I want to start by thanking everyone who has followed along through all these years. As the time goes by things change, the seasons, the dreams. I've had a wonderful time putting together so many projects and am hoping to start back up again soon.
That being said, I am curious to know how you've used this site and/or products offered as well as any thoughts on how you'd like to see it grow.
Please, even if you've only read one post, fill out this short survey so I may learn more about how you use this site and how I can help you grow your appreciation for the great outdoors.
Thank you, happy hiking!
​Emily

Happy June 1st everyone!
You may have seen or heard this quote before, or maybe not, but it comes from a poem by the poet Abba Louise Goold Woolson published in 1915 in the book "With Garlands Green".
While this quote sums up the heart filling love that comes with the newly filled trees, the first garden veggies, the gardens bursting with color, the poem is so much more beautiful.
Below you can find "A Summer's Day" by Abba Goold Woolson

Did you know we have a Plant Profile section on the website? 
You can find it under the Blog tab (see photo)
There we have flowers organized - more or less - in the order that they bloom. 
Click on an individual flower and it will take you to the blog post with all sorts of info on that particular plant (some are of photo and name when a blog post hasn't been created yet)

Happy exploring!

And just like that, April became May.
From early sprouts beginning to emerge early in the month a crescendo rises until the end of the month when we have an explosion of spring wildflowers. Let's revisit some highlights.

Spring morning at the bog. No sign of the ferns, but the mosses were practically glowing green after all the rain we had. A squirrel chattered at me from its branch in the poison sumac tree. After a while he went back to eating the sumac berries (I had no idea they would eat those!). The warm earthy bog smell is slowly coming back, I sit on the boardwalk letting the sun warmed scents waft around me for a few minutes. On my way out, sitting there in the middle of the boardwalk is an owl pellet!
Owl pellets are little oval clusters of fur and bones indigestible by owls who eat their prey whole. After swallowing their meal, the owl's gizzard separates the soft tissue from the indigestible bits, collecting them in a mass to be regurgitated as a pellet some hours later. 
I couldn't be sure what little rodent/s had been digested but it was fascinating to observe. Now upon retrospect, I should have looked up to see if the owl was still up in the tree.
​By the parking area, a cutleaf toothwort in bud waits for a few more warm days to bloom.

From the bog I went down to the Marsh. Down in the valley, a dusty pull off area with an unassuming deer trail of a path leads to a world hidden from the road. Following the path towards the woods I came across a wet area filled with skunk cabbage beginning to leaf out. Turning from them I nearly stepped on a very sleepy groundhog. Even after my startled "EEK!" it was not at all concerned with me so I let it be and up the hill I climbed. Here and there shoots and sprouts were poking up from under the leaf litter. I found a fallen tree with a view of the marsh below and the hill above, this will be my observation point. 
Sightings from my tree: Great egrets, great blue heron, sandhill cranes, bald eagles (juv.), blue winged teal, Canada geese, at least one towhee, wren, sorts of sparrows, cutleaf toothwort in bud, spring beauty leaves, early meadow rue - in very small bud form, grape fern, skunk cabbage

Sunny 65*
What started out as a foggy morning, cleared up into a warm sunny day. The trees are still bare except for their flowers. It feels odd, the rest of the world is so bright and green, but the trees still feel like winter.
A walk around Clear Creek (Wooster), more signs of spring are appearing: Giant velvet mite, buds on the purple cress, and a mayapple still wrapped up poking out of the leaves.

Partly sunny 54*
Driving down the hill into the valley I was startled at the sight of a turkey wandering by. After watching for a few minutes it wandered off into the brush. 
​I parked and made my way up to my observation tree. 
In April, so much can happen in a week and a half! The skunk cabbage has leafed out large, the blood root is beginning to bloom, cutleaf toothwort is budding, mayapples emerging, rue anemone blooming, early meadow rue in bud, trillium greens, geranium greens, and spring beauties in flower.
And the birds! So many birds. Swans, Sandhills, pileated, wrens, teals, cormorant, and a turkey vulture in a tree to name a few. 
The last image shows a great blue heron standing on what I like to call "beaver island". The beavers have been adjusting the marsh again, and in this popular area they've not only built a new lodge, but a mass as well! Maybe as a water break? Maybe with tunnels? I'm not an expert on beaver behavior, so for now, beaver island it is.

Cooler and cloudier today. An early morning walk at Walton Woods. 
Trees are starting to turn green. Blooms are starting to appear - spring beauties, cutler toothwort (a unique purple tinged one?!), mayapple leaves are open, false mermaid is blooming, dutchman's breeches too. I startled some deer, followed them briefly, and found a large patch of Virginia Bluebells!!! The first I've found in the wild in Wayne County! On my way back to the car, a rose breasted grosbeak serenaded me.

A truth about observing wildflowers in Wayne County. There are many parks, many natural areas, great wetlands, but hands down Wooster Memorial Park is the richest public park in Wayne County to show off the diverse native plant species. 
While I attempted this year to find other hotspots in the county, nothing compares. 
​In Bloom this trip: bluets, trillium, dutchman's breeches, purple cress, squirrel corn, two leaf miter wort, wild ginger, trout lily, early blue cohosh
Pre bloom: two leaf toothwort, early meadow rue, trout lily
Done blooming: cutler toothwort, hepatica, bloodroot, woodland sedge
While on the upper trail, the barred owl flew along with me for a bit, exploring tree by tree.

Although it sounds like a lyrical remix to "Turkey in the Straw" I assure you it's not. 
No, this was a surprise encounter the other evening as we were leaving Brown's Lake Bog. The sun was setting, we had a lovely walk, the magnolia warblers were flitting about, it was a good evening. Then as we neared the end of the boardwalk, I look up (as that is the best way to spot warblers) and notice a large figure in the branches - far too large for a warbler - a turkey!

