Category: Woods & Wetlands Family Format

Yesterday I got to enjoy the sun-dappled loveliness of Brower Lake Nature Preserve with a Belmont family consisting of a mom, dad, and 3 adventurous children. We met at the preserve’s entrance where a small meadow of rocket flowers and staghorn sumac are thriving. We entered the woods and immediately I could see the signs of joy as the kids’ faces lit up with wonder. I looked through their eyes as if this woods was new to me, and I appreciated anew the flickering shadows of oak leaves as the early evening sun shone between the trees. At one point, C., the 13 year old boy, paused and whispered reverently, “Oh! This is so beautiful!” My heart just filled at his ability to still be touched by nature’s magic, even at such a transitional age.

I opted to take them across what I call the ridge trail, which lends itself to conversation about forest management. We observed where soil erosion had happened and I pointed out how the West Michigan Land Conservancy had rerouted the trail in an effort to minimize erosion on the steep slope of a hill. Another sign of forest management that sparked questions were trees that had a strip of bark cut out of them all the way around the trunk. I explained that this technique is called, “girdling,” and it is a quick and easy way to kill a tree within just one year. I admit that this makes me sad. The trees that were girdled were those that were either invasive or non-native. Some trees and logs showed signs of having been burnt recently. This is due to the use of prescribed burns which are used to thin some of the underbrush and help with enriching the soil. The management of this forest is focused on restoring it to an oak barrens, a rare ecosystem in Michigan. This year the forest has shown dramatic changes since the burn 2 years ago. With more sunlight there are more berry bushes already loaded with hard, green berries.

Along the ridge trail there are two, huge, old, pine trees that frame a sad picture of the remains of the only sizable beech tree that used to live in this woods. The kids noticed its remains and I briefed them on the beech scale disease that is killing these beautiful trees. Changing the topic and sensing that these were some kids with wonderful imaginations, I showed them how the two, big pines form a sort of doorway and I told them how kids in past Woods and Wetlands groups have been certain they are a portal to an alternate world. A. marched right through them with no hesitation. But to return to us, she went around the trees, which led to an excited discussion about whether she left a version of herself behind in the alternate universe! I was right. These were kids with living and active imaginations, just as I had at their age!

We took our time getting to the wetlands, stopping to notice and wonder about various sights and sounds. Along the way we sniffed sassafras, tasted sorrel leaves, and nibbled on tiny, green, wild apples. Once we arrived at the swamp, I showed the kids the “Vine Playground,” a well-loved area where wild grapevine holds tightly enough to the trees that kids and adults can swing and bounce on it without fear of it breaking. A. was excited about trying more edible plants, so I showed everyone the plentiful wintergreen and we chewed on some of the new leaves of it.

I loved wading into the swamp with C. (once he’d given up on trying to get past the thorny, wild, rose bushes that mingle with swamp blueberry bushes.) After demonstrating how to use the net to scoop from beneath the water and gently dumping my findings just on the edge near the water, the kids were excited to see the tiny crayfish-like creature that was found wiggling amongst the decaying leaves. I popped it into my 2-way magnifying viewer, along with some water, and we all took a close look. It looked just like a tiny lobster. A. asked whether they are good to eat. I laughed and told her I had never tried. One of the kids carefully returned the tiny lobsters to the water once everyone had a look.

This was an extended session as the family had opted for a 2-hour time frame, so we were able to take our time and enjoy everything we encountered. On our way back we took the back loop near what I call “The Labyrinth,” and each of the kids took turns getting inside of “my” tree, imagining what it might be like to become part of a tree. When we reached the tree portal again, everyone was suggesting what might happen when A. returned to the alternate universe where she may meet a clone of herself! It was such fun to spin out these fantastical imaginings with this delightful trio of children!

I really enjoyed this family and I am so glad that I will be getting multiple opportunities to continue taking them on nature adventures!

T.

This morning was only the second time I’ve been out with these girls and their mom this year, and prior to that, I hadn’t seen the girls for at least a year from our old Woods and Wetlands experiences. Despite this span of time, which is significant in the life of a child, K. still remembers everything she learned! Without the slightest effort she points out poison ivy, sassafras trees, and anything else I ask her for. I could feel her confidence and contentment out there in the woods, navigating the berry brambles and wild rose bushes with ease and comfort while she chewed casually on a tiny sassafras root.

