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July 09, 1987 - Plants Of The PeconicPlants Of The Peconic By PAUL STOUTENBURGH We have just had the opportunity and fun of working with the BOLES III gifted and talented junior high students for a week at Camp Quinipet on Shelter Island. Our hope was to bring to these young people, with their never - ending energies, an appreciation of the world around them. We not only visited the many unique places on beautiful Shelter Is- Focus on Nature land, but also had a bus that took us off the island on various field trips to the mainland. We introduced the students to a freshwater environment with a day trip on the Peconic River. I was a bit apprehensive at first because of the length of the trip, but the kids came through with flying colors and we all returned a bit weary, but completely satisfied. Actually the best part of the river is the very beginning. It's hard to realize that you're actually on Long Island, for the tea - tinted water that flows from the great watershed to the west is but a narrow six- to 10 -foot- wide stream closed in on both sides by willows, swamp maples, sweet pepperbush, blossoming white swamp azaleas, elderberry, wild grape, buttonbush and a collection of other water - loving plants. We started about 1,500 feet south of Grumman Aircraft's Calverton plant on Connecticut Avenue just off River Road. When we pulled up, the kids looked disappointed. They were looking for a river and all they could see was the high embankment of the railroad that leads into Grumman's. They didn't know that under the road and railway the beginning of the river flowed and as we struggled up over the embankment a world of green soon appeared. Last - Minute Instructions Once the canoes were unloaded and life jackets assigned, the kids gathered for last- minute instruc- tions. "When you step into a canoe, always step in the center, never on either side," "Remember when going under a limb or bush, lean forward, not to the side," etc. Last year, some forgot and when they all leaned to one side, over the canoe went. The beauty of this kind of field trip is that everyone is in a good mood and soggy clothes were laughed off and soon for- gotten. As we spoke further of the river's basin and its importance as a fresh- water table surrounding the area, we brought to the attention of everyone the Deptford pink blossoming along the edges of the railroad tracks and the clusters of yellow St. Johnswort nearby. The latter plant was one my grandfather had us pick as kids so he could make his "patent medicine" by immersing the crushed flowers in olive oil. He said it was good for al- most anything and I remember it as a lotion that stood on the shelf, slowly turning red, as the potent lini- ment mellowed. The Suffolk Times /July 9, 1987 /Page 9A CANOES ON THE RIVER- -The trip down the river view of a variety of freshwater plants, trees and ani- can be as long or as short as you choose. No matter mals. how far you travel, the river affords the paddler a If you never learned to maneuver a canoe before, the beginning of the Peconic is the place you're going to have to learn, for it twists and turns as the current pushes you first into a clump of pickerelweed and then into a wild rose bush with all its thorns. It was tough going in the first part, but gradually the river widened a bit and banging canoes and frustrated young paddlers managed to work to- gether so we looked more like we knew what we were doing. All along the way we could see the still -green blackberries starting to swell, for their season is still ahead. In a week or two, they'll be just right for picking. It reminded me of ours back home along the hedgerow wait- ing to ripen. Last year was a great year for blackberry jam and we look forward to replenishing our stock this year. Herb Farm Stop for Lunch The erratic and slow- moving navigators of the Peconic gave Bar- bara and I a good chance to look over the river's edge and see what grew there. Blue flag or wild iris was al- most past and the big green seed pods were starting to swell. Once we broke out of the narrow part of the river, we entered a small open area almost choked with the submerged greenery fis of fanwort, the surface sprinkled with its tiny white flowers. We could paddle through it, but wondered how fish could make it. We had rendezvoused in this area last year, making the acquaintance of a lovely couple who ran an herb farm on the edge of the river. The Spindlers couldn't have been nicer to our group, as we broke out our lunches and listened to how they had created something special in their backwoods paradise. It was hard to tear ourselves away, but we still had miles to go. There are short portages over man- made dikes that controlled the water level years ago for cranberry bogs and duck farms along the river. We traveled under culverts and up over roads that had spillways too steep to navigate. We even went under the Long Island Expressway where many screams and howls reverber- ated through the tunnel for its full 300 feet. All along we saw flowering plants associated with our own Long Island wet areas. Skunk cabbage, now large - leaved, was woven in the un- derstory beneath the pepperidge, swamp maples and willows. Often we'd see the small purple flower clus- ters of nightshade. Later its green berries will turn to scarlet as the summer winds down. We warned the young folks not to eat any berry they were not familiar with, for some like these are poisonous. As we moved eastward past some of the abandoned duck farms that once flourished along the river, we saw blue darning needles that ap- peared as iridescent jewels sus- _ pended in the air, before they darted off in pursuit of some tiny insect. One lit on a beautiful yellow water lily called spatterdock, making a perfect picture. From the beginning, we had a brisk wind at our backs and many times we didn't have to paddle at all. The day couldn't have been more per- fect. The last part of our paddle paralleled Route 25 outside of Riverhead and it wasn't long before we could see our 'yellow school bus ahead. By now we were pooped and even the fluffed -out swans that came swimming up for a handout didn't arouse our young people, who had had a long day. Weary but satisfied with the journey behind us, we climbed aboard the bus and slumped into our seats. On the way back many a head nodded as we headed for camp and dinner. We're open 7 days a week. F)w [from 11 - 91 1� ,all In/ Take Out 47 %'2828 128 Main Street, Greenport [Next to Cookery Dock] - IF OUR FISH WERE ANY FRESHER, THEY'D STILL BE IN THE BAY.