For my final blog, I wanted to find a way to inform and educate more people on the area my site is located. While walking that shores of Torch Lake, you can find many different types of rock but two that get frequently mistaken for each other are the Petoskey Stone and Charlevoix Stone.
With my site leading up to Torch Lake, I wanted to look around to see what I could find. Sure enough, there were both rocks after some digging around. For me, I have seen these rocks for years and can tell the difference by look but to new people in the area, they may think a Charlevoix stone is a Petoskey stone. I decided to do some research for my mini-project on what actually makes them different so more people could understand. I could tell you the physical difference, but this was also a learning moment for me because I didn’t know why they looked different.
Below is the PDF for the informational pamphlet I made on this topic. I wanted to keep it short and simple so that someone new would be able to quickly understand while also including the necessary information.
This blog series has truly allowed me to connect with the world around me in a deeper and meaningful way. I am grateful to have had this opportunity in such a beautiful place!
Site Information: June 30th at 9:00 am in Alden, MI on Torch Lake
Weather: Sunny and around 80º Fahrenheit
When I first arrived to my site today, I decided to pay extra attention to the birch tree that is located there. I have always had a strong love and connection to birch trees because of the connection my camp has to them. I find them so beautiful. We have two birch trees next to my site that at taller than the houses near them. The bark is flaking off of the tree in large sheets that have fallen onto the ground. Does this indicate anything in particular? The two trees are directly next to each other and seem to be growing together.
I have also noticed that there aren’t a ton of plants in the immediate area that I sit. I wonder how my family being here has impacted that area. Surrounding areas are filled with European Lily of the Vally and Ostrich Fern but this patch has some grass and not much else.
A question that I would like to ask about my visit is what makes this area suitable for birch trees?
In Michigan, it is very common to have Yellow Birch tree in the Northern Hardwood forests which is what is growing in my yard. You can find Yellow Birch trees in “moist, well-drained soils” which would explain why they occur in my yard (YELLOW BIRCH). With my site being near the lake, the ground is very moist and drains very easily.
YELLOW BIRCH Betula alleghaniensis Britt. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2020, from https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_beal2.pdf
M. (2015, November 4). Forest Type of Michigan: Northern Hardwood (E3202-2). Retrieved June 30, 2020, from https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/forest_type_of_michigan_northern_hardwood_e3202_2
Birch Bark I took this photo because I wanted to show the observations I was making above. The birch bark is pealing away which I also think makes for beautiful textures to look at. Ostrich Fern I took the photo this way because I wanted to capture how it grew. Seeing the center and how it grows out and at you is really intriguing to me. European Lily of the Vally I took this photo because I wanted to show how much of this plant it growing at my site. They span such a large area behind where I sit and look like a sea of green.Fallen Branches In my posts, I talk a lot about all of the fallen sticks and branches near my site. I wanted to try to capture exactly what I was trying to describe with words.Lake View Lastly, I want to try to find a way to show the view that I see while sitting at my site. I find it absolutely beautiful and wanted to share it with more people.
Looking at my site in this way was very impactful. With sketching, I felt like I was looking at one piece of entire site. Taking a photo made me look more at how that one piece fit into a larger area. I enjoyed this experience and want to continue to taking meaningful photos of ecosystems to better understand them.
Site Information: June 25th at 6:30pm in Alden, Michigan on Torch Lake
Weather: Partly Cloudy and
When I first arrived at my site, I was greeted with a baby frog. As I walked up, it quickly tried to get away as my presence probably scared it a lot. To start, I pulled out my phone to use the iNaturalist and Seek apps to better identify plants around me. A few of the plants it helped me identify were Ostrich fern, Ground-ivy, and European Lily of the Valley. In the many years I had been to my cottage, I never knew what plants were just outside. Something that I noticed was the amount of sticks that were on the ground. I was surrounded by sticks and had to clear them out of the way to sit down comfortably. I didn’t realize this last time because I had brought a foldable chair with me. Taking a longer and more in-depth look at the land around me I realized that this was a part of my yard I never paid attention to. We really only went over in this area to get kindling for the fire.
I decided to look further into one specific plant I noticed at my site.
Common Name: Ostrich Fern
Scientific Name: Matteuccia struthiopteris
In order to identify this plant, I used the app Seek. It helped me to be able to easily know what type of fern this specifically was. Something interesting that I discovered was they they can grow anywhere form 2 to 8 feet tall. As well, it is native to both Michigan and Vermont.
Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro Ostrich Fern. (n.d.). Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=MAST
Matteuccia struthiopteris. (2017, July 07). Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MAST
While at my site, you can see I spent time sketching different parts of plants I saw around me.
The first sketch I did was of a leaf of Ostrich Fern that had fallen on the ground. I decided to sketch this because, like I said before, it takes up a lot of my yard and wanted to give it an in-depth look.
My second sketch was of a pine cone. I decided to sketch this because I thought the layers would challenge me to slow down and take my time drawing what it saw. It made me take time to see how they layered over either other, how to make it appear that way, and take into account the details of a pine cone.
