Elkhart County Christmas Bird Count 2013

Saturday morning, I headed out early to participate in the beginning to intermediate bird hike at the Elkhart Environmental Center for the annual Christmas Bird Hike. Others met at Oxbow Park with specific routes to travel and count. They drove around in pairs counting as many different birds as they could find. It was neat to see the milkweed in winter outside, too.

 

Places to Walk for Free or at a Low Cost in Elkhart

Elkhart is a great place to connect with nature. Many people enjoying taking a walk or jogging outside for exercise and appreciate that time to rejuvenate. I have noticed some discontent about Wellfield Botanic Garden charging for admission recently, as some people feel they no longer have a place to walk in the city. I see this is a period of change. While I have not been around for the whole transformation, I did see the move to charging for admission. I didn't like it as much, either, as I live outside of Elkhart city limits. I thought I would just go to special events. I knew I just needed to pay for my own entrance as my 4 younger children would not have to pay admission. I did go to Spring Marketplace and Envirofest. Both were neat events where we enjoyed the beauty of the gardens, music, and learned of great resources in our extended community. Then, Wellfield recently extended free entrance on Tuesdays to all, calling it a "pay what it's worth" day. So, we have options and I would consider a membership if I lived closer or started using the gardens more regularly. There are great options here that allow us to take a walk in the beauty of Wellfield.

Wellfield Botanic Garden Spring Market

Saturday, I made my way with the youngest boy in the backpack carrier to Wellfield Botanic Gardens for the Spring Marketplace. The new visitors' center is now open, but I didn't take the time to peek inside. I've seen pictures on Facebook, though. It looks like it will be a good gathering and multipurpose site.

I needed to feed the baby when I arrived, so stopped by the Seminars tent. The presenter was talking about taking care of rhododendrons. It sounds like these are a little finicky, yet quite beautiful! I was carrying the baby around in a hiking backpack and I would say someone mentioned him/it at just about every booth I visited! They know how to reach a mother, right?

Later, I started walking through all the booths scattered throughout the blooms of the gardens. So many gorgeous wares for sale! Many are options sold by local crafters and artists! Unfortunately, I can't find my cards for the first two places. :-( And I liked them both!

These pottery pieces had many natural elements.

These bonsai trees are a true artwork, requiring skill and patience! The pots were gorgeous as well. All were done by Michiana Bonsai Study, a local club.

The walk along this path smelled divine. Flowers were in full bloom! It was great weather for the day and a beautiful backdrop for all these great businesses.

Loved this little stream running through the gardens. In my ideal world, we'd be able to splash around in it a bit, but I do understand this is a GARDEN. :-)

Elkhart County Parks had a display for the Elkhart County Historical Museum and park services. I saw a donation box for the Ox Bow Tower, too. I stopped in the Elkhart County Parks office to pay for upcoming classes and made a small donation this last week. If many people give a little, there is a matching grant that will pay the other half of the costs.

Elkhart Local Food Alliance and Rise Up Farms had free seeds and explained some initiatives they are working on. I snagged sunflower seeds. Where should we plant these? :-)

Seed to Feed was nearby and works on joint projects from time to time. What a neat concept! They are also working on teaching people how to garden on their own. Here is an article that explains what they are doing. They have fed so many with local foods from their efforts! They have several gardens in Elkhart and Goshen that are growing food for area food pantries.

This handmade goat's milk soap is from Sturgis. I bought a bag of ends and pieces for a $1. Cindy's Whimsies gave me a little extra when I mentioned I had four boys! :-) She had a poison ivy relief bar that contained jewelweed, a natural remedy for poison ivy. The two are often found growing together. I love watching the jewelweed POP! It's always surprising, even when I know to expect it. 

These unique flowers from upcycled dishes would be cute in a yard. There were so many neat options for Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts! Stems-by Design

I talked to Ruth from Indiana Native Plants and Wildflower Society (INPAWS) for a bit. I have learned so much from their Facebook group. They have a membership available for a small fee. I NEED to send the paperwork in I filled out quite some time ago. :-) I love their encouragement for native plants!

The Public Works department of Elkhart City was there with samples of the different products that people can pick up near the Elkhart Environmental Center.

The Elkhart Dahlia Society had a good presence as well. I don't know much about these beautiful flowers, but did take my two youngest over to Bonneyville Mill just a few days after I had the baby. I was getting a little stir crazy and needed a little nature fix. We loved looking at the colorful dahlias to the left of the mill. The gentleman on the right is one of the volunteers responsible for keeping this bright spot beautiful!

The ETHOS Science 2 Go bus was there as well. We love seeing them out and about. There are always neat activities related to science and good information.

I liked looking at the insects and creepy crawlies outside the bus!

Yes, I'm a science geek at heart! I was always the teacher at the school with the after school science club and very hands-on science projects in the classroom. It's great ETHOS helps provide materials to make this more approachable for teachers in Elkhart and Fairfield Community Schools.

Elkhart Environmental Center had a display about the Center and recycling.

