EFFINGHAM, S.C. (AP) On display at Francis Marion University's Hyman Fine Arts Center this summer are dozens of handmade arrowheads, skins, bowls and firemaking tools. Encased in glass and sitting on bare white surfaces, the primitive pieces look wholly out of place. They do, however, hint to the lifestyle of their creator, Greg Pryor. He lives on a 100-acre parcel of land in Effingham with his wife, Tamatha Barbeau. Both are biology professors at Francis Marion. "I teach biology, I have the homestead, and I do artwork," Pryor said in between sips of wine made on the property. "All of it is connected to nature." The couple bought their land from a timber company, and most of it remains forested. Corn covers 20 to 30 acres. Their house, gardens, grape vines, fruit trees and outbuildings sit on a small remainder of cleared land. "You cannot see streetlights or neighbors' houses from where we are sitting," said Pryor, wearing a long beard and overalls. The couple is committed to growing much of their own food. Jessie, one of their six goats, is milked twice a day. In the summer, their garden yields a variety of vegetables and herbs. Bee colonies using … Continue reading →

By Justine Frederiksen udjjf@ukiahdj.com @justfrederiksen on Twitter For more than 30 years, Mendocino College biology professor Alan West has been taking students to a very special classroom on the rugged Mendocino Coast. Tucked away behind a locked gate just north of the City of Point Arena, the college's Point Arena Field Station includes rooms for lectures, lab work and even a kitchen and sleeping quarters for visiting students. What really makes the classroom special, however, are the tidepools just a short walk down the bluffs from the buildings. "These are pristine study areas," West said of the approximately 15-acre property, explaining that the former U.S. Coast Guard station was transferred to the college in the 1980s, and the very limited foot traffic has reverted the area to its natural state, allowing many plant and animal species that can't live elsewhere to thrive. "Students from U.C. Berkeley were just here, and they found 100 species of algae," he said. "It is a remarkable place." Four times a semester, West takes his marine biology students on field trips to the station, picking times when the tides are low and more of the tidepools can be reached and explored. "I love teaching the … Continue reading →