The first spot I chose for my phenology project was located in the Burlington Centennial Woods because it included many small, woody plants, a fallen nurse tree that was once an oak, rich soil and a good opening to observe what grew there. To find my area, you enter the Centennial Woods path, walk down into the woods and look to the right until you see a large, fallen tree.
The nurse tree is covered in patches of moss and has a thick layer of grasses and woody plants that grow up from beneath it. It’s surrounded by brown, reedy grasses, golden rod, oak trees and decomposing sticks.
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊Common Woody Plants𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𖤣𖥧
- Garlic Mustard Family: Brassicaceae Origin: Europe, Asia Uses: Can be used for flavor in food, historically used to treat gangrene and bronchitis and reduce the irritation of bug bites.
- Bedstraws Family: Rubiaceae Origin: Transcontinental Canada Uses: Historically used to slow bleeding, ease childbirth and reduce fever by boiling or crushing up the plant.
- Wall Cotoneaster Family: Rosaceae Origin: Temperate Asia, Europe, North Africa Uses: Wall and ground cover for decoration.
- Coastal Mugwart Family: Asteraceae Origin: Coastal western North America, including British Columbia, California, and the Channel Islands Common Uses: Deer deterrent, seasoning for cakes and scones.
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15 Minute Exercise and Observation: When sitting at my spot, I noticed that the surrounding bunches of dried foliage and branches sent a rattling sound throughout the woods when a gust of wind would blow. However, not all the plants were dead from the cold. Due to the recent rainstorms, many members of the Bryophyta family were still alive and flourishing in the moisture. I also noticed how quiet it was. The cold weather had caused all the once noticeable songbirds to migrate, only leaving me with the plants, rain and wind. It was nice to do a quiet meditation in a natural area just as I used to at home after school. Growing up in the driftless hills of Wisconsin, I found most of my comfort in the silence of deep nature.
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NEW WISCONSIN PHENOLOGY SPOT:
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Comparison:
- Unlike the previous spot, this one includes aquatic plants like watercress.
- This area includes a spring-fed stream with a reverse-thrust bank over the water.
- This spot has a higher number of living plants surrounding the central point
- This spot includes more stone, especially water-smoothed sandstone and quartz.
- This spot has a higher density of invasive species, such as Honey Suckle and Multiflora Rose.
- When comparing the Pieces, Patterns and Processes, the Vermont spot included a nurse tree, which helped replenish the soil with the needed nutrients to feed native species and plants, whereas this spot includes a spring-fed stream that helps to support native aquatic plants, animals, and feeds into a 2-acre pond that is home to species of native fish, like small-mouth bass.
I chose this spot because it includes a spring that has flowed for years from what was once the Ocooch Mountain ranges of Wisconsin. I would often visit the stream when I was younger, just to imagine all the different people of the past that had drank from and dipped their fingers in the exact same waters that I did.
The Indigenous people of these lands were of a small band named The Ocoche, a group with familial ties to the Ho-Chunk Nation, formerly known as the Winnebago. The Ocoche were known to live in the caves of the Ocooch mountains and were fish hunters. They left their native lands around 1670 due to disease, resource depletion and war.
This spot is meaningful to me not only because of the historical significance but the emotional connection I have with it. Whenever I see a sprout, sapling or spring, it is as though I’m witnessing a sacred birth from within the earth. I feel an immense draw to the pure representation of creation and life that comes from the act of leaves unfurling or water bubbling from some deep, secret place. I would come to this spring to run my hands through the thick crops of mossy ferns and would spend summer days lying on my back in the water, simply appreciating and noticing it. It is a perfect example of how one’s sense of place can truly inspire them to protect and value it.
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𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊Common woody plants (and other observations)𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𖤣𖥧
- Hook-leaved fern moss (5)
- Spreading Chevril (1)
- Speedwells (7)
- Bittercress (3)
- Multiflora Rose (picture not included)
- Honey Suckle (4)
- Rose (6 &11)
- Yellow Feather Moss (9)
- Turkey Tail – or false Turkey Tail (8)
- Sandstone (2)
- Deer droppings (10)
Since last visiting this spot, not much has changed besides an increase in deer tracks, droppings and matted bunches of grass where the deer sleep near the stream. The rest of the flowing water has gradually begun to freeze as well as the pond that the spring feeds into.
ALSO PICTURED BELOW:
