By Katherine Hale - It's hard to find someone with a kind words for weeds. Home owners pay big bucks to spray the dandelions out of their lawns. Farmers uproot them without mercy. And even in a crowd of people who care passionately about the minutiae of plants, you won't find many fans. For better… Continue reading Weeding Out
By Katherine Hale - I fall in love the way some people drink coffee—quickly, all at once and at the slightest opportunity. This time, the object of my affection was a tiny tan moth, fluttering among a haze of purple tick-trefoil flowers in a power-line clearing in early evening. Every now and then it… Continue reading Learning to Love the Corn Earworm
A professionally polished Petoskey stone, similar to what you would find for sale in shops throughout Michigan. The diagram in the corner indicates scale. Photo by Dr. Mark Wilson of the College of Wooster, Ohio, via Wikimedia Commons. By Katherine Hale - This summer, transport yourself to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, near the… Continue reading The Hidden Gems of Lake Michigan
By Emma Stuhl - Sporophytes are tiny, slender structures that pop out of moss in droves. Their beauty, diversity, fun-factor, and cute little caps continually amaze me. Like a big buzz cut, they tickle my hand as I graze them. If I am lucky, they are ripe and release their spores in a small flurry,… Continue reading The Noble Sporophyte
By Julie Runcie - Sean and I are in The Vault. We’ve been here for a while—hours now. It’s less grandiose than it sounds, really just a back room in the Charlotte Town Hall, but it gives me the same feeling I get from the New York Public Library or a fancy art museum. Tread… Continue reading Secrets of The Vault
