Travels, Adventure, Wonders of Nature and Open Days

The summer winds blew us across the country and back again to celebrate the rich and diverse life of the beautiful North America. A very special man knew this July birthday girl wanted nothing more than time outdoors exploring - starting, of course, with a strong cup of black coffee.

We met Tall Green Milkweed in the heat of Missouri...

 and snow melt lakes in the heart of the Colorado Rockies.

Us flatlanders struggled with the near 13,000' altitude, but the plants and views made the lack of red blood cells more than worth it. And to be fair to our blood cells, we felt mighty better after a few days camped high. It's all about adaptation.

Our July 4th fireworks sparkled in the faces of the alpine flowers and twinkly, starlit night. Perfect.

Crystal clear waters made us drop to our knees everytime in gratitude. Sometimes we fought back tears wondering why on Earth so many of the waters of our homeland are straightened and filled with topsoil or subsoil and the color of mud, but we know it's a brief blip in the history of the planet and clear water will flow in sinuous braids once again.

Caddisflies told me about the purity of the water and I sat with them for a while and they visit me frequently in my memory. I hold onto them and their message of hope.

Onward we journeyed in the Glamp, the perfect base camp.

We stopped to contemplate the Colorado river...so fabled, so controversial and so needed to so many.

Natural Bridges National Monument wowed us beyond belief with rocks, colors and life. Swallows nipped and tucked overhead bringing food to babies and had us giggling in delight with their more than swift flight. Little pockets of water held quickly developing tadpoles. We sat a lot. We didn't think too much. We just absorbed and filled up our depleted wells of inspiration.

Cicadas in Utah helped me continue the celebration of my 41st birthday; they obviously knew the music of their wings is the music of my heart.

We made it all the way to Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder, UT and delighted in the food, the spectacular scenery and reverence for life. The owners are in the fight for Grand Staircase-Escalante and we felt grateful to be amongst other Earth lovers and proud to support them.

Showy Milkweed saluted us near Calf Creek, while Lower Calf Creek waterfall elicited more laughter than any other time on the trip as we dipped into the icy, cool waters with a whole pack of boyscouts whooping and hollering.

Again, we bowed to clear water naturally supporting three species of trout. No stocking here.

The home bound winds blew and boondocked us on top of the world in Wyoming. Coyotes yipped, nighthawks peented and horned larks sang. Our bellies filled up on farmers' market purchased food and we sat in the breeze feeling the shifts of change. Homecoming, but better.

The Badlands of South Dakota offered us singing chorus frogs. How did they all know? How did all my heart-harbored life know I was celebrating them and by singing their song, my very own song grew richer and richer?

We traveled through Iowa to visit Seed Savers Exchange and the Baltimore oriole's nest above our campspot told us this was right. You see, if you haven't gathered already, we want to support good work and hope in this world.

The appreciation of local food in this community is strong. We loved Seed Savers farm, the local food coop and the farmers' market. Keeping us well fed while traveling is easy in the summer.

The vestiges of prairie in Illinois (Midewin Ntl. Tallgrass Prairie) and Indiana (Kankakee Sands) welcomed us back and once again wove our minds and hearts into this spectacular ecosystem. Seeing what was and what can be again buoyed our efforts to bring wildness back to all of our hearts and lands.

Common Milkweed said: "Hello old friends. I'm glad you are back. The flowers are in bloom, the juvenile Common Yellowthroats are flitting about and the dragonflies are hunting. The 3.5 acres you call home does not want you to miss the show."

"Now, let's get to work rewilding and inviting life back."

The wisdom of Milkweed lives strong again.

Here's an article I wrote on this very topic. I titled it Life in Flyover Country. Have you ever thought, that in fact we ARE flyover country here in the Midwest to thousands and millions of winged beings?

Come visit us! We have 3 open days scheduled on this magical 3.5 acres, where we are offering plants to aid in this planting revolution and restoration of wildness. See our website for very important details. 

Check out our latest VIDEOS.

Also, I created an Instagram account for The Common Milkweed since so many of you requested me to do so. I have no idea what I am doing yet, but if you are on there find us @The Common Milkweed.

The Seriously Cool Red Cedar

Today is the day to write about one of our favorite native Ohio trees: Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). This fabulous tree grows throughout eastern N. America and is a true pioneer of recovering lands. Luckily, it is growing its beautiful self all over our recovering old field.

We practice some serious gratitude when witnessing a native, beneficial tree able to grow quickly, strongly, in all sorts of soil and in sun and shade.

Apparently this tree is difficult to grow in pots. but it sure transplants easily and with almost no shock. We moved more than ten around our property in places where we wanted windbreaks and privacy with zero issues. We planted them densely on the NW corner of our house for winter winds; soon this area will be nicely filled in and offer a great buffer.

Leavin' the magical leaves! One of nature's best gifts....

When we moved here, we initially planted Colorado Blue Spruce and White Pine because our local SWCD offered them and these native Cedars are hands down superior in every way. They outgrow these other conifers every year and with almost no mortality. If we had known this would happen, we would not have planted those other species, which aren't native to this area and are telling us they are not nearly as happy (except for one anomaly White Pine, which is happy as a kitten).

