Now call me petty, but I’m just curious how many times Martinez has been on the front page of the Sunday Times without beavers? You have to admit we looked lovely spread across the front page without a bus accident or a shell explosion. That timeline in the margin was a fun creative writing project. (Of course the mother and kits didn’t come to Martinez before the father because that would be silly.) But never mind, my mother got phone calls. it was seen far and wide and I even got a note from Brock about it!
One oddly irksome response was an email sent to the website from a times reader in Pleasanton who said that she had just returned from a trip to South America were beavers were wreaking havoc and destroying trees because they have no predators. She wanted us to know that even though they’re cute they can be horribly destructive and Martinez should watch out.
No, seriously.
Honestly, I’m so sick of the Patagonia beavers. They are just gumming up the press and confusing folks even more. They should never have been there in the first place. Some greedy Nazi made a tremendously selfish choice and in addition to hurting beavers, he hurt his entire hemisphere. I can’t understand why trapping, eating, or predating by caymen’s and maned wolves haven’t got rid of them already, and they’re just making people think that all the horrible things everyone believed about beavers are true. Introduce some kind of immunocontraceptive and lets get OVER it already.
Sheesh.
Anyway, meanwhile back at the ranch I’ve been bracing myself for the idea that we might not get our stalwart artist at the beaver festival this year. The beloved FRO just found out that her life partner has major health issues and in addition to being terrified she is absorbed with caring for him. As they found each other rather late in life and are blissfully happy so it’s rotten timing, but I guess it always is. It’s truly hard to imagine having a beaver festival without FRO, but I’ve been trying to think of activities that are more ‘crafty’ than arty, so that the show can go on. In the mean time send healing thoughts and prayers her way, because honestly, the Martinez Beaver story would never have lasted 10 years without FRO.
Looking at our mountains of leatherette still waiting to be cut into tails, and thinking with our artists about the wildlife tattoos we have commissioned this year, gave me the idea of making nature journals instead of beaver tails. I 
was delighted to find this description on the Great Stems blog. Kids would still learn about the wildlife and gather the tattoos then have help placing them on the journal cover before making a nature journal to go inside. This illustration pretty much clinched it for me because I instantly imagined the stick as a beaver chew, for obvious reasons.
The binding really impressed me. You punch 2 holes in the cover and paper and then use a simple rubber band around each stick end by passing it through the holes. It keeps the book firm and allows it to open so you can sketch or record your thoughts. I just had to try one and see. One of the things we have infinite access to is downed wood, and we have had 10 years of learning how to make beaver chews so it’s an obvious fit. I don’t have any tattoos yet, so I used an old die-cut I had laying around from my scrapbooking days. The pleather is a buckskin tan and for this one I used an old twig pencil we had lying around from a former earth day activity. What do you think?
Not just a project but a way of re-learning to see! I’m liking this idea, and if Jon doesn’t have anything to lead tours to, he’d be a great Fro-stand in! Of course nothing can place the actual FRO, who is still in all our thoughts and prayers, but this could be a cool fill-in. You may remember we’ve already had the most famous nature journal-er of all come right here and sketch our beavers for Bay Nature. What a night, eh?
