We were very fortunate last week to host Joan Maloof, author and professor at Salisbury University in Maryland to walk around Crow's Nest and discuss the creatures and their interactions—and methods of teaching about them—on the preserve to help summer camp staff and volunteers prepare for camp. She has written the book, Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest (University of Georgia Press, 2005).
Above, she is pointing out that members of the borage family such as forget-me-nots (Myosotis sp.) bloom from the base first, gradually expanding toward the tip. By the time the tip is blooming the flowers closer to the base of the stem are already maturing into fruit.
Each of us came away with different lessons from the walk. I experienced many "Aha!" moments on the walk, generally finding out that I walk way too fast through the woods to be seeing enough of what's going on. We found nodding trillium at a second location a mile from where I found it last year, seeing it mainly because we had stopped to talk at one site.
Even the roadside held treasures among the common plants that dominate. We saw this American painted lady caterpillar on pussytoes (Antennaria sp.) Joan found as much to be enthusiastic about nature along the roadside as in the woods but also brought us a new appreciation for the forests that are so complex, so little understood—and in so many places—so threatened.
