A Place of River and Sky

Silver Snag Farm

Stories following the landscape from grass to habitat and food forest.

  • Little things along the way – Ingalls Creek

    I guess I don’t qualify as a “lister” or a collector.  I like birds, but the closest I came to listing those I saw was in Costa Rica, when I followed my travel buddy’s example and marked them in my… Continue reading

  • Beware the Legend of Owl

    Owl legends run the gamut across peoples and history, and say perhaps more about people than owls.  The most simplistic and superstitious medieval myths associate the owl’s adaptation to night with terrible things.  The owl’s superior ability to hunt at night- along with the… Continue reading

  • A Christmas gift of swans

    I walked out to see if the swans were still there. Well over 100 trumpeter swans arrived in the district the night before Christmas, even landing in the fields behind my house.  Their chattering woke me up at 3 a.m.,… Continue reading

    A Christmas gift of swans

  • They are not our pets

    The hummingbird was not going to wait for me to hang the feeder. On a cold morning in Western Washington, with uncommon snow on the ground, the male Anna’s wanted his sugar water, and now. As I walked toward the… Continue reading

  • Park Butte-Railroad Grade on a full moon

    Besides working like a dog and finalizing my Certified Interpretive Trainer and Envision certifications,  I am trying to get back to wilderness fitness so I can go to Baffin Island next year and backpack the Arctic Circle for 3 weeks,… Continue reading

  • Made it this time- Heart Lake Loop, Yellowstone National Park

    This was the trip I tried to do last year with my friend Brenda when she became injured. This year, I was fortunate to have the company of Michelle, a new friend from the National Association of Interpretation training I attended. … Continue reading

  • I’ll stop planting now, really I will~

    I was going to quit this year, finally, and just maintain areas that  turned into crazy  jungles.  Just prune and weed and divide occasionally, do something else with my time in the winter and spring. But the orange honeysuckle burst… Continue reading

  • The Accidental Trip to Grand Teton

    Sometimes we are saved from our own thoughtless enthusiasm by the well-intentioned fates. And then, when we’re flexible enough to allow intervention and change course, we are rewarded.  In September 2013, I found myself bailing out of a week-long backpacking trip planned… Continue reading

  • The Lovely Tapir

    The academics found it, the four women from the University of Costa Rica combing through the woods for fungal samples. They were on their monthly visit to the Osa Peninsula rainforest outside Corcovado National Park, traveling the trails above La… Continue reading

    The Lovely Tapir

  • Lamar Valley Wolf Week, Yellowstone National Park

    For five days in March, I lived at the historic Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone for “Lamar Wolf Week”. The Lamar Valley is dubbed a “Winter Serengeti” by the clever marketing folks at the Yellowstone Association for its abundant wildlife,… Continue reading