Meanwhile her younger sister went charging ahead on the narrow deer trail we followed to a particular spot by the eastern swamp. Despite my repeated cautions about thorny plants and my attempt to have her practice recognizing them, I found myself smiling inwardly as my words fell on heedless ears. After she yelped and recoiled a few times, I noticed that she began to slow down a bit and look more carefully at the plant life that hovered over and around the trail. Each personality is different and each of us must learn in our own way. She didn’t give up. She didn’t decide that the woods is a dangerous place. Instead she learned from her errors and kept going, navigating more and more confidently with each step.

The woods was just beautiful this morning with the sun beams and leaf shadows everywhere. I enjoyed chatting with the girls’ mom as we both took turns remarking on curious sights and attempting to point them out to the girls when they were nearby. I loved seeing the wonder and peace on her face and I silently cheered when one of the girls posed and asked her to take a picture, but her mom calmly informed her that she didn’t even bring her phone and that they were going to just live in the moment. “YES, PLEASE! More of THAT!” I thought to myself. (Then I somewhat guiltily pulled out my own phone to take a few photos for this blog…)

As in all contexts of my life, I find that I am more and more timing challenged! (Or an incurable time-optimist?) It seems to me I can fit everything in that I want to do, but in reality, I just can’t. I quickly realized I had spent far too long pointing out other sights on our walk to the woods and then spent even longer quizzing everyone on poison ivy and reminding them to look UP now and then! My intention was to take them to the fallen tree that grows new trees on the edge of the east swamp and to spend most of our time in that area. Despite having scheduled just one hour, I could not bring myself to leave on time. It was too delightful out there and watching the girls enjoy walking along that fallen tree in the swamp pleased both their mom and me.

While the girls messed about with the net and K. used it to make drip art among the duckweed, we listened to the swamp calls of the red-winged blackbirds and noticed a black and shimmery grackle nearby. Frogs continued to elude the smaller k. but she kept trying. Twice we saw the last flick of a snake disappearing into the leaf litter as we startled them out of basking in the sun.

We are scheduling some more experiences and next time I hope to introduce this family to the meadow in this preserve. The land conservancy has been working to restore it to the black oak savanna and native wildflower prairie that it once was. The prairie/meadow is dotted with purple lupine, golden coriopsis, red and yellow wild columbine, and berry brambles already heavily laden with unripe berries. This space used to be filled with straight rows of spindly red pines planted years ago for timber but never used. The pines provided very little in the way of useful habitat for animals, so the land conservancy took out most of them and planted native wildflowers and other plants. Last year the space was inundated with pokeweed and the burnt stumps showed everywhere from the prescribed burns. This year there is a greater variety of plants and even the shade-loving lady’s slippers still bloom there. I have noticed a number of wild blueberry bushes and they, too, are bursting with clusters of tiny, green berries with the smallest hint of blue just beginning.

On our way back K. became interested in my compass and asked to see how it worked. I obliged and set it on the flat ground and proceeded to try to explain while keeping a 6 foot distance. This was not a very possible thing to do. I think I’m going to need a long pointer of some kind. I wonder where I could find some sticks….

See you tomorrow, Woods!

T.

I had a blast today with 2 different families in 2 different locations. My morning began at Rogue River Park where I have never explored prior to a brief check-in last night. Getting to meet a new family in a new location was really fun and a novel experience for me. I asked the 13 year old to lead the way since he knows this place so well. Often parents think it is better to explore a new place, but I actually often prefer a familiar place for the kids because with familiarity comes a sense of ownership and pride. When we feel ownership of something, we tend to take better care of it. So maybe if we all felt like the entire planet belonged to us, we might make better choices for it. In any case, he was more than happy to show us one of the many paths he has explored before today. As soon as we set out we encountered nature discoveries!

I was sad to see this turtle nest had been raided already, but it was still an interesting thing to inspect. The kids were able to feel the leathery texture of the eggs and the artist in our group began sketching the eggs and nest right away. This was an opportunity for me to explain about how many turtle species are facing significant loss of their numbers due to over-predation of animals like raccoons. As humans made this their home, we destroyed habitat and killed off top predators that might have kept the raccoon population in check.

