Perceiving Patterns in Nature

By Sara Firman – Diving Deeper

“The failure to perceive order and structure in and unknown city can upset a visitor in the same way that an apparently homogeneous forest can be completely confusing to an unobservant wanderer.” – Landscape: Pattern, Perception and Process by Simon Bell

The Birth of Summer

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz -

June is the traditional, astrological, and physical birth of summer.  In June, you can witness the stately elderberry unfurling its huge white flower umbels to the blue sky, or wander through dense blackberry thickets filled with ripening fruit.  Somewhere in the deep, shady woods the wild turkey hen lays her clutch of eggs in a neatly cloaked bowl of leaves and sticks, female deer give birth to spindly spotted fawns and golden fox kits are born in shallow dens.  June is the month with the longest day and the most violent thunderstorms.  It is that unique combination of warmth, moisture and long sunlit days that stoke the fire of creation.  In June, life rushes to complete yet another circle in the endless journey of seasons.

Feathered Friends Brighten Spring

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz -  (Excerpted from A Journey of Seasons)

The hands of time seem to spin faster during spring than during any other time of year. So many things are happening right now that it is almost dizzying to watch. Every day I take time for at least a short walk about the property and could spend hours at my journal describing the myriad of new plants, animals, birds and bugs that I find.  Right now, it’s the birds who have my eye with their colorful plumage and brilliant songs.

Peepers Call for the Awakening

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz –

The Vernal equinox, also known as the Spring Equinox, marks a point when day and night become equal in length for a short time all over the world.  This stellar event marks our astrological trip into spring and the long-awaited wakening from the Great Sleep.  As if on cue, the first creatures to respond were the Peepers – those incredibly small amphibians readily identified by a conspicuous X-mark across their backs – as if picked out by the Creator for a very special purpose.

Alien Invaders: Armadillos in the Midwest

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz –

Many people who don’t live in the Ozarks are surprised to learn that there are armadillos here. This is obviously because most people do not associate these odd animals with the mid-south, but rather think of them as creatures from such dry states as Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  While I never thought much about armadillos before I came here, I have come to learn the hard way that they are both an intriguing and terribly frustrating creature.  And while I am a self-avowed animal lover, I must admit that my frustration with this scaly critter has occasionally reached murderous proportions.

Nature Notes: Exploring the Great Sleep

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz -

I like to refer to winter as The Great Sleep, because although life outside the window pane seems dull and lifeless, it is anything but. Yet to find that elusive bit of life, one must go in search of it. Even this self-avowed nature freak has to remind herself of this from time to time. So today, I took a stroll through the woods with my eyes – and my senses – wide open.

Winter Blahs? Let’s Feed the Birds!

By Daniel Novak

Feeding and watching birds in the summer, spring and fall can be an enjoyable family pursuit and winter should be no different. While many of the birds we often see at other times of year travel to warmer climates for the winter a few hardy souls remain. Inasmuch as feeding can attract a plethora of birds for our viewing enjoyment it can actually be integral in seeing our feathered friends through a tough time of year when other food sources may be scarce or absent. Here are a few basic winter bird feeding tips that will keep birds happy and coming back day after day.

Crawl into Fall: Cool Caterpillars

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz –
A Journey of Seasons

It is fall all over the place here in the Ozarks!  The sunburnt days of summer drought have been replaced by moisture-laden mists and golden afternoon sunlight – perfect for a long leisurely walk through the woods.  Sometimes I get lucky and run across one of the creative and colorful caterpillars of the Ozarks.

Reflections and the Tufted Titmouse

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz –
A Journey of Seasons

This morning I was standing on the porch enjoying my morning coffee when I was suddenly struck by the unusual absence of any kind of sound or movement.  The trees didn’t sway and not a creature stirred.  Even the air stood still.  I was marveling at the odd and unnatural silence of the forest when suddenly a flurry of small, gregarious chickadees, titmice, juncos and nuthatches suddenly rained down upon the yard, filling the air with their busy chatter and my heart with a childish happiness.  Among the festive band of feathered friends were a large and noisy group of titmice.  These friendly, acrobatic birds seemed the busiest and most vocal of the group and my attention naturally turned to them.

Is a Blue Moon Really Blue?

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz -

Tonight we will be treated to a rare blue moon.  Celebrated throughout the ages, blue moons are studied, admired and looked upon with varying levels of wonder and awe.  Of course, a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month and happens on average, once every two years, mostly in the months of June, July and August.   But is a blue moon really blue?

