Wild citronella, Collisonia canadensis has been capturing my eye on all of my recent hikes. If you have been following my blog regularly, you may know that I tend to scratch-and-sniff my way along the trail. For this reason, I have been anticipating our wild citronella coming into bloom, and today was the day! Of […]
Tales from the Bent Twig Trail: Hidden Jewels
The natural world is full of hidden jewels, and late summer is a great time to seek out some specific ones along the Bent Twig Trail. Today, let’s explore patches of jewelweed, Impatiens capensis that skirt the wetter portions of this trail. At Bernheim, I often find jewelweed growing at the edge of the woods […]
Tales from Bent Twig Trail: The Seed
Summer has progressed into its season of fullness, with seeds forming and ripening along the Bent Twig Trail and elsewhere. In honor of this annual regeneration, I offer you a poem I wrote a few months ago. Seed By Wren Smith A seed is dormant most of its life. Time does not exist inside the […]
Tales from the Bent Twig Trail: Bridging the Gap
I’m thinking about bridges today, perhaps because Bent Twig Trail has several of them. Each one spanning the ephemeral creek that snakes its way in this small forest fragment. In my role as the Interpretive Programs Manager for Bernheim, I have the great fortune not only of working in a beautiful place, but I also […]
Tales from the Bent Twig Trail: A Meditative Morning
“Mornings are my favorite time of day, but it’s a shame they only last til noon,” my friend Joyce Fry announced a few years ago during a shared morning hike. Being one of the lucky ones who sleeps soundly and wakes up early, refreshed by the mysterious and restorative power of a good night’s rest, […]