Thursday, April 30, 2009

Fritz's Forest

As I mentioned in the last entry, we recently moved to Missouri.  If you ask my schnicklefritz his favorite thing about our new home he would say "The Forest!!!!"  Our house is situated on a three acre, heavily wooded lot. 


Our old neighborhood  in Indiana was built over farmland.  The land was flat and the only trees were the  evergreens and Bradford Pears doled out to every house on the block.  So much for flora...the fauna consisted of dogs on leashes and the Canadian geese who had taken up residency on the neighborhood retention pond.


Here's a list of animals we've spotted in our new neighborhood: squirrels, chipmunks, a raccoon, deer (as many as 11 at once), horses, mules, a gray fox, a box turtle, a snapping turtle, a possum, cardinals, bluebirds, a merlin,  pileated woodpeckers, and a wild turkey.  We keep our binoculars and a copy of Anna Bradford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study by the patio window.


The variety of vegetation has improved as well.  We have oaks, hickories, black walnuts, and dogwoods decorating our forest.  A neighbor hinted we may find morel mushrooms if we go hunting.  We arrived too late last season to collect nuts but I'm looking forward to trying some new cookie/baking recipes.  I guess we'll learn from experience about the phrase "a tough nut to crack."  Anyone with tips or recipes, please feel free to comment.   

1 comment:

blessingfarm said...

Hello! I wanted you to know that your post inspired me to sign up to try blogging today. I LOVE Missouri (I have relatives there) and we also recently (last year) moved from a house in town to a home in the country (in Virginia). We have LOVED the flora and fauna just like you (I have 5 kids ages 17-1 and one more due soon) and have found that there is so much to learn here out in the country. We have discovered that Charlotte Mason studies are great for those living in the country, and lapbooks, too. We have 37 chickens in a brooder on our front porch (we are making a lapbook about chickens) and the kids are outside chasing butterflies and looking for bugs right now (to draw in their nature notebooks). Anyhow, I liked your comments and figured I'd let you know. Blessings to you all.

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