During the waking hours turkeys can be found foraging for seeds, insects, and nuts in forests and fields but once the sun goes down, up in the trees they go.
​Despite their size, turkeys are impressive flyers with the ability to fly up to 55mph!
Every evening turkeys make their way up to their favorite tree to roost, unless they're nesting, which they do in a scratched out hole on the ground.
​Next time you're out at dusk, take a look up in the big old trees, you might find something new.

Just when you think you know your parks.
Keep exploring, friends!

No matter how chilly, it always warms my soul to see the first of the spring wildflowers start to emerge.
As I follow the seasons, in early spring I take heart in knowing there are some special friends getting ready to wake up from their winter naps. This trip I was met with soft beauty, no matter the weather they're there.
This day was cool with sprinkles. Hepatica was the first bloom, thankfully in the same spot it always is. Lots of greens are beginning to emerge too, the shovel-like leaves of the purple cress, ramps showing off their fluorescent colors, waterleaf with it's lovely watery patterns. As an extra special treat, the foliage of the dutchman's breeches is gathering in large bunches. 
As April begins, more things will begin to bloom. 
A weekly or even a few times a week, walk will reveal a secret emergence if you take the time to slow down and look.
Walk slowly (usually I can do about 1 mi in an hour), look down, stop often, go solo, speak rarely. 
If that sounds tedious, consider it a meditation practice. Breathe in the smells of the world waking up.

Starting right now, hike the parks of Wayne County (as listed on the pamphlet), fill out the form, turn completed form in at Local Roots Market & Cafe in Wooster and you get a goodie bag!!!
What a great way to stay fit, get out to some new parks, and support your local community! More info can be found at Local Root's website HERE
Happy Hiking!!

New Year's Day hike, our yearly tradition.
This year we went back to where the tradition started - the Gorge trail part of the Summit County Metro Parks. 
After all these years (9 years) it's still my favorite. Something about the sandstone cliffs, the rushing water, the damp but fresh air. It just feels like home.
I hope you all have an excellent 2022 and get out and explore!

The newest addition to the parks of Wayne County, the William J Robertson Nature Preserve is quite a treasure.

On a snowy day in December, a friend and I bundled up and we made our way to Rittman to explore this new addition. Although it was cold, about 20 degrees, and cloudy, there was still much to be observed. ​

I have never given Canada geese any thought. At best I've looked upon them as an obstacle when spending time near ponds, their hisses and honks encouraging me to take a different path. But all of that changed at the end of August when I got to observe them in a new way.

What's blooming? What's there to see? 
Click through to take a look.
Today was overcast, mid 70*s, the rains came just after the last photo was taken. 
​

Okay, so, for the past few weeks I've been watching an old water trough that's full of tadpoles.
Fun, I thought, I wonder what kind of frog, or maybe toad, these will grow into. I mean, every elementary kid knows tadpoles swim, then grow legs, lose their tails, and hop out into the world.
Easy.
But the more I watch, the more questions I have.
Let's start at the beginning.

Yarrow is considered to be a native species, although varieties have been introduced and hybridized, found in sunny to partially sunny open areas in dry soil. Our native species consists mainly of tiny white flowers but some pale pink varieties occur in the wild. 
The gentle fern-like leaves, and delicate flowers, and unique scent have made this a favorite in flower arrangements. Varieties of yarrow in bright, bold, and pastel colors can be found in domesticated gardens. 
Medicinally this is an important herb, the leaves providing relief from burns and rashes when crushed and made into a poultice. Dried leaves were brewed as a tea to soothe colds, fever, and headache. A beer brewed with yarrow has been popular in Europe since the Middle Ages. The Chinese considered the yarrow plant to be good luck. ​

I try not to get too personal on this blog, while I love sharing our explorations in nature, we are quiet private people. This spring has brought some big changes for us, we bought our first home! I share this only because I have a feeling it'll be relevant in future posts. It's incredible having land where we can finally put our knowledge to use. We now have over half an acre of lawn that we will be transforming bit-by-bit into an ecologically diverse land of native plantings, and will be monitoring closely the changes to biodiversity as they arise. Some of this journey will absolutely spill over into this blog but I will also continue writing about our great natural areas and seasonal highlights.
Let's catch up!

From January to now we've changed seasons, seen heavy snow, very warm days, and finally today the springtime rain, so refreshing you can almost hear the flowers sing.

Life, like the seasons, is always changing. We take different paths, explore new areas, never fully knowing where each path will lead. Even taking old paths, it's never as it was before - perhaps a new tree, or erosion, or a secondary trail has become the choice route.
I don't know where this is going, or where I'm going, or if I need to go anywhere. Isn't life just a smattering of experiences, if we're lucky most of them will be good. 

​Let's do a quick catch-up/recap and see where that leads us!

24* in full sun
In the first image if you look really close, in the water, all the way back, you can just make out ~27 swans (a swimming), they're joined by nearly the same number of Canada geese (a shouting).
The crisp, fresh air, and secretly warm sun were so welcomed on our first day out of quarantine (everyone is safe and healthy, no worries). ​

A new-to-us park just one county over in Wadsworth, Holmesbrook Park is surprisingly rustic for being very close to downtown!
There are both paved and primitive trails, a creek, pond, steep hills, and lots of different trails to explore. 
Below you'll see some photos from the trek.
The Christmas fern was so big and lush (although I've noticed that seems to be the thing this season, they're looking really good!)! It was chilly enough for the needle ice to form but as we were heading back the sun was beginning to turn it all to mud. The bridge was oddly steep but had good grips, it's kooky and I like it.
I'm interested in seeing what this looks like in the spring - lots of forested areas, not too many noticeable invasive. Worth checking out!
City's website can be found HERE