nature is calling

enjoy nature Earl Plato

At Bruce Beach a few years back just south of Kincardine on Lake Huron’s shore I would walk each morning down the lane to the road and a quarter of a mile to the news box. During those vacation mornings I observed something different each walk. However, one thing was a constant. I saw a cottontail more than once feeding on the neighbour’s succulent greens in his garden. One morning I stopped and watched the rabbit stop then go as it approached the garden patch. He would nibble first on a low lying bush bud, on a leaf, and then on a dandelion. Finally she would hop to the garden and settle down to feed on the vegetable smorgasbord.
Along this narrow lane I was quite close to our rabbit friend. One morning she reacted to my presence and without showing undue alarm moved toward the woods ahead of us. I quickened my pace. She watched me then disappeared into the cedar/pine woods.
Cedar waxwings, chickadees, blue jays greeted me. The spring flora had flowered, however, may apples still abounded. Weeds, strange weeds to me, grew along the edge of the rural road. I took some samples and later identified them. Morning walks were good to me.
Again the next morning at Bruce Beach the little cottontail greeted me for the fifth day about the same time. Are we establishing a relationship?
Enjoy nature while you can.
***
Bert Miller, noted area naturalist, told my father and me to hear famed American outdoorsman, Ellsworth Jaeger, at Fort Erie High School auditorium. He and Bert were personal friends. Ellsworth had written yet another nature book, Wildwood Wisdom. It is from that book I have selected edible plants and trees you can find in Marcy Woods.