There are many fall edibles that we often take for granted or don’t even realize. During the end of summer to early fall, I begin to go in search of some of these wonderful edible nuts and fruits.  These include shagbark hickory nuts, white oak acorns, paw paws, walnuts and many more. These same foods […]

When you think of a farm, you probably imagine scenes involving rolling pastures of green grass, cows mooing, chickens clucking and a happy farmer tending to his crops. What you probably didn’t notice when you were imagining your happy farmer was one of the most important aspects of the farm, sitting and purring at his […]

Sometimes it is well worth the risk to try something, even though you cannot foresee the results. Life is a journey with these opportunities everywhere. Recently I decided to seize the day and started to hike the West Branch and Kingfisher trails at Winton Woods. Over the years, I have grown to love this path […]

Last year, Parky’s Farm acquired two Welsh Harlequin ducks: a drake (male) and a hen (female). The Welsh Harlequin is a domestic breed that was developed in Wales in 1949 and is different from the Harlequin sea duck, which is a wild animal. After making friends with the resident Peking duck, both ducks were very […]

August is not a very exciting month. No holidays, hot sticky weather and back-to-school looming ever closer. But there’s a strong tie between August and I. One that would ultimately lead me back to the park. It was on August 3, 1996, that I lost one of the most influential, significant and precious people in […]

I was recently on vacation with my family at a nearby state park. As the week passed my nephew, Max, became quickly known as the toad finder. “Found another one,” he would call out. Having a fondness for toads myself, I couldn’t help but smile each time he found one. By about toad number eight, […]

I once read that birds with a very simple call (think of a blue jay’s squawk) had it prewired in their brain, and birds with a more complicated call (like the melodic call of a wood thrush) had to learn it. Last summer, over the course of a week, I was fortunate enough to see […]

Welcome back, fellow cachers! In February, you learned about the game of geocaching. In April, you picked up some pointers about finding your first geocache. In June, you learned about geocaching etiquette. Now it’s time for you to hide your own geocache! You are probably asking yourself, “Why do I want to hide a cache? […]