Morels, Mayapples
and maintaining the trail...
My daughter Johanna and son Asa were back this week. Johanna lives in Iowa City studying psychology at the University of Iowa. Asa is an artist who lives in Boston. Everything I see and do when they are back is secondary to my time with them. They come first. Thankfully, they enjoy walking with me at Cedar Bluffs, and after the recent storms, I needed help. Asa was with me and helped me clear the path over a couple of days. Johanna was home for a few days, and Asa for a couple of weeks! While Johanna is strong and a good hand with a saw, it was Asa who was here after all of the tornados hit Iowa, fortunately missing us. So he helped me clear the paths. Johanna, above, spotted our first morel of the season!
It always makes me feel good when I can text Chris Clingan, Director of Mahaska County Conservation that “the path is clear!” That way he can deploy his staff to other places where they are needed more.
Asa, Johanna, and I are happy to be a part of maintaining Cedar Bluffs. It makes us feel part of something bigger than us. Part of the team and closer to the earth.
We happened upon our friend Megan one day. She’s a good hand too, always working as part of the team to keep the park free of branches in the path and of litter. Notice the bag on Megan’s right hand that she used that day to pick up litter.
Violet the Dog is a good hand too. It would be more helpful if she had prehensile thumbs.
The hard rains exposed the Mayapple blossoms.
I love these kids so much. Every moment with them is precious. I’m the luckiest guy in the world!
If you enjoy Cedar Creek Nature Notes, I encourage you to subscribe to my friend Larry Stone’s “Listening to the Land.” It’s fantastic. Larry has forgotten more than I will ever know about our outdoor world.
For another glimpse of the wonders of the Iowa outdoors, Diane Porter’s My Gaia is another Substack I enjoy. It’s full of observations on nature and is ripe with wisdom.
And don’t miss Al Batt’s Substack at Al’s Substack. Al Batt of Hartland, Minnesota is a writer, speaker, storyteller, and humorist. Al writes humor and nature columns for many newspapers and does regular radio shows about nature. He writes several popular cartoon strips that are syndicated nationally and is the author of the book, "A Life Gone to the Birds." He is a columnist for "Bird Watcher’s Digest" and “Watching Backyard Birds,” and writes for several magazines and books.
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My husband and I, like you, are thrilled when our children and now, our grandchildren are around. Our farm provides the space where we can all enjoy nature and our family. We are privileged to be in such a place.
I grew up on the farm that is next to Cedar Bluffs on the west. We moved to Pella when I was 10. Cedar Bluffs was where “old Mrs. Gray’s” little shack was when I was a kid in the 60’s. My mom would take my sister and me to check on her occasionally. She had no electricity or indoor plumbing. My older sister dreaded those visits because Mrs Gray would have a bowl of peaches or other fruit with fresh cream from her cows that she would serve us. Mom would make us eat it to be nice. Between our farm and Mrs. Gray’s house was “Mushroom Hill”, where you could pick bagfuls! We also found many arrowheads and tomahawks on that farm, that my sister still has.
One day, during a mushroom hunt, a relative of mine found Mrs. Gray, deceased, in the woods.
I appreciate your other contributions here on Substack and look forward to catching up on this one now!