One way to recycle is through vermicomposting! We have a worm bin in our kitchen. We feed them our kitchen scraps, like breads and fruits and veggies. They make us good natural fertilizers for our garden boxes. As we talked about vermicomposting to a woman looking at the display, she thought it sounded to hard. It really isn't, but there is a bit of a learning curve. However, there is also a new company in Elkhart that produces worm castings for plant improvement. Positive Organic Living is providing this great option for our gardens! They also happened to be at the event, so I hope she checked them out after our chat. I did! I look forward to trying their product and am glad there are options available.

I talked to Big Brothers Big Sisters, too. I hadn't realized that there can be Big Families, too. We have an extra seat in the van and having another child with us isn't very difficult. We'll have to look into the options more.

Since it was Lemonade Day, I had to get a little lemonade. It hit the spot!

The Elkhart Art League had activities to connect the gardens with art. They offer art classes, summer camps, and more!

Beautiful flowers and colors!

Dutch Maid Bakery of Goshen really took the theme of the event to heart as they had tulip cookies and other cookies with an edible picture of flowers on the front--these were really neat and would add an elegant and whimsical touch to many special occasions.

Unfortunately, my phone/camera ran out of power about this point, yet there was so much more to see!

Other places included: 

Ray of Light -- Exercise, massages, holistic health, etc.

Create-A-Landscape -- Beautiful bird feeders and cement benches. The benches can be personalized and are neat!

Confluence of Willows -- Lovely willow baskets and copper sculptures

Benedict's Nursery -- I couldn't find a website, but did find this blog post about them. They had cute small plants and fairy garden items. 

John Mishler: Kinetic Sculpture -- Great pieces of art! Love how these move. I've seen pieces here and there and have heard of what he is doing. 

Stone Ridge Landscaping -- Looked nice!

Dogwood Hills Tree Farm -- Trees

BI Bowshers Ironworks -- nice scupltures!

Premiere Aquascapes -- Nice water features. Loved these. 

Country Comfort -- more fairy things and lots of plants

Varns & Hoover Hardware -- lots of birdhouses and other items. Plus, Monica works there!

Possibility Place -- Native plants! I was excited to see them here! I had just been on their website the night before. Snagged a couple fruit producing items. 

Ten Thousand Villages -- I always enjoy their things!

Elkhart Art League -- great classes!

Did I miss anything? There was also food by several local vendors and some music as well. It was funny that someone mentioned the baby in the backpack at just about every booth. :-) I love carrying him around that way!

One thing I noticed is that many of these smaller businesses did not have much of a web presence. I have a friend that is helping small women owned business have more of a digital imprint. Support Local can help in cases like this. I know having a digital presence (for nature in my case) is one reason I started this blog. 

Arbor Day at Elkhart Environmental Center

We stopped by the Elkhart Environmental Center in Elkhart for the Arbor Day Celebration. There was a nice presentation about how the demise of the Ash Tree is being used as a positive at times, such as making the nice platform pictured and other applications of the very usable wood. The mayor of Elkhart used ceremonial scissors (aka HUGE scissors) to cut the ribbon after he read the Arbor Day proclamation and talked about the general importance of trees. The city forester and others who work at the EEC worked hard to pull this all together.

It was nice and all, but this is REALLY what my kids and niece were doing . . . yep, digging in the dirt!

And I was bouncing a hungry baby to keep him quiet during the presentation. Just in case you thought we lived a perfect life, I thought I'd let you know how we really live some days.

I liked the message on the platform.

I was just being nosy when I snapped this picture. Sounds like he's the artist of these trio of trees! Pretty cool. I'd like to learn more about them.

They were giving away trees and you could mark on the map where it would be planted. 

Kids found places to climb . . .

It was a beautiful day and a great time to explore the grounds of the Elkhart Environmental Center. My husband had never been here. It really is a great demonstration and teaching place as there are numerous elements that can be used for learning about the environment, such as the cabin. It has a water catchment system and other green features.

Various types of compost bins are on display.

A spiral herb garden is also fun to see.

There was free food provided by Olive Garden. My nephew decided to do a wild edible guessing game with my husband. Not sure the hubster was too into! It's neat to see them recognizing wild edibles.

Elevated spaces are always nice!

The kids found a toad and practiced their toad identification skills from the previous night. It seems like it's easier to meet new friends when chasing amphibians!

A portable saw mill was cutting the ash into planks.

The toad kept these guys busy for quite some time.

We looked at the exit holes and marks inside the bark of the ash tree up close. These gentlemen were from Chicago as part of a woodworker's design group.

They have found good solutions to the excess ash wood by creating various furniture and other items.

We checked out the EEC. Puppets were a hit!

The Pollution Solution game was fun as well.

Arborcare was available to answer our tree questions. We have a couple of trees with significant woodpecker activity--it's probably time to give these guys a call!

The Purdue Extension Office also had a display about the Emerald Ash Borer. The kids saw the critter and its effects up close and personal.

This map shows the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer. It's quite interesting to see the areas of concentration and how it was moved, often in firewood.

We walked around a small pond and found several treasures, like this robin's egg.

There was also a Canada Goose nesting.

The trunk of this tree was quite interesting!

A turtle was catching some rays.

We found a couple of cocoons. We really had a great opportunity to interact with wildlife at the Arbor Day festival! While it wasn't part of our "agenda" we certainly took advantage of the great weather and exploration time.