Journal Entry 1: What I’ve noticed around town today -

On my way to the park this afternoon, I noticed a flock of pigeons flying across a side street and I wondered where are they going? There were around 15-20 and I lost them as I turned down a different street. Where do they nest at night? What do they eat during the day? Are there different species of pigeons here?

I’m at the park and it’s breezy. Not too warm, but not too cool even though I did bring my hoodie since that breeze will be a little cooler by the time I head back home.

I’ve come to this spot at the park everyday for the last month. I’ve watched several of the trees grow their new leaves, slowly filling in the empty branches. There’s another tree that still has no buds, but it’s still April and maybe it is a late bloomer.

The pine trees are full of new pinecones. My intentions this year are to learn more about evergreens—how to tell them apart and how they can be used. Medicinally, or survival uses or edible—I can use and record the information I find in several ways:

General nature journal recording my observations during the day
Make an herbarium
A tree journal—tree identification
Survival skills journal—using the sap for ?
Nature recipe journal—pine needle tea
Herbal/ medicinal journal—make a salve?

In fact, I could keep several journals going all the time so that I can go back and be able to find and compare the information from different sources.

As I sit here watching the trees and thinking about these things, there are bits of cottonwood (or maybe poplar?) seeds floating everywhere. Another piece of nature to learn about. As it is a windy day, I wonder how far it has travelled across this town before gliding through my window and floating and landing down in the seat next to me.