Category: Nature
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Don’t Pick the (Hemlock) Flowers
Take it from our grand-daughter. Don’t pick the hemlock flowers. A couple of weeks ago, Karter’s bouquet caused painful blisters. She picked wildflowers on an outing with her mom and friends down by the river. All the grandkids always love …
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Elderberry Flowers Oil Infusion
Elderberry flowers have a light, sweet fragrance and all manners of pollinators love them. Which Elderberry Flowers? The variety I’m using for this is Sambucus canadensis, which is the native elderberry in our area. Black elderberry (S. nigra) is …
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Little Phoebe Leaves the Nest
We host a nest of phoebes each year in the front porch rafters. I’m never sure if any of them survive the relentless predation of our cats, but each year I hope. Yesterday one of the little babies flapped wings …
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Woodland Flowers of June at Wild Ozark
It’s been awhile since I’ve wandered with the camera, but this morning on my way to town I brought the camera just so I could capture some of my favorite woodland flowers blooming along the driveway and county road. The …
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Downtown Rogers Farmers Market
Update to our market schedule: We’ll be at the Rogers, AR Downtown Farmer’s Market on Cherry Street today and the rest of the Saturday’s until October! …
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Wild Ozark’s Plant ID Challenge: May’s Mystery
This month’s Star Plant Guesser is Janet Webb, who correctly identified May’s Mystery plant as Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum). Each month, around the middle of the month, I’ll post a plant ID challenge for readers to test their identification …
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PawPaw Seedling Hiding in the Hickories
There’s a hickory hiding in there with the pawpaw seedlings. PawPaw seedlings look a lot like hickory seedlings. In the photo you can see who’s who, but without the labels it’s easy to mistake one for the other. One way …
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Pretty Birds! Grosbeak at the Feeder
Two new birds for us here at Wild Ozark. We’ve never seen either of these before. They’re both males.…
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Rain Makes Waterfalls!
Three of our favorite waterfalls hide in a steep little holler. They’re beautiful and when it rains, they really flow. Over the past twenty-four hours we’ve had 5″ of rain. That’s a lot for us here at Wild Ozark, and …
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In Honor of Forests- Two Worthy Fundraisers for Earth Day
We all depend on trees. A single tree planted in an urban lawn is better than no tree, but the larger collectives of forests are needed, too. The Earth needs large swaths of unbroken forests to maintain habitats that support …
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Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes? Companion Look A-Likes
Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes? Trying to differentiate between black cohosh and doll’s eyes before they come into bloom, has been frustrating. It’s very easy to tell once they begin the blooming process as the flower stems originate in different …
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Earth Day Festival in Bella Vista, AR at the ARC
Saturday April 22, Wild Ozark will bring the Nature Boutique to the Earth Day Festival in Bella Vista (Arkansas) at the Artist Retreat Center otherwise known as “The ARC”. We’re sorry to say the flood has torn up the driveway …
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April Spring flowers in the Ginseng Habitat
Lots of flowers in the ginseng habitat right now. The following are just a sample. Wild Ginger If you don’t mind getting down on the ground, you can see the wild ginger (Asarum canadense) blooming. Flowers are usually just below …
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Wild Ozark Ranked in the Top 100! Also, Don’t Let Your Feed Reader Hijack Your Author/Reader Relationship.
Top 100 Nature Blogs Wild Ozark is honored to announce that it was recently listed on the Feedspot curated list of Top 100 Nature Blogs. Feedspot is a RSS Feed Reader service. I’m pleased by this award and happy …
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Early Spring Plants of the Woodlands in Madison County Arkansas
I got a late start photographing the early spring plants this year (2017). They started without me and I’ve already missed some of them. These are some of the plants unfurling and blooming on April 1 in the woodland habitats …
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Sunrise Sounds at Wild Ozark
In the mornings, we don’t hear highway noise of people rushing to get to work on time. Our sunrise sounds belong to nature. Sunrise Sounds Remodeling We’ve been particularly busy lately here. Rob’s remodeling the bathroom. We thought it might …
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A Guest Post from Martin James Wood
My guest today is sharing his nature essay. Please welcome Martin James Wood to your Wild Ozark space. Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the beauty – From the Cabin’s Front Porch. From The Cabin’s …
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The Ozark Winds of March and Strong Signs of Spring
The Ozark winds of March have been blowing strong since maybe before March even began. But last night really trumped all of our weather-related excitement. I knew there was a tornado possibility before I went to sleep. The weather forecasts …
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Get Outside in Nature! America’s National Parks Celebration
Every year, the U.S. National Park Service offers free park entrance days at America’s National Parks. Today was a free day, and I’ve missed the boat for that one. The next free days are April 15-16 & April 22-23: National …
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Sunrises, Opportunities and Rising Early
Beautiful sunrise. Seeing the sunrise is one of many daily opportunities. I have lots of photos of Gloria, the tree silhouetted above. But most of them are not about the sky behind her far-reaching limbs. Most are simply about the …
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Watching for Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch Hazel Flowers Witch hazel flowers are an interesting sight to behold. The petals on the small flowers are thin and wild. The shrub blooms during the most unlikeliest time of the year. It is one of my favorite plants …
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Feathered Rovers, a Poem
A little time alone watching a flock of birds in the woods today inspired a poem. My poetry is infrequent and when the drive to write one hits, I just have to get it out of my head. And since …
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Ginseng Habitat Demonstration Garden
Announcement: The garden will NOT be open during May 2019. It will be open during April, and from June through September. The Wild Ozark Ginseng Garden This is a restored habitat where you can see and learn about American ginseng …
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Bringing Hay to Horses in Snow
After yesterday’s post where I reveled in the fact that we’d actually had a decent snowfall, we went out in the cold to bring hay to horses. The temperature was about 15*F with a windchill factor of I don’t know …
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Can’t see the Trees for the Forest, or rather, Snowflakes for the Snow
Yesterday we only had a little bit of snow and each little snowflake was easy to see and photograph. Now it is like not being able to see the trees for the forest. Can’t see the snowflakes for the snow.…