Just sharing some Sustainable thoughts
Enjoyed another fantastic day at Shaw Nature Reserve. Following my volunteering stint, I hiked through the dry glades and woodlands near the Meramec River, evaluating the Spring’s continuing transition in color. Among the most vibrant and prolific today was Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata). Just another native to consider in your garden!
They are here! The Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are finally in bloom. I walked down to the bottoms near the Meramec River at the Shaw Nature Reserve to find these wonderful spring colors filling the forest floor. It had just rained the day before, so the cloudy day and the excess moisture certainly presented some interesting photographing opportunities.
Enjoy!
Spring is indeed here! I’ve seen several native ephemerals as well as the beautiful (though not native) daffodils. Photos taken at Shaw Nature Reserve and Powder Valley Nature Center. BTW, the bluebells have STILL not burst from their buds. I patiently await their appearance.
Let me know which photos you enjoy the most!
The tomb is empty. Praise God. He is Risen!
Happy Easter. Get outside if you can, into nature! Spend some time staring at tiny flowers in your yard or magnificent sycamores in the countryside. Spend some time enjoying God’s brilliant work. Understand–we are to be Stewards of His Earth! Strive to live sustainably!
We’ve had an early Spring snow to slow things down a bit. This time last year, Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) were in full bloom. Today, I paid another visit to Powder Valley Nature Center (see previous visit), hoping to treat my Nikon to a photogenic feast of bluebells among the snow. However, it seems that nature, so gloriously intelligent and constantly unpredictable, has decided to wait for the snows to pass.
Nonetheless, emerging bluebells (probably, since this was the location I found them last year) greeted me and encouraged me to be patient.
Emerging Bluebells….I think. I’ll know for sure in a couple weeks.
I paid another visit to the Butterfly House in Chesterfield. Unlike our previous visit (see post), it was cold and dry outside, and hot and humid inside. This month is particularly good for visiting since so many butterflies are released, especially the blue morphos. Most of the blue morphos were active, making it difficult for me to grab a shot. Everything in the tropical setting seemed to move! Some fluttered across my line of vision. A pair of blue morphos flew around me as if I obstructed their flight along the path. A few followed me briefly, before flying off to the other human attractions. One blue morpho landed on my back, seemingly sticking its proboscis out at me and my camera… The beautiful little freeloader stayed there for almost 10 minutes as I walked around!
Anyway, some of the other butterflies were considerably more photogenic…here are a few of the photos.
Last week I enjoyed a solitary walk through Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center and Reserve near Kirkwood, Missouri. All was fairly quiet. A gentle, cool breeze swept through the bare tree branches and rattled the brown leaves still clinging to a few stubborn oaks and maples. Leaf litter decorates the entire forest floor; it crackles as I step through it. While the day is still cool (mid 40’s), the Sun’s energy, like the breeze, sweeps past the trees and warms me as I walk.
All is quiet. But I can feel the change in season coming. Some trees are beginning to show their plump buds, ready to spring into action. In just a few weeks, I can imagine the wonderful bluebells (Mertensia virginica – previous post) and wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea – previous post) emerging again and filling the brown forest floor with brilliant color.
But for now, it is still. It is good. Go out and enjoy it. Then, I recommend returning every week or two to watch the dramatic changes. First the spring ephemerals fill the forest floor. Next, shrubs and trees begin to flower and leaf out, depending on their mannerisms. Soon after that, the life-giving light that once warmed the spring ephemeral flowers will be squandered by the trees.
I’m not sure where this photo originated, but I found it posted on the Up With Trees (Tulsa based organization) facebook page.
Indeed!!
The truck rumbled and rattled and crackled along the gravel road back to the park office; I was sitting in the bed, relaxing in the open air. The cool air and the speed of the truck felt brisk, though it was fortunately offset by the pleasant warmth and radiance of the sunny day. The truck and its passengers were all given shadowy, temporary stripes as we drove through acres and acres of beautiful Missouri forest. The forest seemed to march with pride alongside us. The still-green pines and cedars were attempting to outshow the leafless deciduans. Only a few brown and brittle leaves still bravely clung to their oak and hickory homes. But the eye cannot miss the occasional grand oak, burly and rugged. Those grand trees seemed to command their offspring and their companions: oaks, hickories, hackberries, honey locusts, persimmons, walnuts… From our truck bed, all of the trees seemed to be marching. The trees closest to the road marched swiftly, while the trees several yards from the road trudged at a moderate pace. The tree ranks closer to the horizon seemed only to saunter across the countryside. All, however, were marching under the sky flag of blue, white, and light.
This grand and relaxing procession ended one of my first service outings with the Sierra Club EMG at Hawn State Park. I had joined friends and strangers to help remove some old fencing. Like many parks in the area, most of the land at Hawn State Park has been purchased from or donated by private landowners. For one reason or another, old cattle-fields were left to the advances of the forest and many forgotten fences were overtaken. The wildlife that returns with the forest, however, has to deal with the hazards of barbed wire and the possibility of injury when crossing half-buried, brittle fence. Thus, our group set out to tear down some of these old fences and open up the back country.
I must admit, I feared the cold would make me slow and useless. However, I quickly warmed up through activity and sunny exposure. March. We slowly followed the rusty, dilapidated fence line. Snip. We snipped a section of fence. Pull. We pulled the fence and flattened any messes. Fold. We folded the metal wire fence into neat stacks. Flag. Finally, we flagged the fence for finding later; pulling all of the fence bales from the forest would be another day’s work. Indeed, I found myself helpful during this outing.
This is what I need. This is what anyone stuck in the city, stuck in the office, stuck in suburbia, needs; some sun and some nature to offset the constant exposure to man-made constructs and rat races. Go outside!! “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” ~John Muir
**We had a nice evening snow a couple nights ago over the St. Louis metro area.**
I stand outside on my front lawn. It is a dark, chilly night. The snow falls quietly, blanketing the grass and creating white shadows atop the trees’ leafless branches. Our dead end street is filled with tire tracks, mainly from lost folk who turn around at our driveway (three-pointers, we call them). The rabbits and squirrels have yet to fill the yard with their own tracks. This little space of the city is quiet; however, I am occasionally reminded by the roar of buses and the squeal of sirens that city life is bustling still at this hour, less than a block away.
Above me, the wandering snow clouds are aglow with the light (pollution) of the city. Every now and again, an airplane thunders overhead, overwhelming the sound of the nearby traffic and disturbing my snowy solace.
If you can appreciate the sound of silence, surely you can understand the need to silence the sound. Dissonant noise and trespassing light are indeed forms of pollution. And like other forms of pollution, there are remedies. For noise pollution, remedies include source-noise reduction, increased vegetation, and even sound fencing. I’m particularly partial to increasing vegetation wherever possible in the city…particularly when it involves living architecture and/ore native landscaping. For light, several options can be employed, like simply re-aiming lights, putting up shields, adding motion-sensing & time controls, using lighting that may reduce insect attraction and bird disorientation.
stewardsofearth 