In Pursuit of Wonder

Wednesday, I began raking the maple leaves in the “grove” by the driveway. It wasn’t necessary to rake and bag the leaves, leaving them would add organic matter to the lawn, enriching it in a cost free manner. However, I desired to gather enough bags of leaves for mulching in…

  Re-read the previous blog https://bethanybenike.wordpress.com/2015/10/10/turtles-and-dragonflies/ before reading this.  Driving back along highway 84, I stopped for one more turtle in the road, on the opposite side. I pulled the van over, parked it and put on the hazards. As I was trying to chase the turtle off the road, a…

Journal June 18, 2015 I went to the Kellogg-Weaver Dunes today. Soon after turning on to Highway 84, I pulled the van over to rescue a painted turtle. She was in the middle of the other lane and I worried another driver may not stop for her. Gently I picked…

Around five o’clock this afternoon/evening, I went to the woods hunting for mushrooms. I drove to the bottom of our hill, and then walked into the woods from there. Well walking into the woods isn’t exactly correct, first locating a spot to enter the woods was necessary, then I had…

April 26 I needed quiet time, nature time, I needed to go to the woods for peace, perspective and healing. I walked through the yard, pass the sheds, turned left, following the fence line, and pass the pond, up the hill, through the rested pasture to the woods and prairie.…

After spending several minutes enjoying the view, we continued on a trail that went along the bluff ridge. A few people had gone down that trail, but soon came back. Jesse asked a couple if the trail ended shortly after the overlook. The woman said it did, or at least…

We wanted to go somewhere, do something other than just sleep away a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We thought about going to Whitewater State Park, one of our favorite places. We had wanted to go to Whitewater to hike as soon as the snow melted, but we still hadn’t gone. Instead,…

Though I’m often not going to the woods or out “in the wild”, I’m still daily outside enjoying the natural world. For although a garden is domestic, in a sense it retains a wildness, an organic garden anyway. There is a great amount of biodiversity going on, and I take…

I stood underneath its canopy, looking up at the large, heart shaped leaves. I marveled at the sunlight shining through the leaves themselves, illuminating most the leaf but darkening some spots, an awesome effect that is only possible in the spring while leaves are young. The tree didn’t seem very…

May 3, 2015 I was nervous, stomach all in knots. For encouragement, I opened The Beekeeper’s Bible to the page on foulbrood. European foulbrood is caused by Melissococcus plutonius, a non-spore forming bacterium, which starves the larva to death by competing for food. Since the bacterium doesn’t have spores it…