The first meeting of the Pine Knoll
Shores Garden Club's new year will be
on September 9 at 9:30 a.m. at the town
hall. The program will be a presentation
by JoAnn Shallcross, chair of the town's
Recreation Advisory Committee, who
will discuss the town-wide birdhouse
competition to be held in February
2010.
One project that had been the subject
of many discussions at garden club
meetings was finally accomplished in
June. The sluiceway that leads to the
retention pond in front of town hall
was "dressed up" by Carolina Home &
Gardens. Heavy-duty plastic was put
Garden Club
By Yvette Bannen
down to prevent weeds from growing
and then covered with four tons of
Tennessee river rock.
Over the summer, members have
continued to pick up trash in designated
areas and have reported for work days to
weed and tend the various sites in town
maintained by the garden club.
A watering schedule was set up for the
garden club members to keep the new
planting on the Oakleaf Drive island
watered during the heat of summer.
PKS residents and visitors are always
welcome at the meetings held at town
hall on the second Wednesday of the
month at 9:30 a.m.
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Pride of Graden Club: A view of the Hereth Garden (Dedicated to Peg and Lee
Hereth, May 21, 1999) and the new sluiceway leading to the retention pool in
front of town hall.
September 2009 The Shoreline Page 7
Beach Adventures for
Young Children
By Phyllis Makuck
ones that are exposed and
dig down a couple of inches
to capture those that have
buried themselves in sand.
You can see the youthful
advantage being close to the
ground has in this pursuit.
I'll warn you that while
you're digging for coquinas
you may pull up some creepy
crawly sand fleas (Emerita),
also known as mole crabs,
sand crabs or lookie cookies.
They tickle the palm of your
hand, but such surprises
make a hunt more exciting.
The more hands engaged in searching
for coquinas the faster you get enough
to bring home and cook for appetizers.
Have the children rinse them several
times. Then, allow the coquinas to soak
in cold fresh water awhile to get out
sand particles. Put them on the stove
in a pot with a little water and salt.
In a few minutes, they will pop open,
snapping to the delight of yoimgsters.
After draining cooked coquinas, you
add butter and garlic then eat all the
ones that have opened. Adults will find
them delicious, and most children love
them as well.
You can then wash out empty shells,
give them back to the kids with paste
and construction paper. Children love
to create refrigerator-worthy coquina
designs.
Then, if you aren't too exhausted, keep
the youngsters up past dark for a ghost-
crab walk. During the day, you can
see sand-colored Atlantic ghost crabs
(Ocypode quadrata) emerge from sand
holes, but the real adventure is to take
flashhghts and go for a beach walk after
dark, when crabs are especially active.
Direct a light on an approaching ghost
crab, and it will freeze. Being out on
the beach at night makes you aware of
how alive the sand is. I still find myself
screeching with the children when a
critter sidles up to our bare feet.
Many of us who do not have small
children find ourselves entertaining
grandchildren or other little guests
during warm weather months. Even
in this magnificent playgroimd we call
home, we can start scratching our heads
wondering how to entertain the kids—
especially late in summer and early
fall when they have already been on a
number of seashore treasure hunts, built
their sandcastles, dug miniature inland
waterways, scooped up minnows in the
shallows, sat at the shore's edge and let
ocean water wash over their legs, and
even dared to go into a gentle surf. Two
beach activities I highly recommend
if you haven't tried them with young
children are picking coquinas during
the day and taking a ghost-crab walk
with flashlights at night.
Coquinas (Donax) are small bivalve
mollusks in smooth colorful shells about
the size of beans, so they are also known
as bean clams. To catch them, you need
a bucket with a litfle water in it, and
hands that are not shy about digging
in wet sand. You may find their empty
half shells on the beach, but you want
live ones. Look for them burrowing in
wet sand as the surf advances.
When the tide is fairly low, I walk
along the water's edge with my young
guests until we spot a few. Some will be
real tiny, but we are looking for the ones
that are, in fact, bean-sized. We scoot
down as the water recedes, pick up the