Mom bought 3 of the whistle/compass/magnifier combos I have and the magnifiers were great for looking at flowers up close!

When we stopped for a poison ivy identification lesson we also noticed all of the white fluff that is floating all around in the air. Looking up, it seemed to be snowing in the green treetops. The kids got out their magnifiers and looked for the tiny cottonwood seeds in the fluff while I talked about various ways plants spread their seeds. Later I noticed similar fluff on a willow tree, so I have some new learning to do, myself!

There was so much to notice and learn along the path, and when we came to a tiny stream we stopped to check it out. No one wanted to take me up on a close-up sniff of skunk cabbage for some reason. A little while later we came upon a swampy area where beavers had chewed down many trees at some point, though the work didn’t appear to be recent. The remainder of our time we spent swamping about with our shoes on in the muck and having a grand time balancing, slipping, trying again, inspecting horse-tails or snake-grass, and admiring blue-flags.

We got very muddy and wet but everyone was having so much fun, it didn’t even matter! I was extremely impressed with mom’s laid back attitude about all of it and the way she laughed off the various swamp shenanigans her children were into.

My afternoon group was a family I know from my days of teaching at Lakes Elementary. We explored near and in the swamp at Brower Lake Nature Preserve where there are lovely, huge, wild grapevines to climb and swing on. We spotted quite a bit of wildlife such as leeches, a spring peeper, and a wood frog. We tasted wintergreen leaves, sniffed sassafras leaves, and chewed on a sassafras root. Wading in the swamp we were unable to get very far because that swamp gets a little deeper and is protected by some very fierce, wild rosebushes.

When the littlest boy got a bit tired out, I was pleased to have in my backpack one of my all time favorite books from when I was a kid. Mom sat right down with him and cuddled up to do a picture-reading, since these books are wordless. They are a wonderful way to introduce young children to the love of books and of animals because the pictures tell a detailed story. I smiled to hear his mom making up words for the book, just as my dad used to do for me. (Though her version was much cleaner than his, as I recall!) The series is drawn by Mercer Mayer and this particular book in the series is called, A Boy, a Dog, a Frog, and a Friend.

While they read, one of the other boys joined me in an effort to find salamanders. We didn’t see any, but we did capture (with muddy hands) a tiny spring peeper and a wood frog. It was very exciting! After carefully viewing the peeper in our 2-way magnifier, we returned it to the same place we found it.

I was impressed by how careful and respectful of nature this family was. I can tell that their mom is being very intentional about this and it shows!

Using familiar landmarks, the two oldest kids led us back to the path and out to “civilization.” See you later, Swamp!

T.

Three, sweet kids and their mom, an old friend of mine, took me on an adventure into their neighborhood woods this morning. Attempted social distancing is still difficult and awkward, and it doesn’t work in every moment, but we are humans, so we just did the best we could. The littlest of the three wasn’t quite up for the entire exploration which began by crossing their beautiful neighborhood to get to the woods path. Her dad came and picked her up, and we decided that next time we will stick to the wild area behind their home where we can spend the entire time exploring and less time walking. There is always more to discover and every day there are changes, even in the places most familiar to us.

As soon as we reached the path there were so many things I wanted to show them, and I always like to hear what the kids already know and what they enjoy in these spaces. The oldest of the three excitedly told me about all of the tiny toads they’ve been finding all over their neighborhood. We briefly examined a couple of them that had expired on the sidewalk. Before we even entered the shelter of the trees we stopped to notice and re-learn poison ivy identification. In comparing poison ivy to a wild berry cane, we discovered that the wild berry brambles were covered in the tiniest, hard, green, berries that will surely be gobbled up by animals and children alike when they ripen! I love how one small discovery opens up the next, and the next after that. We identified some oak trees and I also pointed out a terribly invasive bush called, “autumn olive.” It has a lovely name and a nice scent, but other than that it’s not much use here. It is pushing out native plants that support the native wildlife.

Moving on into the woods I could have happily left the trail for all sorts of places that beckoned to me, but I knew I wanted to first encourage the kids to show me what they connected with in this place. They spoke of an old staircase and a path to the river where someone left a fishing pole and chairs. We paused along the path to examine some decomposing logs and silver-gray beech trees. My friend shared about how ancient some of the trees are in her own yard, which reminded me to talk about how these forests are not old-growth forests, which means that all of the trees that would have been hundreds of years old here have long since been felled for timber when this area was being settled by our various ancestors. All of the trees here are relatively young compared to some of the old-growth forests of Europe. As we walked, the kids noticed and pointed out changes just since the storm we had the other day.

