phenology

Flickr's most recent blog post is called "Your Best Shot 2009: In the forest." The above photo is from Ryan and my weekend walk up Barn Bluff (my favorite "in the forest" of 2010--thus far) and below are a few photos from just a smattering of our 2009 forest adventures below.


I started reading Jim Gilbert's Minnesota Nature Notes this morning, and in the introduction, he introduces me to a term I'd never heard before, which is "phenology":

"Phenology is simply observing the natural world and keeping a record of it. But it is also the science that studies the timing of natural events--for example, lake ice-out dates or the blooming dates of spring wildflowers--that mark seasonal (and sometimes climatic) changes to the environment. The Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) is considered the father of modern phenology. In Philosophia Botanica (1751) he clearly described phases of plant development and outlined purpose and methodology of observations that are still valid today. He established the first network of observation stations in Sweden--eighteen in all--and stipulated that the main purpose of these study stations was to compile annual "plant calendars" of leaf opening, flowering, fruiting, and leaf fall, together with climatological observations 'so as to show how areas differ.'

The study of phenological data helps us establish the patterns of interdependency of all things. In this beautiful world of ours, nothing exists on its own. Most events in the annual cycle recur in regular order on or near the same date for any certain location."

Gilbert, Jim. Minnesota Nature Notes. Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 2008. 13.

It's not quite what I seek out to do here (I have no scientific background; I'm a student of poetry), but it's getting closer. I do hope this place becomes a version of my own nature notes, my own learning experiences, and, like I wish my cooking would do more often, stay in season.

Winters are long here in Minnesota. I know the three-month parcels of time that make up seasons, but in my mind, winter runs from mid-November until some time in April, as this is how long snow, in varying amounts, lasts in my parts. And when it greens, oh how that green makes my heart soar.