Most of the forest trees are still holding on to their leaves, despite yesterday’s vicious winds that tried to tear them away. Many of the walnut and cottonwood trees have given up the fight and are bare of leaves, but the brilliant colors of fall are just beginning to blanket the hillsides. The Iowa DNR’s fall color report at https://www.iowadnr.gov/Conservation/Forestry/Fall-Color can help predict best viewing. This coming weekend should be lovely for leaf peepers in northeast Iowa. We will be welcoming guests to Iowisota to “Go Nuts” with us, exploring use of forest tree nuts, and the trees themselves. We are also hoping to make it to the top of the north bluff for the spectacular views on our monthly free “Women’s Walk” from 2-4pm on Sunday afternoon (October 20th). If you want to know WHY leaves change colors, check out https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/fall-colors/science-of-fall-colors.
On the afternoon of Saturday October 26th, you can make your own custom charcuterie board out of local wood. I’d love to have more guests join us for this fun workshop (https://www.iowisota.org/event-details-registration/charcu-tree-with-chelsea); Choose the overnight option if you want to come spend more time in the woods! There may even be some fall color holding on, but no matter what, I can guarantee the woods will be lovely. They always are.
A quick summary of our workshop last Saturday: A full class of 15 spent the day learning about mushroom foraging. Andi taught foundational aspects of mushroom biology and identification, which gave us a strong footing to know where, when, and what to hunt. The woods in this region are very dry right now, but we were still able to find and collect edible shrimp-of-the-woods, giant puffballs, and resinous polypore. Our search also yielded a trove of other interesting mushrooms and conks. It was a lovely educational day in the woods! We plan to have Andi back next summer for another mushroom session.
We do not have other events yet scheduled for this Fall, but we may add some shorter workshops in late fall and winter… Hold on for future opportunities!
A more reflective note about holding on: We’ve had the luxury of new space at Iowisota to enfold pieces from the past into functional and decorative use. We have a big oak dining table in the Gathering Room that was a family wedding present in 1925, a clawfoot bathtub in the old-fashioned bathroom, family-made quilts on several of our guest beds, and various other relics of the past throughout the house. Finding the balance of what to hold on to and cherish versus what to let go of is hard. The ideal outcome is to honor the special things by using them regularly or displaying them where they can be seen often. I wish every family discernment to choose wisely when they get to the stage of choosing what to keep. And my advice to all is PLEASE don’t save everything for your kids to sort!
Thanks for letting me hold your attention this long. Until next time, go enjoy the woods and some of those colorful leaves that are holding on!
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