Yo' mama!

 As we turned another Mothers Day around the Sun, I continued to be uncomfortable with holidays. Any holidays. Lots of thoughts, emotions, and usually always some family drama that hangs over the day like a black cloud. And I can't help but to feel what I am missing out on, though am always grateful for the wonderful memories of celebrating holidays at my Grandparents house! 💖But I made the short trip to my mother house the week before Mothers Day so that I could see my sister and her family, give my mom and sister their birthday gifts, and so I could pretend to be normal for a day.

My nieces were antsy and needed to get outside, and even though it was cold and windy, I am down to always try and be in nature! There's a small tree area at the corner of my mothers lot, and I thought it would be fun to go mushroom hunting and then show the girls if I was able to find one...which I was not able to. My step-dad said he's never found any mushroom over there! But I did find some GM, because of course. I tried to convince them to put some in their pasta sauce for dinner, but they weren't having it 😂👇

I also found a white-margined beetle and it was one of those moments where I did not have my phone (rare!) and had to run back to the house to get it and then find the exact flower that the beetle was on again! 👇

They have a volunteer Elderberry growing and didn't know it because they just mow it down each week. 👇

I wish they'd dig out this MFR. Some times people see a pretty flower and just want to keep the plant for that reason, not caring about whether it's a good plant for the local eco-system or not. Of course, they didn't know the i.d. of it until I told them, but the invasives aren't on everyone's radar. See those feathery, frilly phalanges? Great way to tell if it's a MFR (multi-flora rose). 👇

But they had some Spring Beauties that he said have been there for years! Those are good 👍👇

My actual mothers day was like any other day. Woodchuck worked, my oldest and I went for a hike locally, my youngest didn't acknowledge the day, I picked out my owns gifts (stops at a couple of resale shops earlier that week, and a beehive cake from Meijer), and then when Woodchuck got home three of us went to the land so that he and the youngest could finish the big ditch project! I did spend some time on the patio, reading a good book in the early afternoon to give myself a break from some family drama that's always festering. The ditch project was so important, and we had rain the forecast, that I didn't want the guys to have to wait too many days before going back to finish it. (that project will be in a future post!)

We went to another park here in Northwest Indiana that is part of the county parks I used to work for. We've been to two of them this year now! There are reminders at all of them as to why I left that position, though they are all beautiful! The day was sunny, but the wind was chilly, So we dressed in layers and headed out! The Mayapples (native) were some of the first things to see when you enter the woods! Once the land gets under control, I was thinking about adding these in, but I haven't decided yet. This is the flower that is underneath the canopy of leaves.👇

Their county parks have no shortage of Trilliums (native)! I'm used to seeing the red ones that haven't opened yet, so at first I thought this was something else!👇

Wild Geranium, native. Which, to me, doesn't smell like the geraniums we are all used to seeing! 👇

A close-up of the white Trillium. I have to say here that it was really sad to see how many trails veered off of the main one. This is also a bike path, and I am sure that people are foraging, but there seems little concern for the eco-systems that might be affected...which is one reason I left the parks department. The pubic wants to use them how they want to use them with no regard to anything else. 👇

Eastern Waterleaf, native. 👇

This makes me so sad to see, and unfortunately there's one tree at least two of the county parks that people have done this to. 👇

Look.at.this.grapevine. I don't know yet the differences between a native and invasive one when just looking at bark. This one was so big and up in the tree so high, you couldn't see leaves to be able to use that as an identification tool. 👀👇

White violet, native. 👇

Jack-in-the-pulpit, native. 👇

I couldn't get the picture to load completely, but this is what I was hoping our foot bridge at the land would look like, but it ended up being more of a roller coaster 😂 You tried, Woodchuck, you tried. 👇

Wild Blue Phlox, native. THIS is what I am hoping for on the land instead of the invasive Dame's Rocket. 👇

Enemion biternatum, or False rue-anemone, native. 👇

This is the trillium I am used to seeing and in the stage of flowering I am used to seeing. Isn't it gorgeous?! Native. 👇

Another Wild Geranium in a slightly different color, native. 👇

Liverwort, native to Eastern North America. It will get flowers on it. 👇

Projects at the land are like my projects at home...I usually have no less than 3 going on at one time! The land depends on weather and how much I have on a trip out there to deal with something. One of the main projects is the banks of the front ditch. We had been able at one time to get down in the ditch during a drought, but the West side of it has remained untouched and a complete mess. Woodchuck wanted to tackle it this year! You can't even tell there's a ditch down there, and it's a deep one!  These are a couple of before pictures.👇

One of the after shots! He has worked on this project alone since but I haven't gotten anymore after pictures yet. 👇

My time in the forests and on open land in the Spring are about noticing what is there. I swear each time we go there we find something new. I try and make mental notes of what needs to come out, what can stay, and what needs to be watched. I love seeing the good stuff wake up, like this fern! Who would guess by looking at it in this stage that it will have branches upon branches of stunning green fronds and will reach heights up to my thighs in places! (I'm short, okay? But these can get tall!) 👇

And we have soooooo much milkweed coming!!! I tried transplanting some to areas that would not get mowed. If all goes well, we should have dozens and dozens of them for the monarchs to utilize! But we also have Indian Hemp coming back up too, and when they are both sprouts, I can't tell the difference between them at a glance! It turns out that a lot of what I thought was going to be milkweed was Indian Hemp. Sigh.👇

I was so excited to see the spice bushes staying healthy too! This one is on the watershed and I'm looking into various ways of marking/tagging it so there's never any question moving forward about what it is. 👇

This is one of the cocoons on the spice bush, and there was a handful of them!!! 👇

The early season spice bush flowers, which I forgot to see how they smell!!! D'OH! 👇

What an exciting time of year and I can't wait to start sharing more adventures with you!