This is pollinator week. July 21st – July 27th, 2021, has been designated as a week to celebrate, learn about, and act to help our pollinators. My hope is that by sharing some information about pollinator week, more people will see the need to take action in the field of conservation. When I was in…
Today’s post will be short for Slice of Life Tuesday. I’ve been taking photos in my yard (again) and noted that my milkweed has germinated. Milkweed is a perennial plant and germinates around this time of year in Wisconsin. I make daily rounds looking for it in my yard. I’ve also reported my findings to…
Monday night we took a canoe ride after dinner on the small lake upon which our cabin sits on the shore. The water was calm and the lake was quiet with only a few other boats floating about. We paddled to the left and circled counter clockwise around the lake, opposite to the direction we…
I was worried about the loons that live on our lake last night when I went to bed. We had been at the cabin since noon. After dinner, we took a canoe ride around the lake, before dusk. Dusk is typically the time we can see loons floating and diving on our lake. It is…
We live in Wisconsin in a town that has grown over three fold in the last twenty years. Houses occupy what used to be cornfields and prairie, tightly woven together with a maze of streets and lights where once there was nothing but crickets and darkness. Human development greatly impinges on the environment. In these…
Yesterday, I took an intro to foraging class. It was held by an organization called the Driftless Folk School and the session took place on the grounds of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve near La Farge, Wisconsin. This area is a jaw-droppingly (my own term) beautiful part of Wisconsin. I was excited to go, as much…
I love to learn new things. I think it makes me a better and certainly, more interesting, person. Earlier this spring, we got a course flyer from an organization offering a variety classes in sustainable living. My husband was interested in the DIY dehydrator class and I was interested in the Spring Foraging class. By…
What have I done to celebrate the earth, I ask myself? Mostly, it’s involved informing others of the precious resources the earth provides. In the past, for celebrations of Earth Day I’ve presented to whole schools on topics such as the forest and monarch conservation. I’ve presented on the prairie as an ecosystem, and helped…
This spring has been one that I’ve really stopped to observe the changes in our environment. Part of this has been due to being asked to make a video for a local school’s environmental day and part is my own interest in phenology – or signs of the change of seasons. As I’ve aged, these…
Trees have always fascinated me. From childhood climbs to chestnut gatherings to planting hundreds as an adult, you could say I have affinity for these living, breathing magistrates of yards, forests, and parklands. When I think about trees of my youth, several species pop into my mind’s eye. The scotch pine in the yard I…