Ten Little Celebrations – September 2026

/

September always seems to be a busy month – but this year seems busier than most with the overlay of the Missouri Master Naturalist core training that I am facilitating. There has been a lot to celebrate within the increased level of activity!

Wild Ozarks video – again. Before the core training started, I watched the video again since we were asking the students to view it. I celebrated it all over again!

Core training started. I celebrated when we finally got the roster finalized and got the training started. There were 2 classes and 2 field trips in the last weeks of September.

Cooler morning butterfly house shift. Toward the end of September, the days finally started to be a little cooler. I celebrated that it only got into the low 80s….warm enough for the butterflies to be active but comfortable for humans too!

Rockspan. It was a wonderful place for a field trip – even though the day was hot. I celebrated the breeze, the special location, and that the core training students seemed to enjoy the nature journal session that I hosted for one of their rotations.

Green Heron at Ha Ha Tonka. Seeing a Green Heron is always a celebration for me. Of course, the state park has a lot of great things to see…this was just my favorite for that visit.

Imperial Moth Caterpillars. Celebrated seeing another species that has large caterpillars.

Tree ID workshop. Celebrated seeing so many cuttings from native trees…and the lecture pointing out characteristics to clinch the id.

Field trip to Bull Creek. Another special place…new to most of the core training students. I always find something to celebrate there and this time it was probably observing the students experience it for the first time.

Woodland management in action. I celebrated a field trip to see places where the strategies described in webinars I’d viewed had been applied.

Butterflies. There are more butterflies in my yard than last year…maybe because of the native plants I’ve added. Cause for celebration!

Becoming a Missouri Woodland Mentor?

/

The first in a series of 9 webinars (over 9 months) happened in January; they are the first attempt to train a cohort of people to be Missouri Woodland Mentors. The target audience is landowners willing to serve as mentors for other property owners who are exploring forest management practices for the first time. I registered for the series even though my property is only 1/3 acre in a suburban a near Springfield; as a Missouri Master Naturalist I’ve done several tabling type events where my topic was trees – so some I am familiar many of the Missouri native trees. Based on the chat in the first session – I am not the only person in the class that is not looking to make money from growing trees!

As I did the prework for the first course (Show me natural communities and MO Forest Management Guidelines Chapter 1)…

I began to think about what it would take to create a savanna or even a woodland in a suburban environment. The biggest challenge would be overcoming the amount of impervious surface of streets, sidewalks, roofs, and certain amenities (pools, tennis courts, basketball courts).

In my own yard, I am planting at least one more short leaf pine and additional understory trees (witch hazel, buckeye, spice bush, service berry to supplement the 2 pines, 3 hollies, 1 maple and one dogwood (not native unfortunately) that I already have. I am reducing the amount of turf – with violets and American spikenard in shady places….sumac and beautyberry and wild indigo as well as perennials like Missouri evening primrose and goldenrod where there is more sun. I don’t spray or fertilize, and I leave-the-leaves that fall on the yard from the trees…and the pine needles. The amount I mow is reduced significantly both in extant and in the time of year I mow (not much until early summer). I anticipate that as I get more natives established that I would cut back on the amount I watering. What if everyone in the neighborhood was doing that?