Noticing

Ferny forest floor in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

On every trip to the North Shore, I notice different things.  On this trip I paid attention to the northern range of the milkweed which turned out to be around Two Harbors.  Beyond that, from my speedy estimation, at least along the highway, there are no milkweed and no monarch butterflies.  I noticed the maples are not along the shore.  You have to drive to a higher altitude to find the beautiful, crimson sugar maples.  I also noticed, for the first time, that the shore is loaded with mountain ash trees.  The mountain ash berries were flame red and the compound leaves were intricate and showy.  How is it I never noticed them before?  Another thing I noticed is the lack of farms, fields and pastures between Duluth and the Canadian border.  Absolutely no agriculture is visible from the highway.  Why is that?  Is the ground so rocky and acid and steep that farming is impossible?  And how does the lack of agriculture affect the ecosystem?  If the land in unsuitable for farming, why did we see farms once we got across the border?  In Canada we saw pastures, beef, corn and soybean fields.  Is it because in Canada Highway 61 does not skirt the lake as closely as it does in Minnesota?  It is possible that I might find farms and pastures in Minnesota north of Duluth if I got off the highway and took some backroads farther up and away from the lake.