Wilmar

This weekend I traveled to Wilmar, Minnesota for another Master Naturalist convention. I checked into the Holiday Inn which is next door to the Wilmar convention center. Our speaker the first night was a geologist by the name of Dr. Carrie Jennings. She gave us a great talk on glaciers and land formations. I was glad I signed up for her field trip the next morning. After breakfast we took off in a bus for Sibley State Park. We hiked to the top of Mount Tom and surveyed the view. We took a hike along an esker. Esker is a Gaelic word for snake like ridge. We found this prairie smoke blooming on the side of the esker. After that our bus took us to the Ordway Prairie near Glenwood, Minnesota. This Nature Conservancy property is what the view from Mount Tom would have looked like if the state park hadn't decided to plant so many trees. The wind was blowing across the prairie at a fast clip. I would like to go back to the Ordway Prairie in better weather. After that stop we went to a gravel pit. Where the gravel had been scooped away we could see the prairie soil on top followed by gravel and sand of a glacial stream. We could even tell which way the water was flowing. Our bus took us back to Wilmar where we were 45 minutes late for lunch. After lunch I took two classes. My first class was on harmful algae blooms. We learned about green algae which is generally safe and blue green algae which can be poisonous. One way to tell if your algae is harmful or not is to gather some in a glass jar, swirl it gently, and refrigerate it overnight.  If the algae has disintegrated and fallen to the bottom of the jar, it is not harmful.  If the algae is still floating on the top of the jar there is a good chance it is harmful. Poisonous algae is an issue. There are veterinarians who advice dog owners not to let them swim in lakes just because it could be harmful. My last class of the day was on teaching children a love of the natural world. This class was taught by a man who loves the outdoors. He took his children camping and canoeing but found they did not do the same with their children.Worried his grandchildren were not getting enough nature he made plans to make sure they did. He organized outings for each grandchild. After the adventure he made posters and/or videos of the outing. His background was in advertising so he found it easy to do this for each child. After all that I was ready for a break so I went back to the hotel and took a long swim. We had dinner together. Our plan was to have dinner at a local farm. Unfortunately the wind had ruined the event by blowing over our dinner tent and those plans were cancelled. My friends and I sat together and talked until 10:30. The next day I took a class on science and art. We made paper. My paper is made from coontail plants (found in lakes) and milkweed. I sprinkled milkweed seeds on top. We had to press our paper in a big press to get the water out. My friend thought this piece of equipment would make a good torture device. The wanted to take a picture of what she called a thumbscrew. I offered to add my thumb to make the picture better. The last class of the day was on edible forests. Some cities are planting public spaces with apple trees, plum trees, hazelnut bushes, rhubarb, grape vines, asparagus. Citizens are allowed to take what they can eat. We had a nice lunch together before heading home. I think it will take me a full week to process everything I have learned.