Outdoor Mom's Journal - June 2019

During our outdoor time this month we went...to Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, on June 1st. There was a lake that was carved out by a glacier thousands of years ago.

There were sections in the forest that were covered in moss. It was really pretty.

 
The St. Croix River was relatively calm.

The rocks were quite large. As a size comparison - Olivia is about 4'9" tall.

In the nature center, there were interesting exhibit and taxidermy.

On June 14th, my sister, Sophia, Olivia, and my nephew (Colton) went to a nature center at Crex Meadows State Wildlife Area. There were too many mosquitoes, so we opted to spend time inside instead.

There was a juvenile black bear. My sister is a little over 5' tall, so the bear is probably about six feet tall on its hind legs.

There was an interesting display of waterfowl and mammals typically seen in the area.

There was an area of raptors and other birds.

A drawer had a different types of squirrels and other small mammals. We have been seeing a lot of red and gray squirrels. The size difference is more substantial than I thought.

The most inspiring thing we experienced was...having a variety of flowers blooming for Sophia's graduation party on June 29th. There was a lot of color and types of flowers for guests to look at when they came to the party. We have two lavender plants this year. The leaves are more fragrant than the purple flowers.

Our peonies bloomed this year which I was so happy about! Olivia and two of my nieces weeded the peony bed which also has tiger lilies in it. For the party, the peonies were in full bloom.

Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)...whether a rock formation was naturally made or human made. When Olivia and I were on a hike at Interstate State Park, we came across this rock formation. At the top of the cliff, there looks like there's a profile of a face to me.

I'm not sure if it was carved like that or if it was naturally formed. Someday I'll find out.

In the garden, we are planting...various annuals and perennials. This is an annual that we had last year that grew to be over three feet tall. I'm hoping that this year's plants grow the same height. They were really eye-catching under the pine tree in the backyard.

I added nature journal pages about...I am keeping up-to-date with my Nature Observer journal. Each day, there is a small space to write on a calendar things in nature that I want to remember. Then there's a larger amount of space to write about a half dozen sentences about what happened that day and what I saw in nature.

This has been such a great way to pay attention to what is happening outside each day. I've enjoyed going back and reading what I've written since it triggers memories of seeing and hearing what I've written about.

I am reading...issues of Birds and Blooms that were given to me. I love seeing the beautiful photos of the birds and learning about the different plants that benefit both birds and butterflies.

I am dreaming about…seeing more of the gardens in bloom. I also am thinking about hiring a local farmer to mow the pastures so they look nicer and there's more grass available for the horses. The goldenrod has taken over both pastures. When the sheep lived here, they kept it looking like a golf course. We don't need it quite that trimmed...just enough so there's more for the horses to eat since they don't eat goldenrod.

A photo I would like to share...one more photo of some flowers around our farm. These flowers are in a little container garden that also has moss roses - favorite flowers of my parents.