April 23rd, 2013

Happy belated Earth Day! My family celebrated in a couple of ways - on Saturday, we went to a forest preserve nearby where they were working on restoring the area to its natural Oak Savannah state. We ripped out invasive plants - buckthorn, honeysuckle, and non-native wild rose - to allow native wild flowers and grasses to grow in around the Oak trees. Since Oak Savannah is home to more endangered plants than any other terrestrial biome, this was an especially important project.

Here's what it looked like after a few hours of work. We burned the invasive plants in a giant bonfire - that's why it's so smoky. Then yesterday, my mom and brothers went to another forest preserve to pick up trash. I'd have gone with, but I had a ton of homework to do.
It also occurred to me yesterday that I had several Barnes and Noble gift cards to use, so I ordered Scott Cunningham's Earth, Air, Fire & Water and Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon. I love Scott Cunningham, and I've heard a lot about Alder's work, so I'm extremely happy with my choices. Hopefully they'll arrive this week!