The kids led the way to a stairway of roots and we looked down into the flooded riverside where a huge tree had fallen, its lacework of roots now tipped on its side while virginia creeper and other vines grew over it. I could feel the child inside of me longing to scale that root system and climb aboard the old tree trunk as it lay nearly horizontal over the water. Initially, the kids seemed to hold back at the idea of wading through the ankle-deep water to reach the fallen tree, but I decided to try it myself in hopes they might follow.

After some hesitation and discussion of how they would navigate, both kids began to climb up after me from a place they felt more comfortable. Just as they began, one of my feet suddenly broke through the vines over the root cage and I found myself realizing it was more precarious than I had anticipated! This root system was unsupported from beneath, and the vines that covered it were masking multiple openings where feet could go through! I was relieved to have discovered this in time to warn z. and g. to climb with more care than I had. I mentally commended their mom for remaining calm and collected as we challenged ourselves to this climb. From our elevated perch we could see the swollen river flowing by and we looked up into the green canopy of leaves, and I took a deep, happy breath.

On our way back down, g. slipped and slid into a half-fall which scared, scraped, and startled her. In my past experience with children and in my own childhood I know that when a parent is nearby, kids tend to be more likely to cry or to look for comfort when frightened or hurt, whereas with a teacher they will often brush it off and swallow their tears. This makes perfect psychological sense! With our parents or caregivers we feel safest (or we should!) and we trust them to protect and care for us. It is easier to be emotionally vulnerable with these trusted adults than it is with an adult who is not family. I took a moment to reassure her that her tears are the body’s natural response to stress or fear, and it is important to allow ourselves to cry if we need to because we will feel better for it, and we can then move on to the next thing. I once again silently admired her mom’s composure as she gently reminded g. that she was okay, that these things happen sometimes, and that she was brave for what she did! Kids definitely look to their parents for their response, and there is nothing like a visibly freaked out or openly worried parent to make a kid feel even more scared! My friend clearly knows this and though she may have felt her own fear upon seeing g. slip and fall, she didn’t show any fear when her daughter needed her reassurance.

We had so little time left by that point, but I knew they wanted to show me the river up close, so we hurried to the other fork in the path and approached the rain-swollen river as it slipped past us. Where there is water, there is life, and I could have happily stayed there and explored some more, but our time was up so we headed back through the woods. We briefly searched under rotted log pieces for a glimpse of a salamander, but no such luck today. At some point I stopped to demonstrate how to give your hands a dirt wash, or, if there is mud, to apply mud gloves or mud mittens, so as to protect any amphibian we may handle from whatever substances we have on our hands. We did admire some iridescent green and blue damsel-flies though. g. explained that she likes to look at certain animals but not to touch them, even though she knows they can’t hurt her. I meant to tell her that the best way to learn about animals is just to observe them anyway!

One of my favorite activities in the woods is to close my eyes and shift my attention from one sense to the next, but today we hadn’t take the opportunity to do so until my friend suddenly lifted her face and sniffed, catching the sweetness of nearby wild roses blooming. She encouraged g. and z. to do the same and soon we all stood in the path just sniffing the wind. g. wasn’t sure which plant smelled so good, so I stepped off the path and broke off a small sprig of blossoms for them to sniff and take home.

The final pieces of nature information I shared for the day were related to my recent learning about trees and how some of them can communicate with each other. I would never have guessed this! Last year I read an amazing book called, “The Hidden Life of Trees,” and discovered some truly shocking and fascinating information about these ancient beings! I have always been close friends with trees, ever since I can remember, but this book opened up a whole new learning experience for me.

Next week I get to go explore even MORE of what nature has to offer with more of our local, Rockford, families. I can’t wait!

T.

p.s. After the session was over and I returned home, my friend sent me the best text message and it made my day.
“Invitation is definitely a form of flattery… we just returned from a walk in the same woods with 5 neighbor kids and two moms. We looked for poison ivy, climbed the giant tree roots, and went off the path. The kids had a ball and (the littlest one) went the whole time with zero complaints! So fun!”