Adventure 258 ~ Create A Facebook Advert

September 15, 2014 / intrepidjane

Today’s adventure was tough. Very tough. So tough, that I’m going to need a long lie down right after I’ve published this blog post.

I’ve never created a Facebook advert before. Once, I really pushed the boat out and “boosted” a post (with little effect, might I add), but the territory of the Facebook advert with its snazzy new “Call-To-Action” buttons looked way out of my technological league.

Thing is, I’ve got an adventure coming up which would benefit from a little promotion : a storytelling webinar on the 25th September. So, I figured that it might be time to actually face my Facebook advert demons head-on!

My image-creation adventure helped me create an image for my advert. And then I clicked the link on Facebook entitled “Create Advert”. All good up to this point. But then it all seemed a little overwhelming ~ so many different types of advert to choose from!

I did manage to work out which would be best for my event, and I did muddle my way through. And, yes, I’ve created my very first Facebook advert (which is also my very first “dark post” ~ one that doesn’t appear on my page, just in the news feed), but it really isn’t what I’d hoped for.

Creating adverts in this way severely limits the amount of text you can use in the advert, and yet I’ve seen other adverts with comprehensive text accompanying the link. That’s what I was hoping for, but my muddling didn’t seem to arrive at that end-point.

On the upside, after I’d set my advert up, I did some more Googling and eventually found an article that explained why I hadn’t managed to create the advert I had hoped to – and it showed how to create an advert with unlimited text (you have to use Facebook’s Power Editor). On the downside, now I’ve created my advert, there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop it!

As with all my adventures, I’ve learned something. Today I faced another technological demon, and the next time I create an advert, that demon will be my ally. I’m not even trembling at the thought of “Power Editor”…. how cool is that?!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 257 ~ A Walk Through Portglenone Forest

September 14, 2014September 16, 2014 / intrepidjane

For today’s adventure, I took my dog for a walk through Portglenone Forest. I recorded my walk by taking photographs of things that caught my eye and then used the images to make a short film.

My dog didn’t like all the stopping ; he was very keen to get on. The “Sparky Effect” is evident in some of the pictures (the ones which are a little blurred are the ones where Sparky was pulling hard on the lead, and I was having a little trouble keeping still!)

I’ve kept in all of the pictures, and I’ve maintained the sequence too. This way, you get to experience the walk as I experienced it. Watching the film, I’m amazed how much there is to see in a forest at this time of year.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 256 ~ Collect Beech Seeds For Planting

September 13, 2014September 14, 2014 / intrepidjane

Beech nuts are now falling from the copper beech tree on our farm, so I thought it would be a good time to collect some of the seeds and plant them.

I read all about collecting and planting seeds in Tree Planting And Aftercare . I discovered that the guidelines for collecting and planting seeds is species-dependent. Luckily beech seeds seem quite straight forward : you collect them, test them for their fertility, and then you can plant them straight away (or wait for Spring).

The germination rate for beech seeds is about 60%. That’s a good rate when compared with seeds from other trees. To optimise my chances of tree-growing success, I decided that I would test the fertility of the seeds before planting. In my tree planting book, it told me that if the beech seeds float , then they are infertile* (and, therefore, not worth planting).

* After today’s adventure, I carried out some on-line research. Many people believe the “float-sink” rule to be a fallacy. So it may actually be worth planting floating seeds!

You can see how I got on in today’s video.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 255 ~ Write A Collection Of Haiku Poems [20]

September 12, 2014 / intrepidjane

Today I was out on the farm and noticed how the hawthorn hedges are heaving with haws (hawthorn berries). A bit of research revealed that, according to Irish folklore, the hawthorn is thought to have powerful healing properties.

An infusion of the leaves, flowers or berries is thought capable of relieving anxiety and heart-break (of both a physical and emotional nature!). Some people suggest that it’s an effective “heart tonic”, giving relief to those who suffer from angina. Oh, and if berries are used for such an infusion, it is recommended that you wait until after the first frost which sweetens them.

So, today’s haiku is all about the hawthorn berry, and I’ve tried to reflect some if its medicinal qualities! You can read my haiku here, and I read it out loud on today’s video-blog too.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 254 ~ Write A Collection Of Haiku Poems [19]

September 11, 2014September 12, 2014 / intrepidjane

This morning’s walk with my dog was spectacular! Even though the sky was darkened by a flat grey ghost-mist, the hedges, railings, plants and fences were glinting with dew-laden spider webs. It was as though the spiders were putting on a spectacular show at the edges of morning consciousness.

Before writing today’s haiku, I did a little research about spider webs. As a result of my research I learned where the term “cobweb” comes from. It turns out that coppe is the Old English word for spider 🙂 .

You can read my haiku about spider webs here, and I read it out loud in today’s video-blog.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 253 ~ Write A Collection Of Haiku Poems [18]

September 10, 2014 / intrepidjane

Yesterday’s attempted viewing of the Harvest Supermoon has inspired today’s haiku poem!

The haiku-writing process is orienting my attention towards nature, and it’s making me curious about it too. As I was looking up at the moon, the question arose “How does the moon shine like that?” So, today I got on the case and was as thrilled as a constant-why-asking 3-year old to discover the answer (which sounds familiar in a very hazy way .. like I may have actually been 3 when I asked my parents this very question!)

