I never have the courage to say these sort of things face to face – because I end up sounding dopey and awkward – but I wanted to leave some final thoughts about why I love botany and ecology so much. I don’t care for rocks a whole lot. I’m not terribly interested in space. I have close to zero interest in physics. Chemistry is awesome – inasmuch as I can use it to understand biology. (In fact, biology/botany blows my mind even more when I understand the chemistry working at the tiniest levels.) I love botany and ecology so much because I love life. My favorite biology textbook (yes, I have a favorite) is subtitled “The science of Life,” and although that’s accurate because that is what the book is about, I think it’s funny that the author cannot explain HOW life actually works. He can talk about all the mechanics and the materials (and the chemistry and the physics), but because he is coming at the topic solely from a scientific standpoint, he has to admit that he doesn’t know what LIFE really is.

And it’s because he’s coming at all wrong. Life isn’t just science. Life is a miracle. Life is all about God.

To me, every little mitochondria and leaf and bug and blossom and moss and forest and wetland and ecosystem is just a testament that God is gentle, practical, creative, loving, thoughtful, beautiful, simple, complex, orderly, patient, and full of love. All life on earth is a testament to me of His goodness and divinity and His love for all of His creations, and especially for all of His children.

Before this class started, Brother Williams and I came up with the following vision statement for our class. We listed all the big picture items we wanted to focus on and accomplish. This was our vision statement: Students in Wild by Nature will be able to classify, identify, and understand that basic functions and medicinal and culinary uses of a variety of plant life; begin to understand the interconnected and sophisticated design of the natural world around them; and feel comfortable in, knowledgeable about, and find joy, peace, and adventure out-of-doors surrounded by God’s creations. I think we did a pretty good job of accomplishing those goals in class. But truthfully, there is no way we can know if we’ve accomplished that last part. I do hope you are comfortable out in God’s creations. I hope they bring you joy, peace, and even excite a bit of adventure inside you. I hope you know that God created this earth for you and filled it with beauty and wonder and life because He loves you. I know that He loves all His creations, from Pando, the biggest Aspen “tree,” to the smallest little protists and amoebas. He finds joy in creating, and I know He definitely notices and appreciates when we stop to humbly admire His glorious handiwork and praise Him through our humble acknowledgment that He is the Great Creator of Heaven and Earth.

I really do love botany and ecology and LIFE because it reminds me of how much I love God and He loves me. I truly hope you feel that as well.

(And please know that your Wild by Nature mentors sure do think the world of you, too!)

PS. Here is a link to a google drive folder with ALMOST all the photos I took this year. I left out the super junky photos and a bunch of duplicates. You should be able to download any photos from this file that you’d like. Sorry they aren’t all labeled. I’m awesome, but not THAT awesome.

It was fun (and cold) to visit lower hobble creek again. We went last fall and talked about grasses, rushes, sedges, etc. This time we spent most of our time inside clouds of cattail seeds and forests of phragmites. Also, we enjoyed the purple mustard and mint. And some of us enjoyed the Heron’s Bill, although that one is still not my favorite. Enjoy the photos – Feel free to use any of them for your nature journals.

Thanks to all who came and endured 4 hours in the Mock van for 2 hours of sand and desert (and plants and dog tracks and astounding views and rocks and funny tourists – and a pit toilet.)

Below are a bunch of photos. We weren’t able to identify most of the little plants we found. Unfortunately, it was a little too early in the spring to really see some significant growth to where we could tell what we were looking at. However, we caught the big three: Juniper, Pinyon Pine, and Mormon Tea. Still, for all the plants we were eventually able to identify, I’ve added labels on the photos.

For those who didn’t come, we are sorry we missed you! It was a really fun (and really long – thank you Expanding Horizon’s class movie night and interim park hang out!) day.