Red Cedars sometimes get a bad rap because they "invade prairies and pasture lands," but it's really all about management and the land's current hydrology, browse factor, etc. Keep them out of the prairies so the prairies can be prairies and pasture can be pasture, but let them grow in old fields and fencerows and yards and recovering forest. Eastern North America had a magnificent, spectacular forest once that we can only dream of and yes, we feel overwhelming grief for what was carelessly destroyed, but we don't dwell in that part of our knowledge because we can't. Instead we plant and plant and plant.

Reforesting a piece of land takes a long time so those trees that are early successional are key to foster slower growing species and to give one hope that the forest will return. That's what Steve and I are called to do...plant. I don't think we've ever been so drawn to anything like this other than hiking and exploring this infinitely interesting and beautiful natural world. There is redemption in such a hope-filled and important act like planting trees. We humans can't turn back the clock, but we can go forward with respect for each other and all life and take significant action to do what is right and to fix what is broken.

Red Cedars provide us with soul-satiating green in a season lacking this life-filled color, while also offering important food and shelter for all sorts of wildlife. We have Cedar Waxwings frequently feasting on the berries, American Robins nesting in them in the warm season by the DOZENS, and potentially Saw-whet Owls resting in them during migration. (Thanks to Stanley Stine with Twinsburg Parks and Recreation for this sweet little tid-bit.)

There are all sorts of little grass nests under these trees from different mammals and beautiful Bagworms hanging from limbs here and there (no they have not ever killed the trees here or ever caused significant damage and even if they did, the trees would most likely recover. One of our oaks regrew all new leaves after complete defoliation by native Datana caterpillars last year.)

The wood smells fabulous and is long lasting. The beautiful, blue, berries (actually, cones) are medicinal, edible and used to flavor gin.

Wow! We are smitten, I guess. Well, really we are smitten with just about everything wild and free and functional.

Thanks to Stanley, again, for sharing a film we want to watch that is completely relevant to this post: Call of the Forest.

We wish you all a joyous harvest season and some significant time outdoors.

For fun since you might have some extra time over Thanksgiving or just need to jam while cooking, here's some tunes I've enjoyed while writing this post:

Lera Lynn Wolf Like Me

Indigenous Things We Do

Mandolin Orange Old Ties and Companions

Samantha Crain Equinox

Joni Mitchell Woodstock

After the AZT (Rockhound, Bluebonnets, Lady Bird Johnson, Natchez Trace)!

Through the chaos and serendipity of getting off trail, we don't have photo documentation of much of what happened, but huge thanks to the ultra cool Randy for giving us a lift to Saguaro National Park and camping with us for a night. We hope Yellowstone is fabulous!

Thanks to Noah with Uber for getting us to Tucson and the only available rental car turned van and to the fabulous Ian for the lift south and stashing our car during our hike. Huge thanks, again, to Deborah for hosting us at your home and letting us regroup and love on sweet, sweet Max and admire Leo from afar.

Our trip East landed us first amongst the epic wildflower bloom near the Florida Mountains in southern New Mexico.

Mexican Poppy:

Sumac:

Dalea:

Happy explorer:

Wild Flax:

The fantastic wildflowers, sunsets, and time to be still worked some magic on us once again.

  
The ease of a table is much appreciated after many days without!

We don't know this cactus and it doesn't look right for the horse crippler, but we love it.

Variable Checkerspot nectaring on Coreopsis:

A stop in Carlsbad reunited us with very special friends we've missed dearly since we moved away in 2009. Huge hugs to John (Ocarina, Tongue Drum and all sorts of goodness - Maker) and Gosia (owner of the fabulous Heart Rock Massage Therapy.) This photo is by Gosia documenting our time together so we know it really happened. ☺ Thank you sweet girl for hosting us in your welcoming and inspiring home!

The Texas Hill Country showed us the wildflowers we hoped for. Here's the famous Texas Bluebonnets:

Bluebonnets and Paintbrush make for a dramatic color display:

The new growth on the Prickly Pear Cactus is so brilliantly green...the color of true plant magic.

The Live Oaks are really something to experience. Ancient trees hold our hearts (and yours?) so now is the time to start planting all slow growing trees for future generations.

Even though we've seen Antelope Horns many times, each time we squeal with delight. Look at this beauty:

We are HUGE pie lovers and a roadside sign advertising homemade pies had Steve careening off the road into a small driveway to take advantage of homemade deliciousness shortly after a very stressful turtle rescue (which we successfully completed without anyone getting hurt). The pie was a perfect treat as was our conversation and inspiriation from the Pie Lady. We are always grateful to cross paths with people making their own, unique way in the world out of a place of necessity and sometimes because of their commitment to their own life desires.

This post is all about thanks and this one goes to Lady Bird Johnson for her vision and love of flowers and wild places. If you get to Austin, TX, go check out the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. We were more than impressed and the food in the cafe is delicious too!

Louisiana and Mississippi, we are so glad we got to meet you. We will be back.

The Natchez Trace is a beautiful drive, with three free campgrounds along its route. We highly recommend this drive for its beauty, history, ease of access to small communities and slow pace. This is a route that makes you think about the craziness of many of our interstates and ways we choose to live now. Hmmmm. 

So much happened on this trip, but this gives you a small taste. We are excited to share all the planting happening on our three little wild acres here in Ohio so tune in next week.