So, I hate the break the news to you : the moon does not shine. What we’re actually seeing is the reflected light from the sun bouncing off the moon. In other words, the moon is a mirror.

Oh, and when the moon is full, and especially when it’s a supermoon, its “shine” is bright enough to obscure other objects in the night sky. If you wondered where all the stars were on Monday night, they were still there, but they were being outshone by the moon.

Anyway, less about heavenly bodies and more about heavenly haikus 🙂 . Today’s haiku is called “Supermoon” and you can read it here. I also read the haiku out loud in today’s video-blog.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 252 ~ See The Harvest Supermoon 2014 At Its Fullest

September 9, 2014September 9, 2014 / intrepidjane

At 02.38 this morning, 2014’s Harvest Moon reached the crest of its full phase. This was a special Harvest Moon because it was also a supermoon (a perigean full moon).

The Harvest Moon is the full moon that falls closest to the autumnal equinox (Monday 22nd September in 2014). A full moon is a supermoon when it turns full less than a day after reaching lunar perigee. Lunar perigee is when the moon is closest to the Earth during its monthly orbit, and it appears larger and brighter at this time because of its proximity to us.

I’ve never observed a Harvest Supermoon at the crest of its full phase, so I decided to get up just before 2.38 this morning in the hope of seeing it. Because I’d done a bit of research beforehand, and would understand what I was witnessing, it all felt very exciting!

Of course, seeing it would be dependent on weather conditions …..

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 251 ~ Write A Collection Of Haiku Poems [17]

September 8, 2014September 8, 2014 / intrepidjane

Honey Fungus

The Mushroom Muse has been rather impatient today ; she’s been weaving word-tendrils in my head all morning, sending soporific spores to my “regular work” brain and tempting me to the the writer’s desk. She’s good : she got her way.

My mushroom-hunting adventure has left me with a residual fascination for fungus (let’s face it, it could have been worse 😛 ). And, in my attempt to learn more about each of the mushrooms I spotted, it surprised me to discover that whilst some of them make for good eating, these very same mushrooms can eat the life out of other living things!

Today I’ve written a haiku poem about the Honey Fungus mushroom, Armillaria Mellea. According to my research, it is edible (after cooking), but it’s also a MERCILESS KILLER of trees. Those delicate wee honey-yellow caps sit on top of a huge weapon of mass destruction that lies just below the surface : clusters of rhizomorphs that look like boot-laces. (In fact, this mushroom is also sometimes called the Bootlace Fungus). The fungus spreads via these rhizomorphs and attacks trees, shrubs and woody climbers. Once it’s taken hold, sheets of white fungus material (mycelium) appear between bark and wood, and quite a bit of suffering ensues (in some cases, the bark even “bleeds”).

The root-like rhizomorphs can advance at the rate of up to 1 metre a year. The Armillaria organisms are thought to be amongst the largest on Earth – there is one such single organism that is reported to be 3.4 square miles in size.

You can read today’s haiku here, and I read it out loud in today’s video-blog.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 250 ~ Write A Collection Of Haiku Poems [16]

September 7, 2014 / intrepidjane

Yesterday’s mushroom-hunting adventure was so exciting that I leapt out of bed this morning, keen to get to work on a fungus-based haiku. Only it seems that my imagination had other plans :P.

Returning from my early morning walk with my dog, I went into the kitchen and opened the blind to let in the light. The window looks out onto a patch of grass. The grass caught my eye : that patch of green stuff really looks like it’s doing exactly what it wants to, in spite of any gardener’s urges to control it or keep it in any kind of order.

I stood still, just gazing at the grass for a while, when a haiku just appeared (that’s exactly how I experienced it, like a flash of inspiration!)

My research into haiku revealed that the traditional form was not only an attempt to capture the essence of something in the natural world, but was also a skillful way of drawing attention to an aspect of the human condition. In today’s haiku about grass, the words ring as true for grass as they do for any of us who have experienced the messier side of human relationships.

It seems that this whole process of writing haiku poems is not only connecting me to nature, it’s also connecting me to my own nature. I’m beginning to see myself in nature. I’m beginning to really feel part of it. And because I’m beginning to feel part of it in such a real and alive way, it’s changing the way I feel about it. I’m in awe of it. I respect it. I think it’s clever, brilliant and beautiful. I think we should protect it, nurture it and nourish it. We should be in it more. I think it’s real. I think it could teach us a lot. I think it will help us to remember what we’ve forgotten.

You can read “Grass” here ; I also read my haiku out loud in today’s video-blog.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

Adventure 249 ~ Go Mushroom Hunting

September 6, 2014September 14, 2014 / intrepidjane

Portglenone Forest was the setting for a fabulous impromptu adventure today! The forest was leaping with mushrooms large and small, and a walk that usually takes 30 minutes to complete with the dog, took almost an hour and a half today. It was really exciting to hunt for different types of fungi, even though I didn’t have a name for anything I saw.

I took pictures of all the different types I spotted. When I got home, I used the Wild Food UK website to help with identification. It was so much fun comparing my pictures with the images on the website and learning more about each one of them.

Here’s what I came up with! If you click on the name of each one, you’ll be able to see why I came to the conclusion I did. Do you think I identified them correctly? I’m not sure about the last one ~ I think it’s a type of bracket fungus though! (Do let me know if you know what it is 🙂 ).