Welcome to Rochester, Minnesota! This is where I grew up and is the place where I am happily returning on my breaks from school. Minnesota is known for its 10,000 lakes, but Olmsted, the county Rochester resides in, is the only county without a natural lake. All of the lakes are manmade! However, that doesn’t mean Rochester doesn’t have some lovely natural areas. There are plenty of beautiful parks, rivers, and even backyards that are jam packed with habitats and critters.
For my home phenology spot, I picked an area near our family friends’ home. They live out in the country, and their backyard expands out to a forest and even a river. I grew up visiting this home many times a year. Without even realizing it, I had been observing the phenological changes of this area out of their windows since I was about three. Now, I could analyze the area’s characteristics with the knowledge I had built in my classes to really enjoy what I was seeing.
The forest here was mainly composed of red and white oak, paper birch, hickory, elm, and juniper trees. Some of the trees are still holding onto their leaves, even as the first frost has begun to fall. Unfortunately, buckthorn seems to have take over and fills a majority of the undergrowth. There was a heavy organic layer on the soil from all the fallen leaves. This allows for the nutrients to be recycled through the system. The area is hilly, indicating well drained soils due to gravity. These factors plus the trees’ preferences all lead to a conclusion that the soil is slightly acidic, full of nutrients, and well-drained.
In comparison to the Sea Caves, the canopy is thinner and the undergrowth is far heavier. Both areas are covered in fallen leaves resulting in rich soils. The areas share common tree species of oaks and birch. Some species like maples, beech, and hemlock are not present in this Minnesota plot. Both the Sea Caves and the Minnesota area have acidic soils which is indicated by the tree species present. Further, the Sea Caves are on hilly land as well, likely meaning the soil is also well drained. It would be interesting to compare samples of each soil to see the differences in things like pH, particle size, texture, fertility, and more. Both areas have begun to prepare for winter, hunkering down with trees shedding their leaves and animals burying food.
Although I did not leave a physical gift in this area, our families celebrated Thanksgiving here. We left happy memories and gratitude to the land. Without this area and overall nature, we couldn’t celebrate the way we do. Thanksgiving and this project reminded me the importance of gratitude especially for the Earth. It constantly does so much for me, my family, my community, and more. I hope in the future to come back and help remove some of the invasive buckthorn that has overtaken this land.
I am so grateful to be surrounded by such healthy land and have the knowledge to understand what all the changes mean. Although I am giving back what I can now, I look forward to the days that I can put all my efforts to helping the planet around me!
- My new location!
- The over and understory!
- Buckthorn berries and a juniper!
- Some of the fun memories we made and people I am grateful for!