As a naturalist and lover of natural landscapes, I am always seeking ways of making my home landscape look its best while using native plantings.
It all started 15 years ago when building my house. I was determined to stick with a non-traditional landscape around the foundation of the structure. After all, the house was in a particularly beautiful natural setting so why not use that to showcase native plantings.
I wanted a front entry that would be an extension of the prairie that I seeded...
I have a confession to make. I am a data nerd. I love a good spreadsheet, seeing all those numbers (data points) neatly arrayed. But I am also an artist. And at first glance those two would seem to be incompatible. But they are not.
Data can be the inspiration for art. Don’t think so? Hear me out. Picture bar graphs, pie charts and infographics. (Who doesn’t love a good pie chart?) All of these are visual ways to convey data, often making it easier for the reader to comprehend the information...
“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."
Nathaniel Hawthorne
When was the last time you noticed the light? I mean really noticed it. Not the, “oh it’s getting dark, I should turn on a light” notice, think deeper than that. As the days grow shorter, I find myself studying light. As a trained artist and photographer, perhaps that is not so surprising. Photography quite literally means, “Light writing”. But what is light?
In a...
If you have watch any television, scrolled through a social media feed or spent a few moments reading tweets, then you know that political ads, opinions, and half-truths have built to a fevered pitch, this first week in November. And depending on the ad, we are told we are facing Armageddon, the next great depression or a raging out of control pandemic. It is enough to make one crawl under the covers and hibernate.
In its Greek roots, crisis means decision, a turning point. And that is exactly...
Sitting in the woods, I hear the sound of fall through the voice of the trees. Trees talk in swooshes, crackles and this time of year in a rustle. One only has to hear this distinctive sound to know the seasons have truly changed. As Walt Whitman wrote, “Go and sit in a grove or woods, with one or more of those voiceless companions, and read the foregoing, and think.” So as I sit here listening to fall, I contemplate the trees.
I am not the first nor will I be the last person to do so. Trees...
Sitting in Miss Hoover’s seventh grade science class I often thought how magical science seemed. Secrets of how things worked and behaved or how adding one chemical to another changed the color, all of it seemed almost unbelievable. In fact, it was more than just a magic trick. All of it was the result of painstaking observations, questions, experiments and data, always data.
This year has brought science itself under the microscope. Daily there are new updates on our scientists’ understanding...
By Joy Clough, Cook County Master Naturalist, July 2020
We think we have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste. But there are more: imagination, curiosity, memory, insight, play, and emotions that range from fear to surprise to delight. Engaging our outer and inner senses fosters our health, and nature is just waiting to help us become more alive.
Nature? Forest preserves, botanic gardens, wild prairies – sure. But nature is also the flowers on your porch. The birds on...
“Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote brings me comfort during this unsettling time and it is a gentle reminder that nothing is permanent and that this too shall pass. Just take a look at nature. She has been asleep, resting and waiting these past months knowing that there will be a time to wake. For nature, that time is now. She is slowly awakening. Not in a rush or a mad dash to full bloom, but a slow trickle. Each day a minute longer. Each...
By Rose Moore, Master Naturalist
It all started a month ago when I was working on a painting of Giant Sequoias after a trip I took recently to Yosemite National Park. In gathering information about these trees I discovered scientists believe the oldest specimen alive today is about 3,500 years old. Those that were logged in the past were recorded at over 5,000 years old. They are among the oldest living things on earth. Suddenly, my interest was sparked in finding out how old are the trees on...
Are you sketching in your journal? If not, maybe you should be. I know, you are thinking to yourself, “But I can’t draw.” Or “I can’t even do a stick figure.” Am I right? Whether you are good or bad at sketching is beside the point. The important part is the act of drawing, itself.
Drawing is good for you. It is exercise for the eyes, hands, and mind and it can be a form of visual thinking, an outlet for emotions, and a record of a moment in time.
The act of drawing slows you down. When you...
By Rose Moore
Master Naturalist – January 2020
One of the greatest pleasures I have in my daily outdoor adventures is discovering new things.
Just because it is winter, there is no absence of wonders to be found.
Recently, on a mild, snow - less morning, I decided to veer off my usual trails and search for signs of life in other areas of the property.
As I was walking along the stream at the bottom of a ravine, something caught my eye at the base of a large hickory tree. It was the shiny...
