The other day I stopped by my folks place and popped into the creek to check and see if the spicebush berries and pawpaws were ready. If I could I would buy all of the property behind their house and make sure that it went to Acres land trust. Acres and the Arc of Appalachia are two organizations that I’m wildly passionate about. We can put the plants back after development but we should still preserve as much natural land as possible. This creek of the Tippecanoe River – learn more here – that photo taken at the bridge in Oswego where I grew up and and crossed that bridge countless times, admiring the beauty of the river through to the seasons, going to work at my first job, the Oswego Mini Mart. I grew up in this creek. We bathed and played with our dog in it. My younger brother and I made paper boats and raced them down it. My dad telling campfire stories of the one time I took our canoe out and came back with a hole in it. I escaped in this creek and woods. My friends and I going over the old dam in Oswego and riding down. Sometimes going with her older brothers with chainsaws to clear fallen trees for easier passage. I was Beckett’s age (4) when Pocahontas came out – I’m sure that inspired some of my adventures, ha!
All of that to say, I really want my kids to grow up like I did in the 90’s. We’ve been doing a lot of renovations inside lately and with Kate being in school and no one to play with he wants to watch tv. We got home after school one day and that’s what he wanted. So I took him to the creek. My son is fearless. I love it. Murky water still scares me. It doesn’t faze him and I don’t caution him either. I don’t want to instill any kind of unnecessary fear. Instead we get down and close and go, “look, notice how this log is really slippery when it’s wet” and “look up, do you see this spider is hiding here”. We talk about the flowers and trees we see. Asking what kind of leaf this is and look up the bugs we find. I’m still learning too. I’ve seen water bugs my whole life but never knew what they were called. Beckett however is the best whirligig beetle catcher. With a name like that how can you forget what they are? He was able to catch a couple in his hand, that quickly jumped out before I could get a photo, so I told him to try his boot. He was very busy hunting and catching for a while and I also hunted for berries, caterpillars, and native plants. The creek bank is littered in pawpaw trees, some spice bush, goldenrod, and cardinal flowers. We found an old fallen pawpaw in the water and opened it with our walking stick. We pulled out the seed for B to see and then he planted it. I’m excited to not only teach my kids about nature but learn as well. I can’t wait to bring Kate and could see her wanting to do Hoosier Riverwatch with me. I love watching and documenting my kids learning and playing. And hopefully one day these experiences will be a part of his story.