Hanging Out With Spiders

Jill Henderson

Anyone who lives in or visits the Ozarks invariably notices that we have a lot of spiders.  They’re  in our gardens, fields, meadows, pastures and woodlands; and sometimes, they’re even in our homes.  Love them or hate them, life in the Ozarks just wouldn’t be the same without  a few wispy strands of spider silk brushing across your face on a woodland walk or the sight of a dewy meadow strung with thousands of glistening hammock-like webs strung by the Sheet-web spider (Linyphiidae).  Of course,  living in Missouri provides plenty of opportunities to encounter and learn about at least a few of the 300 species of spiders that call the Ozarks home.

Wrens, Tree Frogs and Rain Gardens

Here in our little slice of Ozarks heaven, we are most fortunate to be granted the privilege of greeting every new day with a lyrical symphony of sound that has the ability take our breath away.  Yet, there are those rare occasions when the sweet symphony becomes more like a raucous cat fight.  Take the Carolina wren for example. Earlier in the week I spotted a male wren among the brushy edges of the woods, bobbing and flicking his tail up and down.  I’ve always found wrens interesting enough, but to be honest, they never really made any enduring impression on me – just a nice little brown bird that flicks its tail a lot.   I would soon be proven wrong.

Winter Landscapes in the Ozarks

We’ve been offline all week as we waited for our new computer.  Since I was not able to finish the second installment of America’s Native Bamboo in time for this week’s post, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite winter scenes.

I’ll be back next week with a healthy article entitled: America’s Native Bamboo: Identification & Culture.  I hope to see you then.

A Hole Lot of Trouble!

By Jill Henderson

Last week I was in the shop working on a project when I realized that for the entire hour that I had been there, I had been hearing the steady, drumming rhythm of a woodpecker pounding a nearby tree. I stepped out of the shop to look for the source of the sound, hoping to find out which species of woodpecker it was. I scanned the trunks of nearby trees without luck. Finally, I walked around the side of the well house to get a better look at the lower portion of the trees when a small woodpecker shot out in front of me and landed in a low-hanging branch ten feet away. I turned to look at the side of the well house and immediately saw a tidy hole in the wood siding just below the eave.

Fabulous Frost Flowers

By Jill Henderson

Humans have a love-hate relationship with winter.  On one hand it’s cold and sometimes dreary and on the other it is a respite from the heat and bugs of summer.  With unsurpassed vistas, clear woodland paths and limitless opportunities to spot birds, raptors and other wildlife, winter also allows for some of the best hiking of the year.  During winter hikes one can spot some of nature’s best architectural wonders, specifically those created during freezing weather, such as ice falls, hoary frost and frozen fog. My all-time favorite wintertime sculpture has to be the elusive and transient frost flower.

Big Bucks and Hunting Season

By Jill Henderson

As we round into the third week of November the Ozarks is enjoying blissful days of low-70 degree temperatures and generally sunny skies.  The winds have been gusting steadily all week long and have finally blown in a good soaking.  I view the weather from the perspective of a gardener, homesteader, and naturalist and this week’s weather has afforded my husband and I the perfect opportunity to check our fence lines and enjoy a hearty hike in the woods.  But  now that the official hunting season has begun, we will spend the next two weeks a little closer to the house.

Fall Frenzy: A Skink Story

By Jill Henderson

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but it is also one of the busiest. Between winterizing the garden, gathering wild edibles, bringing in firewood, and generally readying ourselves and the homestead for the winter to come, it seems to me that we have been in perpetually motion – a frenzy, if you will.  A word that seems to convey just a touch of obsessive compulsive behavior that can sometimes lead to strains, and bruises and bumps.  But we humans are not the only creatures driven to frenzy in our preparations for the coming winter.  In fact, sometimes the frantic nature of animals searching for food, mates and shelter lands them in a slippery situation.

The Sound of Nature

By Jill Henderson

This morning I woke at 4:00 am.  The crescent moon was high in the eastern sky casting it’s milky light all about the open places on the edge of the forest.  In the shadows the cicadas and crickets hummed softly as they wound down the night’s exuberance.

Ladybug, Ladybug…

By Jill Henderson

Everyone knows what a ladybug is. That bright, domed beetle-like creature covered in spots and dots is prized by gardeners, cherished by children, despised by some homeowners, and even emulated in the design for the infamous VW Bug. But what exactly are ladybugs and how does one entice them into the garden or drive them from the woodwork when they become invasive pests in the fall?

Just Itching for Summer

By Jill Henderson

Summer is a fabulous time to explore and hunt for wild edibles or to hike along a cool river, but people around these parts generally avoid venturing into overgrown and untamed places during the summer months because of the ticks and chiggers. How does one even begin to tell outsiders and visitors to our fair