Third, I decided to sketch a leaf that I found growing from the ground. I wanted to do a close up look for this sketch to find the finer details of a part of plants that we frequently look over. Seeing the details made me think of all that must be going on just inside of this one leaf and part of another.
For my final sketch, I drew birch bark that had fallen and curled up. I thought this would be a real challenge for me as well as something important to me. Birch trees and birch bark hold a very special place in my heart that brings me back to happy times. I wanted to try and take how I felt about this thing and put it into a sketch. I wanted to give this piece of bark the time and respect it deserved.
Overall, this sketching experience was impactful in how I view the world around me. It reminded me to slow down to see the finer details rather than just viewing the general aspect of plants and things. This was a challenging exercise for me as I am still practicing sketching. I am very new to this so technique and details are not something I have gotten the hang of yet. I tried to depict what I was viewing as best as I could which I think is still very impactful because it taught me lessons on patience and slowing down. During my next visit, I would really like to pay more attention to the birch trees and how they fit into this ecosystem.
Site Information: June 18th at 3:00pm in Alden, Michigan on Torch Lake
Weather: Sunny and 70° Fahrenheit with a slight breeze
My site is located just off Torch lake in a strip of trees that leads back into the woods near my cottage. At my location, I am surrounded by different trees including evergreens and birch. The ground is mostly covered in ferns, pine needles and European lily of the valley. Being close to the lake allows me to hear the waves as well as boats which can be a bit distracting. Other noises I can here come from birds, particularly seagulls. There is a slight breeze off the lake making it feel cooler than it is outside. It is a very calming and reflective environment. Right next to my sight is my family’s cottage. My great-grandparents built it back during the polio outbreak in the 1900s as a place for their family to come and enjoy the outdoors and swimming. I choose a site that was still in sight of the cottage because growing up coming to this cottage is what taught me about my love for the environment. This is now my 21st summer up in Northern Michigan and having this blog as a way to reflect on the land around my is going to be very impactful.
While at my site, I generated this list of 25 questions:
Were these trees here when my great-grandparents built our cottage?
What kind of plants are native to Northern Michigan?
How has erosion changed the shoreline of Torch?
What has been causing Torch to become polluted?
How old are these trees?
What created this ecosystem?
How was Torch Lake created?
Are all the plants around me native?
How has my cottage being here impacted the ecosystem around it?
When did these plants get here?
How old is the ground beneath me?
What bugs & animals thrive in this area?
What can I do to better support this environment?
Why are these plants here?
Is it something to the soil?
Is this soil healthy? What nutrients are present?
Where do the rocks I see come from?
What kind of rocks are they?
How does the climate affect what grows here?
Do any of these plants survive through the winter?
What plants around me could be used as medicine?
Why is the bark peeling from the trees?
What do the different trees bring to this area?
Where can I find these plants in other places?
Does being on the southeast side of the lake impact the ecosystem?
Question 7: How was Torch Lake Created?
According to the Torch Conservation Center which is based in Alden, the creation of torch lake dates back to 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. At this time, there was a glacier that was a mile high that dug into the bedrock of this area leaving behind hills of gravel, clay, and sand. Between 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, the glacier melted which allowed the land to have an isostatic rebound. This pushed waters father north to what we call modern-day Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Next is the time period between 6,000 to 4,000 years ago where the land was left barren and did not support life. Torch Lake was a valley that stretched north near an ancient Lake Nipissing that helped carve out the Old Mission Peninsula and Leelanau Peninsula as well as the western shore of modern Torch Lake. During this time, ancient people attempted to live and work in the valley but did not survive. The next time period of importance is 4,000 to 3,000 years ago when the climate began to warm. Winds started to bring sand onto the western side of the valley and seeds came along with this wind and birds. People were able to come in and sustain life and agriculture in this valley that was slowly being made into a lake. Lastly, we have a time period of 1,000 years ago to the present. In this time, trees began to flourish on the shores of Torch Lake and as they died and fell into the lake they made habitats for aquatic animals. New people entered this area who became “the tribes of the Three Fires: Potawatomi, Chippewa (Ojibwe/Ogema) and Ottawa (Odawa)” (How Torch Lake Was Formed, 2019). Torch Lake has a long-standing history that dates back to before people could inhabit the area. It is really interesting to better understand how modern-day Torch Lake came to be.
How Torch Lake Was Formed. (2019, July 22). Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://conservetorch.org/knowing-torch-lake/lake-lore/how-torch-lake-was-formed/
In conclusion, this visit allowed me to better understand the things around me that I typically look over. I never really put true thought into how everything around me came to be here. During my future journaling and blogging endeavors with this class, I hope to dive further into the natural and cultural history of this area as well as my family’s connection. At my site, I have been very drawn to the water specifically the power, history, and science it holds. Next time, I want to sit closer to the lake and maybe even get in to get a deeper look.
