Nature Walk at Heartland Forest

 As our house is on the market now and we have finished the work of preparing it, we have started doing other things - like going on field trips! These pictures are from a trip the younger boys and I went on to Heartland Forest which is near our home. We actually went in May, and we were able to see some May apples! The boys are looking at the flower of the May apple above, and here is what they saw:

We walked on Heartland Forest's trail, which is notable because it is wheelchair accessible. It has many signs labelling trees, and other features of the forest like this vernal pond. A vernal pond we all learned is a pond that dries up in the summer, so no fish live in it. It is a great hatching ground for frogs because the tadpoles can grow without worrying about being fish food!

 After our nature walk, the boys were able to dig some worms out of the compost area and try some fishing.

There is a larger (not vernal!) pond near the entrance and helpful volunteers are around to help you fish! You don't even need to bring your own rods! Ben lost several worms to hungry fish, but finally managed to catch one.

 Pip was pretty excited to catch a fish too! Both fish got thrown back into the pond for others to catch.

We learned some new things, and tried something new (fishing!) and left wanting to go back again!