWW) Home Page. 2002. Beavers Wetlands and Wildlife Inc. 2 Sept. 2008.
http://www.beaversww.org/beaver.html

Field trip to the beaver dam

By Toshi Mita

We went on a field trip to Michele’s husband’s work place where he makes honey and grows vegetables and some fruits. And we went to the beaver dam. I saw some honeycombs and the beaver dam for the first time, so I was surprised.

First, I saw the beehive. That was amazing. The bees had a lot of hexagonal beehives and they worked for their children, honey, and their queen. The queen was bigger than the working bees.

This close-up shot of the bees shows some of the honeycomb cells still covered in wax, serving as cocoons for the bee larvae. (Photo © 2008 Toshi Mita)

Kumiko ate little bit of the honey; then she told me, "That was good." She said it was different from the honey in the market. We also saw a field of corn, potato, basil, and strawberries, etc. It looked like my grandfather’s field.

Gustavo, Michele's husband, and his garden. Water is pumped from a spring on the property. (Photo © 2008 Toshi Mita)

Second, we saw the beaver dam. It was so huge. I couldn’t believe that they made the dam. The dam looked like the Panama Canal. Actually I went to Panama this summer, and I visited Daniel’s house. One day I went to the Panama Canal and I saw how it works. I don’t know whether the beaver’s dam works like the Panama Canal, but the beaver chewed some trees to make his dam. I think the beaver is strong.

Walking up the path from the spring that irrigates the garden. (Photo © 2008 Kumiko Takahashi)

So I was interested in their dam, just because it looked like the Panama Canal. According to the Great Plains Nature Center article "Beaver," They make their houses around a pond. If the area has some floating matter, the dam is going to be strong, because some plants take root on the floating matter. Their houses look like an upside-down flower pot. They make them from small trees, grasses and mud ("Beaver").

We check out the dock for swimming in the pond. This is where the beavers swim early in the morning and at sundown. (Photo © 2008 Kumiko Takahashi)

Some ducks and fish live in a reservoir, and if it rains the reservoir works to prevent flooding. I think beavers are smart. But we couldn’t see them. According to my research, the beaver has two sharp front teeth. They chew a lot of trees to make their houses ("Beaver," Wikipedia).

Gordito, Gustavo and Michele's dog, cools off in the pond near the beaver dam. (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

I saw the beehive and the beaver dam for the first time. It was a nice experience.

Works Cited

"Beaver." Great Plains Nature Center. 30 September 2008.
<http://www.gpnc.org/beaver.htm>

"Beaver." Wikipedia. 30 September 2008.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver>

Honey

By Kumiko Takahashi

Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honey bees and derived from the nectar of flowers. Honey bees are the only insects which can produce food for humans. To make one pound of honey, the worker bees must collect floral nectar from millions of flowers. Honey is a natural sweetener made by those hard workers.

Worker bees make honey in their honeycomb. (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

According to the article "Honey" on Wikipedia, honey tastes sweet, but that isn’t all. It has many kinds of taste, color, flavor, and ingredients, which are made from the varieties of flowers. For instance, the honey of buckwheat contains much Iron and has a strong scent. Or the honey of clover has a strong scent and is really sweet. It is the most popular honey in the U.S. Therefore, we can enjoy the differences in various types of honey, using it not only for hot tea but also for biscuits or cornbreads ("Honey").

Kumiko, third from right, the author of this research essay -- along with Toshi, right, and Nick -- learns about the honey-making process from beekeeper Gustavo Bourdieu during a field trip to Gustavo's beehives in August 2008. (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

In the article "Honey summary," by the Japan Association of Honey Bee, honey has been used and eaten by humans for about four thousand years and there are some reasons for it. First, honey is really good at preservation. It is said that honey won’t spoil. We can preserve it at room temperature. Next, honey is a food that is easy to digest, because it is made up of monosaccharide. This means honey doesn’t need to be resolved any more. In addition, it is a disinfectant by itself. We can use honey to sterilize, and it also can be a medicine for canker sores ("Honey summary").

Worker bees store the honey in the tiny, individual cells of the honeycomb. Click on photo for larger version. (Photo © 2008 Gustavo Bourdieu)

The National Headache Foundation (NHF) recently published research indicating that honey can relieve a headache from a hangover. They say, "Some of ingredients of honey can resolve alcohol. The most effective way to relieve the headache from hangover is taking honey." According to this research honey can relieve your headache easily and quickly ("Hangover Headache").

In conclusion, our life is supported by little insects’ products. Instead of feeling scared of them, we should appreciate their work. We should be aware of how useful honey is -- it tastes good, smells good and also is good for our health.

While touring Gustavo's garden near the beehives, Kumiko gets a hug from Antonio, the scarecrow, who may need some honey for his hangover! (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

Alhough honey can relieve a hangover, what is more important is this: to avoid drinking too much alcohol and to enjoy tasting honey.

Works Cited

"Hangover Headache." National Headache Foundation. National Headache Foundation. 2007. 15 Dec, 2006. September 14, 2008.
< http://www.headaches.org/press/NHF_Press_Releases/2007-12-Tips_to_Ease_Holiday_Overindulgence>

"Honey." Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. 2004. November 18th 2007. September 13, 2008.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey>

"Honey Summary." Japan Association of honey bee. Japan Association of Honey Bee. 2003. 30 April, 2008. September 13, 2008.
< http://bee.lin.go.jp/index.html>

The Society of Bees

By Kazuki Nishiyama

I started to be interested in bees after I had been to an apiculture place on a field trip for Michele’s class. I like honey but I didn’t know anything about bees. So, I looked up bees and found an interesting convention in their life.

