FEATURED POST

Tawny Triplet

Pretty river birch awaits Spring. I found a new trail today, oh boy! Inconspicuously tucked behind a big sprawling senior residence, the trail branched into a network of hard-packed earthen paths and offered a number of walking routes that snaked around 2 hidden lakes and dozens of ponds and wetlands interconnected by creeks and streams. What a happy find! It’s still too early to declare spring, but the snow is gone and the woodland is just beginning to come alive. "Dear, h

2 minutes ago1 min read

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TRAIN OF THOUGHT

Tawny Triplet

Pretty river birch awaits Spring. I found a new trail today, oh boy! Inconspicuously tucked behind a big sprawling senior residence, the trail branched into a network of hard-packed earthen paths and offered a number of walking routes that snaked around 2 hidden lakes and dozens of ponds and wetlands interconnected by creeks and streams. What a happy find! It’s still too early to declare spring, but the snow is gone and the woodland is just beginning to come alive. "Dear, h

2 minutes ago1 min read

Spruce Blobs

Woodworkers’ treasure. Hints of spring are everywhere—an unusually warm afternoon that doesn’t require a parka, daylight that lasts past dinner time, an occasional whiff of earthy aroma along the trail. But Up North along the big lake there’s still plenty of ice and snow. A few days in a rustic cabin watching Lake Superior crash upon the rocks provided one last, dramatic dose of winter. Bundled up and walking along the trail I came across this knobby, blobby spruce tree.

Mar 301 min read

Flora and Faeries

Nature cooperates. Coming around a corner of the lake on a path that’s been inaccessible all winter I encountered this hillside community of little grassy huts. Looks a bit like a wee Shire. Technically, these humpity hillocks are called Tussocks, and likely composed of carex stricta , or tussock sedge. It belongs to a huge genus of common sedge with over 150 different species in Minnesota. Tussock sedge, with its dense, clumping root system is considered a ‘superplant’ for r

Mar 111 min read

Optimistic Plumes

A Giant of a Grass . On a beautiful February afternoon that felt more like April, I came across this forest of feathery grasses reaching way above my head. Bending and dancing in the breeze they waved at everyone going by, just as happy as I was for the sunshine and the clear, blue sky. The plant finder in my phone identified it as miscanthus , but I’m not sure which variety – there are a bunch. There’s the sinenses, nicknamed ‘silver feather’ with its arching fountain-like

Feb 241 min read