OUR LITTLE NATURE CENTER AT ROOTS

Every Tuesday hundreds of visitors come by our little 10 x 10 Nature center at Root's Country Market near Manheim, PA.  To each child who visits we offer a Creator Card.  These cards are nature pics that are collectible like sports cards etc.  They are standard collectible card size and therefor fit in the same pages and holders as baseball cards and others.  We are distributing nearly 125 cards a week and estimate that about 60 children are collecting them regularly.  Each card is a reminder that we should remember our Creator while learning about and enjoying His creation.

We change our display wall about every 4 to 5 weeks.  Our displays have featured wildflowers, birds, trees, the monarch butterfly life cycle, the cecropia moth life cycle, insects from all over the world and more.  Recently we are displaying a small part of the large collection of insects that have been given to us by Klaus Neuwald.

Our display at Root's will change this week.  The name of the display is "THE 17 YEAR CICADA ARE COMING"   Come and visit 9 am to 9 pm every Tuesday.



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Klas Neuwald and Don Billett with a small part of the insect collection Klaus donated.
THANK YOU KLAUS!!!!

Jess is one of our regular visitors.  Here she is looking to see what we have in the discovery box this week,  We try to have something new every week.  It seems that both youth and adults love to see what we have.  LEARNING IS FUN.

SPRING TIME IN LANCASTER COUNTY

I have visited Shenk's ferry twice in the last week and it is beautiful as always - here are some wildflower pics to enjoy -  we are organizing a wild flower walk for 12 noon on Wed the 17TH any one can join us there or call us at 684-2849 to share a ride.   Two words for all of you  --
GET OUT

Confederate violer (local name)

VA bue bells

blood root

Gill or the Ground (Ground Ivy)

Dutchmen's Breaches

Wild Ginger

Miter Wort (Bishop's Cap)

Spring Beauty

Cut Leaf
Tooth Wort

FALL WILDFLOWERS

Most folks think of spring as the time for wildflowers and they are right but if you only look in the spring you miss a huge amount of beauty.  Some of my favorite wildflowers bloom in
September and October,

I was blessed to spend two days and one night in the Tuscarora Forest in mid September.   I photographed lots of insects, birds, and wildflowers.  At least 15 species of wildflowers - I will not bore you with the list, but trust me, I was not bored in the least.

Today we took a short trip to Lancaster to follow a lead from Ken Miller.  He directed me to a species I had yet to photograph - Viper's Buglosss.  Then to Furnace hills to look for our fall favorite - Fringed Gentian.  We also found a few aster's. Some day I am going to learn how to id these better.  Daisy Fleabane and various small white asters confuse me.

Below you will find a few pics.

Viper's Bugloss

Viper's Bugloss - close up

Fringed Gentian - "bird's eye" view
looks like it might spin like a pinwheel in the wind

Fringed Gentian - multiple flowers on one plant

Fringed Gentian - nice bunching of plants

New England Aster
(I am certain about Aster but not certain about New England)

LOVING THE GOD OF CREATION

Worshiping the Creator by observing His creation is what I like to do best.  This end of summer season is a great time for butterflies, caterpillars, and more.

At Roots the last several weeks visitors have been a Garden spider and her egg sack - several species of butterflies in their various life stages from egg to larva to pupa and then adult.  Thanks to John Laskowski we had 3 cecropia caterpillars and a display of a dissection of the cecropia  cocoon done by  Al Spoo.  We also had a saddle back (from Taylor Wingert) and a fiery skipper caterpillers (from Carl ? last name - a friend from insect club)

I started the last paragraph to tell about what we were doing at Roots but ended up showing you how valuable volunteer /  friends are to what I do.

Here are some recent pics from my nature adventures.

pair of meadow fritillaries ( I saw more than 30 at one time)

the plentiful sulfur butterflies are pretty too

fly on mint (can you id either species?)

A young falconer named Patrick gave a presentation at the Lancaster Bird Club.
He works for Zoo America in Hershey.

Great Horned Owl at Bird Club

Patrick brought more than birds with him.

Get out - and see what He is doing!

AT OUR HOUSE

I AM AS HAPPY AS A PIG IN THE MUD.  I am so blessed.  Only heaven could be better than this and that is because Jesus is there in a way we can only dream about here.

What am I happy about? - lots of things - a good wife, reasonable health, friends, and a purpose for living are only the beginning of the list.  Today I am rejoicing about my butterfly bushes.  Their unique aroma takes me back to the happy side of my childhood where at my grandma and grandpa's place there were huge butterfly bushes covered in what else? - butterflies!

Today there are no less than 5 species here in the bright sunlight. (in my own little lawn) I am posting some pics below.

Variegated Fritillary

Buckeye

Black Swallowtail - male

Monarch - female

Tiger Swallowtail - female

And last but not least my sister found a 5 lined skink in a trash can at our cousins cabin on Sunday - he made an interesting exhibit for roots last Tuesday - look at those long fingers with claws on the end.  I took him to show John Conley's children and he escaped - we got him back (minus some tail) but our running around after him was a "three ring circus":)

Why don't you stop by our nature center at Root's sometime soon - we try to have something interesting there every week.  I am there almost every Tuesday from 8am to 9pm - you can call ahead to make certain we are there - 684-2849 (home)



PS - thanks to my Friend Jim Smith who pointed out a "learning experience" (sounds much better than mistake)  I changed the id on the fritillary from a Meadow to a Variegated.   Thank you Jim - keep up the good work  dub 

3rd ANNUAL NATURE CLUB

We just ended a very busy July - one that I could have never done myself - volunteers are so important to bringing my ideas and inspiration to reality.  If I were to try to list them here I fear I might miss some so each one please know how thankful I am for your help.

Our third annual nature club was a success with an average of 50 attending and an all time high of 72 (adults and children) attending one session.  I just heard a report from a grandmother who said her grandchildren have been playing nature club on their own at home.  great!!!!

Find some pics of the kids in our butterfly house durring week two below.

We also did programs for Mount Joy Mennonite Church,  Ephrata Bible Church,  and 2 for Camp YoliJwa.  We also had an exhibit at the Ned Smith Center Festival.

Please keep us in your prayers.

While wondering the fire access roads of the Tuscarora State Forest I have come upon many of God's beautiful creations.  I believe He does nothing without a purpose and ponder why he made turtles.  If there is no other reason they certainly make me think about the greatness and creativity of God.  These are fascinating little critters.  I remember as a youth we saw them frequently - often killed on the road.  In those days we often carved our  initials and date in their lower shell and left them go hoping to find them again years latter.  Today many turtles  are "species of concern" due to the lack of habitat for them.

Here are pics of some I found in the month I spent in the forest

a box turtle - killed on a forest road where the speed limit in 20 mph - an accident?

eastern box turtle

I am told by those who know that this is a wood turtle - I have questions about that  but they are the experts

underside of the above "wood turtle"

a beautiful wood turtle