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God’s Wonderful World

Red Admiral Butterfly on Apricot Blossom

Over a dozen Red Admiral butterflies, as well as Tortoise Shell butterflies, honey bees, and bumblebees were drinking nectar from the blossoms of our Manchurian apricot tree.  The entire tree was buzzing and fluttering.  What an incredible world our God has made! For more photos of winged creatures, visit Nature Footsteps Winged, and for more […]

The Sugar Bush

When my parents were here, we took them to a sugar bush where maple sap is collected and syrup is made.  This is a modern operation, full of pipes, vacuum pumps, test plots, and interesting innovations. Of course, the traditional way of collecting sap is also interesting.  This is how they used to do it. Rather than […]

Review: Folks This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin

Modern North American life ‘just ain’t normal’ according to farmer and writer Joel Salatin.  Why not?  It feels normal to most of us. Salatin suggests that we are just too out of tune with the way things have been, could be, and should be.  We don’t even know the way things should be for the […]

The Great Backyard Bird Count

For our nature study this term, we’re focussing on birds.  This ties in well with the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, from Feb 17-20, 2012.     It’s a simple nature/science project that will open your eyes to the birds around you this winter and will also contribute to North American bird knowledge.  All you […]

Our Museum

When you find something beautiful or interesting on your nature walks, what do you do with it?  We put it in our museum. We have cones, seed pods, dried ferns, and a shelf fungus (bottom center). The bird corner includes old nests as well as feathers.  We’ve discovered that blue jay feathers lose their blue […]