The Big Here.

Posted byWaldo Jaquith 7 Comments on The Big Here.

I first took The Big Here quiz a year ago, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Here are the first 10 of the 30 items:

  1. Point north.
  2. What time is sunset today?
  3. Trace the water you drink from rainfall to your tap.
  4. When you flush, where do the solids go? What happens to the waste water?
  5. How many feet above sea level are you?
  6. What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom here?
  7. How far do you have to travel before you reach a different watershed? Can you draw the boundaries of yours?
  8. Is the soil under your feet, more clay, sand, rock or silt?
  9. Before your tribe lived here, what did the previous inhabitants eat and how did they sustain themselves?
  10. Name five native edible plants in your neighborhood and the season(s) they are available.

These are important questions. I probably did better on this quiz than most people would, but I was ashamed to find that I knew so little about my home. I’ve returned to this list periodically over the past year and tried to learn more about the world around me.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

7 replies on “The Big Here.”

  1. I’m not sure these questions are all that important for 99.9% of the population. But I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise.

  2. Okay, I’m going to revise that 99.9% estimate — I see why a few of these would be important to know if one lived out in the boondocks, which quite a few people do.

  4. 1,2 4-9

    4. septic
    5. 490 ft.
    6. Wildflower – black-eyed susans
    7. Watershed – the boundary for the Willis River Watershed is the road in front of our house. I have no idea which one I am in.

  6. Mark, black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta) bloom in the mid to late summer. Surely there are native plants that bloom earlier than that in your area?

    Or are you referring to another flower? There are lots of cases of people referring to different plants by the same common name, but ‘black-eyed susan’ is pretty universally applied to the summer daisy-like flower.

  7. Nell,

    I guess thats the one that always sticks in my mind. My wife, the Agriculture education major, could tell me differently, I am sure.

    I am probably completely wrong, instead of just mistaken.

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