— by Kristie Thompson
What a wonderfully spent Sunday afternoon! The weather appeared to be elated to have us and Jean Nance was a superbly gracious host on March 16’s field trip.
Jean allowed us to explore her beautiful property and glorious home while educating us on the history of the land and the current species she lives among. The Nance cabin has been moderately modernized, so it still has that log cabin charm with eco-friendly updates. Natural log shelf ends perfectly displayed their collected nature trinkets: rocks, minerals, and shells.
We were able to experience the prolific amounts of Texabama croton that Jean was absolutely not exaggerating about after Tyson’s presentation at the last chapter meeting. It was everywhere along the trails! I was also humbled by the height of this plant. Although Tyson had explained the facts in his presentation, all I could picture before the field trip was the commonly known doveweed/prairie tea Croton as a height comparison. Now, having observed Texabama croton firsthand I’m definitely inspired to search for it in my common hiking spots that appear to be the appropriate habitat.
After we toured multiple trails behind Jean’s home where she pointed out Scarlet clematis, silktassel (and allowed us to collect a handful of seeds), and Western white honeysuckle, along with a preferred sapsucker drilled tree trunk, Jean took center stage on a favored slab of limestone to deliver additional history of the land.
Once we were back at the cabin, we enjoyed each other’s company on the back deck while snacking on some refreshments and Jean’s delicious homemade pumpkin bread. Also joining in on the chit-chat were several black-crested titmice, Northern cardinals, and a couple of red-bellied woodpeckers.
Thank you again, Nance Family, for lending out your space!
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See photos from this trip and others in our album =>