Visions of Winter

As we close out the first month of the New Year, enjoy these scenes of winter, all taken at Chippewa Nature Center. Better yet, check out our program calendar and join us for a snowshoe hike, bird walk or other adventure on and off the trails at CNC!

Our "famous" Red Oak near the Maple Sugarhouse.

If you can't come see a view in person, check out our webcam,
which hangs directly below the River Overlook.

White Pine cone



Snowy Fungi

A Black-capped Chickadee searches for seeds in the snow



A Gray Squirrel (black phase) trying to keep warm under its tail

Sunshine through snowy branches

Buy Michigan Now!

A couple of months ago, we introduced our readers to the website Buy Michigan Now! Founder of the site, Lisa Diggs, has created a place where you can search for Michigan-made products and information to help promote the struggling economy of our State. Better yet, buying food and other items grown and produced in Michigan has positive effects for the environment as they don't need to travel halfway across the globe on a ship, plane, train or truck before they make it to your doorstep.

When you head to the grocery store, for example, look for Michigan apples, honey, maple syrup, potato chips, soda pop, wine and beer (just to name a few) instead of products and produce from far away. Sure, not everything is grown or made in Michigan (no bananna trees, for example), but many of us doing a little sure helps a lot. When we bought a new mattress recently, for example, my family chose one by Capitol Bedding, made in Lansing.

Enjoy this short video to learn a little more. And next time you're at the store, don't forget to Buy Michigan!

Seeds of Spring

After seeing the title of this post, perhaps some of you are thinking "Spring - are you crazy?" But if you've purchased seeds in the past I bet your mailbox is already overflowing with seed catalogs for vegetables, herbs and flowers to be planted after the snows melt and the ground warms up.

We grow heirloom plants in the gardens at Chippewa Nature Center's 1870 Homestead Farm. Heirlooms are defined as open pollinated plants whose "roots" can be traced back at least 50 years. Open-pollinated plants are non-hybrid varieties produced by crossing two parents from the same variety, which in turn produce offspring just like the parent plants.

Thousands of heirloom fruits and vegetables have gone extinct over the past 100 years. Some estimates say only 3% of flower and vegetable varieties that were grown in the U.S. in 1900 are still in existence today. Many of these plants were varieties grown for generations on small farms across America. Each was developed specifically over the years to grow well in a certain area, be resistant to local diseases, and adapted to local climate and soil conditions.

Bean poles and a dried sunflower stalk in CNC's Heirloom
vegetable garden have dreams of spring.

If you want variety, superior flavor, unusual colors and shapes and unique histories, heirloom gardening is a wonderful alternative to growing hybrids featured predominately by many large companies. Most home gardeners, for example, don’t need tomatoes with skins tough enough to withstand cross-country shipment, or potatoes that will pass the McDonald’s uniformity test. Some heirloom gardeners grow plants especially for gourmet chefs. Grow some heirloom plants at home and take the “taste test” for yourself!

Type "heirloom vegetable seeds" in your search engine and thousands of entries will pop up. At CNC, we purchase most of our heirloom seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. Based Decorah, Iowa, Seed Savers in a non-profit organization dedicated to seed saving and educating the public about the importance of heirlooms. As you plan your garden this year, check out their online catalog. You can also download a copy of their regular catalog on their website. 

Happy garden planning! 

Tiny Houses

There is a lot of talk these days about reducing our "carbon footprint" in a wide variety of ways. The idea is that by each of us taking steps to save energy, waste less, buy local and more fewer fossil fuels will be used up, whose use adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, which in turn adds to man-made global warming.

Adding insulation to your home, using solar energy and wind power, driving less and pedaling more are all simple things we can do on a daily basis without greatly affecting the ways we've come accustomed to living.

Some people, however, are taking this REALLY seriously and are reassessing their priorities entirely, selling their homes and joining the Small House Movement. In terms of this discussion, a small house really small, from 65 to 500 square feet in size. Oftentimes, these are placed on wheels and are entirely off the electrical grid. A self-described voice for the movement is the Small House Society whose mission is to "support the research, development, and use of smaller living spaces that foster sustainable living for individuals, families, and communities worldwide."

Here's an excellent video from PBS which explores this idea with another Tiny House champion, Dee Williams, of Olympia, Washington.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Could you live in a tiny house? What would be the hardest thing to give up? What might you enjoy the most about paring life down to the basic essentials? 

Happy New Year!

Happy Green New Year! As the page of the calendar turns to January, let's pause to consider our relationship to the Earth. As each year passes, we're learning more and more about the human impact on our climate, plants, animals and insects and how they're all interrelated in amazing, intricate ways we never paused to consider.

What resolutions will you make this year to live more lightly on the planet? Will you recycle more, drive less and buy local produce. Which of the "Five Rs" will you focus on this year (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Renew, Recycle)...or perhaps you'll work a little bit on all of them?

Trees cast shadows on snow in CNC's Beech-Maple Woods.

Remember, reducing our negative impacts on the natural world doesn't necessarily mean we make drastic lifestyle changes. It's better to make manageable resolutions we can keep rather than grandiose ones that will just get dropped altogether after a couple of weeks.

No matter how you approach it, the staff at Chippewa Nature Center hopes your New Year is healthy, happy - and GREEN! We truly appreciate your constant support and look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming programs or simply enjoying our trails.

For a full 2011 calendar of Chippewa Nature Center programs and events, be sure to check out our web page.