The first acorns of the season fatten and now is the time to hike, learn oaky science, and behold the rich fecundity of shorter days.
Acorn Science: Saturday, August 31st at Waubonsie State Park, Fremont County Iowa. Presented by Jack Phillips and sponsored by Golden Hills RC&D.
0830 – noon. Contact Jack Phillips at thenaturalistschool@gmail.com to register.
Bur oak acorn, photo by Robert Smith.
When a film-maker asked to chase dragonflies it sounded like fun and that is what I would be doing anyway so we did and it was. Sloshing windy floodwaters an overcast day sluggish odonates makes, making difficult quarry a little less so and so we did and indeed they were.
Every day we find our wildest selves released in creativity freed. A naturalist is an artist on foot and these beautiful wilds a poem ever becoming, “what would a better poet look like?” my friend asked me and it is a good summer for tree-frogs today.
Film-maker Emma Piper-Burket joined us for wild forays during her residency at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Photos by Jack Phillips using Emma’s phone. 12-spotted skimmer by Robert Smith.
We welcomed 2019 Bemis artists-in-residence from The U.S., Canada, and Australia. We will miss our new and wild friends Richard Ibghy, Marilou Lemmens, Isadora Vaughan, Emma Piper-Burket, Raven Chacon, J.C. Todd, curator Sylvie Fortin, and Columbia University scholar Robert O’Meally. With good fortune we will find them wildly again! Visit Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.
We meet Sunday mornings throughout the year, often on Saturdays and during the week as well. If learning nature face to face, walking thoughtfully in prairies and woodlands, doing wild art and deep ecology sounds good to you, contact me at thenaturalistschool@gmail.com.
And frogs,
Jack Phillips
Sunday mornings, waking the wild, walking the soul.
What a good season for frogs, hot-humid and wet. Gray tree frog, Hyla sp. in Saunders County, Nebraska. Photo by Robert Smith
Contemplative walking, wild poetry, mindful moments, and deep ecology in rugged places. Contact Jack Phillips at thenaturalistschool@gmail.com . Curiosity and good boots required. Long pants and bug spray.
In July, a common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) in Iowa’s southern Loess Hills. Photo by Nic Salick.
Oak woodland ecology, phenology, and environmental cues. Saturday morning, August 10th in Fremont County, Iowa. Sponsored by Golden Hills RC&D in Partnership with The Naturalist School. Presenter: Jack Phillips
Sunday morning odonate contemplations and meditations on W. S. Merwin. Guided by TNS faculty. August 11th, Fremont County, Iowa.
Contact Jack Phillips for more information and to register: thenaturalistschool@gmail.com
*Please note: these intensive small-group experiences, held in rugged terrain, are intended for adults.
Early-morning late-July Saunter and odonate survey on a high bluff in Saunders County, Nebraska. Photo by Robert Smith.