Kazuki, second from left, author of this research essay -- along with Toshi, left, and Moto -- learns about bees in their honeycomb from Gustavo Bourdieu, beekeeper, during a class field trip in August 2008. Click on photos for larger versions. (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

First of all, bees have a society like men have in their nest which is called a hive. A hive is like a kingdom for bees. According to the author of "Beepedia," there are three kinds of bees in a society. One is a queen bee who keeps giving birth to the eggs of bees. Only one queen bee exists in one hive. The queen is ranked by the place in which she is laid by chance. Since she eats royal jelly, which other bees make, her size is three times as big as the other bees; and her life is thirty times as long as the other bees’ life span. She usually lives about six years.

Students, from right, Toshi, Nick and Kumiko get a close-up view of a queen bee from one of Gustavo's hives. (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

Next, worker bees, who collect nectar for their hive, can number about a thousand in a hive. They all are female and their life span is about a month. On the other hand, male bees, the last category, can number only a few in a hive. They don’t work unlike worker bees and just keep eating honey which worker bees produce. It is said that they resemble a human father who doesn’t work and just sleeps in the house ("Beepedia").

It is interesting that a bee’s society and its rule are like a human’s. Male bees usually fight each other for copulation with the queen bee because their only job is to copulate with the queen bee. Some of them die from the fighting. But, unfortunately, if a male bee wins and he can copulate, he has to die anyway. With a male bee’s mechanism, when they copulate, their internal organs fall and they die. Moreover, other male bees are kicked out as scoundrels by the worker bees. Male bees don’t know how to get their food outside of the hive, and they die finally. "A person who doesn’t work must not eat." This is a same rule as ours.

On the other hand, like male bees that got kicked out of the hive, a queen bee also often gets kicked out of the hive. If she gets hurt or old, and she can’t lay eggs, she gets kicked out immediately as a useless bee. Of course, she doesn’t know how to get food (she has never been outside), so she has to die of hunger ("Beepedia"). She seems to resemble a human queen who has been brought up very carefully in a certain country and doesn’t know how to buy and cook food.

Gustavo explains the worker bees' process of storing nectar in the honeycomb to Nick and Toshi. (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

Worker bees are like citizens in man’s society. Cooperating with one another, they work every day and collect nectar for their hive. According to Wenner, their means of communication for nectar is more developed and more precise than ours. When a worker bee finds a source of nectar, she just dances to transmit the source and the quality of the nectar to others. And, the others dance in same way for other bees. They transmit lots of information to others mmediately by just dancing and flapping of wings (Wenner).

There is a Japanese proverb: "The history of bees is the history of the human race." If we exploit their honey, we have to keep an environment in which bees can live.

Works Cited

"Beepedia." Cornwall Honey.co.uk. Web. 15 Sept., 2008.

< http://www.cornwallhoney.co.uk/bees.htm >

Wenner, Adrian M. "Sound Communication in Honeybees." BEE SOURCE .COM. Web. 15 Sept., 2008.
<http://beesource.com/pov/wenner/sci1964.htm>

ESL students visit Houghton County Fair

Photos by Michele and Gustavo Bourdieu:

HANCOCK -- Our first excursion in the community this Fall 2008 semester was a trip to the Houghton County Fair. Here are some photo memories ...

Finlandia students, from left, Kazuki, Kumiko and Nick emerge from a ride through the Haunted House at the Houghton County Fair Aug. 23, 2008, in Hancock. Click on photos for larger versions. (Photos © 2008 Michele and Gustavo Bourdieu)

A highlight of the visit to the Fair was having a photo taken with Amber, the Queen of the Fair.

State Representative Mike Lahti, who purchased a prize lamb during the 4-H livestock auction at the fair, poses with Finlandia students Kazuki, Kumiko and Nick.

This rooster attracted everyone's attention with his noise ...

... while this pair of prize winners had a great siesta during the Fair!

Photos by Kumiko:

Work horses strain at the weight in the horse pull event. (Photos © 2008 Kumiko Takahashi)

More horses ...

and Raisin, the photogenic cow.

Tempting pizza!


That Super Slide looks like fun ...

Nick, why don't you try it?

Memories: The Sushi Lunch

Photos and text by Michele Bourdieu

Welcome back, students! Here are some photos that may bring back a memory of last semester -- the delicious sushi lunch you prepared for us in February 2008. Finlandia instructor Suzanne VanDam generously offered her kitchen and dining room for the occasion.

Three cooks, from left, Daniel, Toshi and Kazuki prepare some cucumbers for the sushi. (Click on photos for larger versions.)

Nick, Gustavo and Kana check on the rice cooking.

Kumiko and Cassie are proud of their Japanese omelette!

Kumiko prepares to demonstrate for Cassie and Suzanne how sushi is rolled with the little mat.

And here's how it's done ...

Cassie gives it a try.

More cooks get into the sushi making.

Toshi, Kana and Kazuki add their contributions.

Here's the whole crew, ready for the feast!