Category: Nature
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Wild Ozark Ranked in the Top 100! Also, Don’t Let Your Feed Reader Hijack Your Author/Reader Relationship.
Top 100 Nature Blogs Wild Ozark is honored to announce that it was recently listed on the Feedspot curated list of Top 100 Nature Blogs. Feedspot is a RSS Feed Reader service. I’m pleased by this award and happy to know my Nature Blog pages are being read and ranked well by Google. Does a Feed…
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Early Spring Plants of the Woodlands in Madison County Arkansas
I got a late start photographing the early spring plants this year (2017). They started without me and I’ve already missed some of them. These are some of the plants unfurling and blooming on April 1 in the woodland habitats here at Wild Ozark. Early Spring Plants This late afternoon shot of fern fiddleheads is…
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Sunrise Sounds at Wild Ozark
In the mornings, we don’t hear highway noise of people rushing to get to work on time. Our sunrise sounds belong to nature. Sunrise Sounds Remodeling We’ve been particularly busy lately here. Rob’s remodeling the bathroom. We thought it might be a weekend project, just a new coat of paint and put up some trim.…
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A Guest Post from Martin James Wood
My guest today is sharing his nature essay. Please welcome Martin James Wood to your Wild Ozark space. Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the beauty – From the Cabin’s Front Porch.
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The Ozark Winds of March and Strong Signs of Spring
The Ozark winds of March have been blowing strong since maybe before March even began. But last night really trumped all of our weather-related excitement. I knew there was a tornado possibility before I went to sleep. The weather forecasts said so and showed the ominous red box surrounding a storm predicted to track in…
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Get Outside in Nature! America’s National Parks Celebration
Every year, the U.S. National Park Service offers free park entrance days at America’s National Parks. Today was a free day, and I’ve missed the boat for that one. The next free days are April 15-16 & April 22-23: National Park Week Weekends. I was recently inspired by Cotopaxi to celebrate the Centennial for America’s National…
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Sunrises, Opportunities and Rising Early
Aside from just being a list of things I need to do, some of these represent opportunities, too. Opportunities to learn a thing or two. Often this kind of opportunity masquerades as frustrations, ha.
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Watching for Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch Hazel Flowers Witch hazel flowers are an interesting sight to behold. The petals on the small flowers are thin and wild. The shrub blooms during the most unlikeliest time of the year. It is one of my favorite plants in the Ozarks. She is an untamed rebel, even if she or her hybridized cousins…
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Feathered Rovers, a Poem
A little time alone watching a flock of birds in the woods today inspired a poem. My poetry is infrequent and when the drive to write one hits, I just have to get it out of my head. And since I’m not a practiced poet, lol, it never has a formal structure. Just free verse.…
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Ginseng Habitat Demonstration Garden
Beginning in May 2017 there will be a place to go for anyone interested in seeing ginseng growing in its natural environment, and for learning about the habitat.
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Bringing Hay to Horses in Snow
After yesterday’s post where I reveled in the fact that we’d actually had a decent snowfall, we went out in the cold to bring hay to horses. The temperature was about 15*F with a windchill factor of I don’t know what, but I’m sure ridiculously cold. Rob takes the tractor and I go ahead of…
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Can’t see the Trees for the Forest, or rather, Snowflakes for the Snow
Yesterday we only had a little bit of snow and each little snowflake was easy to see and photograph. Now it is like not being able to see the trees for the forest. Can’t see the snowflakes for the snow. Snow Makes the Cold More Bearable … for a little while But I love it.…
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Special Little Snowflakes
First Snowfall 2017 A couple of snowflakes flurried around the other day, but today is the day I’m counting as Wild Ozark’s first official snowfall of 2017.
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How to Identify Plants in the Wild, How to Search and Find Clues
Earlier this year I surveyed my newsletter members for their top questions. Here’s one about how to identify plants found in the outdoors. Top Questions It’s more of a comment than a question, but I’m creating this post in response to it. Although I’ve paraphrased some, I believe the underlying question would be “how to identify…
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End of Autumn and Letting Go of Clutter
The principle of letting go of that which no longer serves is worth looking at. For me, the end of autumn is a great time of year to do it because it matches my mood already. This year the process will be focused on my office clutter.
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Perseverance
This snail is steadfastly going over obstacles that could proportionately be called boulders. I watched it for a little while as it went over, under, or around whatever stood in the path blocking him from his destination.
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Hornet’s Nest & The last of the fall color at Wild Ozark
A hornet’s nest to decorate with has long been on my wish-list. Around here, they don’t survive very long in the wild because cliff or chimney swifts tear up their nests to make the plaster for their own nests. There was a big one in the plum tree on the other end of the horse’s…
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Rewind: Between Autumn and Winter: A Liminal Space
We’re in a holding pattern at Wild Ozark right now, which is in its own way a sort of liminal space. Rob has two hernias and we’re waiting for the surgeon’s office to call with his appointment day/time. So while he limits his movements to the barest possible, I’m staying nearby to fetch things so…
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Imposter by Nature – Hognose Snake
Valerie, don’t read this post… it’s about a hognose snake and there are pictures 😉 Situational Awareness Lesson This is a negative lesson. Don’t do what I do. Luckily for me, it wasn’t as bad a situation as it could have been. I stepped off the driveway to get closer to a deciduous magnolia sapling…
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Get in Shape with Nature- Starting out the Day Hot & Sweaty
This morning I didn’t bring my camera so I wouldn’t be tempted to stop and take pictures. The point is to get sustained heart rate elevation. I didn’t almost step on any snakes or encounter any bears, so no excessive heart rate elevation occurred either.
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Ginseng Growing Season is Winding Down, Digging Winding Up
Usually low prices of any traded good means there is either low demand or over-supply. The case with ginseng this year, according to the dealers who have shared information with me, is both. The demand is lower because of overseas economy. And there is over-supply. Many dealers still have dried roots to sell from the…
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Unveiling Wild Ozark’s New Logo
It’s time for a new logo, and a permanent one. It’s taken me a few years of working on Wild Ozark to finally figure out what exactly it is that ties all of the things we do together. Why a new Logo? I’ve tried out several temporary ones over the past few years, but none…
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Ozark Backroad Photo Journey – Come Along for the Ride
Whenever I go away from the house alone, I take my camera. A simple run to the post office or to town becomes an Ozark Backroad Photo Journey. I generally try not to do this when I have passengers or am myself a passenger. It seems that stopping as often as I do when I’m…
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Mushrooms are Rising and Fall is in the Air at Wild Ozark
Can you feel the changing of the season? I see it and feel it today. With all the rain we’ve been having, and the cool mornings for the past couple of days, the fungi are loving above ground life. This morning there were mushrooms galore!
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Tiny Pretty Things
Lots of tiny pretty things catch my eye. A little flash of red caught my eye yesterday when I was working on repairs to the horses’ gate. At the moment I was unable to move the grass aside to see what it was, but as soon as the wires were twisted, I dropped the pliers…