Date Day on Das Zem--lots of pictures!

 Woodchuck and I used to have date days where we would literally go out during the day time, then it switched to Friday night date nights, then Covid hit and it all stopped. Now that things are back open (at least for now), we usually don't have the energy or money to follow thru with anything. Some times though we'll make it out for dinner during the week, or use date night to stop at the home improvement and price supplies we need. We have been lucky enough to squeeze a couple of dates in recently though! One evening we headed to the fair to walk around and get dinner. Another night we headed out for a short bicycle ride around town, and the most recent trip to Das Zem was an hours long date!

We planned on leaving the boy at home, since we weren't going to be working on "projects" and just trying to take it slow and focus on each other while on the land. Woodchuck needed to oil the tractor, so while he did that, I continued to work on pulling honeysuckle from the front CRP. I know some of you might think that it's crazy, pulling them instead of using an herbicide but there's a ritual involved here and it doesn't involve poison. A sort of soul practice, caring for the land by literally being hands on and connecting. While I do not care for any land in hopes of being rewarded, Mother Earth always lets me know that she sees what I am doing and appreciates my efforts. While pulling honeysuckle, I found this. 

The jawbone is small, it fits in the palm of my child-size hand, and has yet to be identified. The rock is the FIRST and only rock I have found on Das Zem so far. Although you can't tell from the picture, it seems to have a tad bit of quartz in it. Not only am I a Hexenknockenjager (witch bone hunter), but also a big Steinsammler (rock collector). These items are all saved on the land and will be displayed somehow out there eventually. Let us not forget about the fairy ring that I found while we were trying to figure out the trees that will be taken down to eventually build.

Once hubby was done, we headed out, hand in hand, to the prairie. His one little project was to build a wooden box to cover the pipe on the pitcher pump. So while he worked on that (I had to help out for a couple of minutes), I walked around pulling Queen Anne's Lace/wild carrot from that area. Not only does pulling invasives enable me to learn faster how to identify them, but it also familiarizes me with the land, gets me into spots I normally wouldn't go into, and helps me to find new things. Here is a picture of hubby's finish project.

There were lots of paths into the trees this time around. I am assuming that they are deer trails and I did find a couple of places where they bedded down. I went out past our "Charlie Brown" cedar tree and followed some Queen Anne to a spot I don't recall going to before. It wasn't all that easy to get to, there's always thorns involved out on the land, but I did find another cedar, and was led right to another MFR (multiflora rose). I really felt like I was being guided on this day to find things. 

The multiflora rose has been kicking our ass and scratching up our arms. Some times we don't notice it until it lashes out. The ground is so matted with vegetation in spots that I can't even get my shovel/spade in! I just have to tag things for a later date. But on this day, I was able to find more natives than non-natives, for what I think is the first time ever out there! Please note that many plants go by many names.

Monarchs! I dragged Woodchuck out on the previously mowed trail/ingress/egress with me so I could once again see how it was holding up. Two weeks since mowing and it's doing fine enough to continue holding off mowing again...for now. We once again got into a discussion about him wanting to mowing everything down around pond, which would include all of the milkweed. Some times I just need to walk away and deal with his wants another time and this one of those times. 

We have eggs on the milkweed!

Missing the phalanges that are indicative of MFR, so I might actually have something here that is not a jerk! 

Smooth sumac, which sadly might get mowed down. It's not in a very good spot, and we seem to have a lot of it elsewhere that is in areas we can leave alone.

                                                                        Boneset 👆

                                                                            Speedwell 👆

                                                                        Heal-all 👆

    Ragweed 👆 

                                                                    Beggars lice 👆

                                                                        Seedbox 👆

                                                                White meadowsweet 👆
                                                                            

Some of these were found as we made our way to pick more blueberries. It was finally time to use my new waders that I got second-hand at work. They are a great brand, and insulated, AND they are the bib kind whereas hubby's are just the chap kind. That meant that I could go into deeper waters than he could, which was a silly thought anyway because I am so short. Even with hubby's chaps, he'd be able to go just as deep in the water as I could with bib waders. And then. Then I went to put them on. I was in such a hurry when I grabbed them that I was focused only on if they fit my foot and didn't think to pull them all the way up. To be honest, I thought that they would be baggy and huge on me on the top portion. 

So we're standing by the fishing shack, and I'm putting them on. My feet were so hot and swollen that the boots were a bit tight, but nothing too bad. Then I went to pull them up. Wasn't happening. I checked to make sure that drawstring at the waist was all the way loosened. I couldn't get them up past my thighs! I didn't stop to think that they were designed for stick figure men, straight up and down! I am anything but! I am feet of female curves! I was SO mad at myself!!! A perfectly good pair of waders and I can't use them! I said to hell with it, left them pulled up to my thighs and waddled off towards the blueberries. 

I was pouting, hubby was initially laughing but then told me to stop because I was going to fall and hurt myself. I waddled back to him and he told me to turn around. He proceeded to split by waders down the backside, which made me pout even more! There went a perfectly good pair of waders.....and going in deeper waters. Although that did enable me to be able to pull them all the way up, those things are very constricting and there was a couple of times that I nearly fell and would not have been able to get back up without help. Think about a kid in a puffy snowsuit and that's about how it went.

Anyhoot. Here. Here is my embarrassingly funny picture from the moment. Dammit. <still pouting>