Duluth Adventure

To celebrate three years of being in a relationship, my boyfriend, Michael, and I took a day trip up to the lovely city of Duluth, situated on the shore of Lake Superior. It was my first time visiting the city, but my boyfriend had a small amount of prior knowledge, having visited several times with his family. Despite this, he still hadn't been there for several years so I had to do a little bit of research into where we should go and what we should do. I knew right away I wanted to go up to Hawk Ridge to try to see some of the spectacular views of the raptor migration they get there, and Michael wanted to visit Gooseberry Falls and Canal Park, places he and his family had been several times before.

With these ideas in mind, we set off on the two and a half hour drive to Duluth yesterday morning, excited that the day promised more beautiful weather than we could've wished for. Sunny and mid-60s, the day was starting off good before we even got there.

Upon our arrival around lunchtime, Michael suggested we get sandwiches from a place he'd been during past visits, Sir Benedict's, so we enjoyed some hearty French Dip sandwiches before heading up the hill to Hawk Ridge.

We hit the dirt road on the way up the ridge and knew we'd found the right spot when we saw the cars lined up along the road. Unintentionally, we got there during the times recommended on the signs posted at the ridge for the best viewing times. This time of year is also best for seeing larger raptors migrating, as the smaller species had mostly made their way through the area earlier in the fall. I had brought along my own binoculars and Michael picked up a pair from the Hawk Ridge station where they had loaner pairs for those who needed them. We already had seen several Sharp-shinned Hawks fly over us as we got there, a smaller species that was having a harder time battling that day's winds out of the south. Michael is not as into birding as I am, so I was hoping we'd see some larger bald eagles and red-tailed hawks to catch his interest. I knew that we were in range for Golden Eagle migration, a species I had never seen in the wild before, but wasn't expecting to see them at all that day. They weren't as common as the other species, so I didn't want to get my hopes up. 

But boy was I wrong. About 30 minutes after we got there, one of the birders taking the official counts from the platform up on the ridge said "Looks like we've got some Goldens coming in from the lake." My heart started racing as I eagerly scanned the area they indicated. I could see several specks waaaaay far out that I could tell were soaring birds, but not much more than that. Were these the Golden Eagles? I couldn't tell for sure yet. But luckily for me, Michael and the other 20 or so birders up on the ridge, one of the adults was going to give us a spectacular flyby not long later. In he (or she? I never actually heard if they knew the sex or not) came, soaring around and around and finally flying the length of the ridge right along where all of the birders stood in awe. It was beautiful. Huge, with a golden head, almost like a mane of feathers. The second that came in decent range of us still stayed off in the distance over the treeline. This one was a juvenile, with prominent white spots under his wings and a white band on his tail. We even got to see this one in comparison to a juvenile bald eagle that came into the same viewing range. 

Not a great photo, but here's one of the Golden Eagles!

Besides the Golden Eagles, we saw lots of Sharp-Shinned Hawks, several Bald Eagles, several Red-Tailed Hawks and one Northern Harrier. And this is just in the hour-fourty five minutes we spent there! Michael was thoroughly impressed with the Golden Eagles and the other raptors we saw (he kept bringing up how cool it was throughout the rest of the day), and I was happy he'd had such a good time birding. It was also really great that the nature guides up at Hawk Ridge gave a running commentary on what was flying over and information on the species we were seeing. It was both helpful and educational.

After Hawk Ridge, we drove down to the highway out of Duluth, still basking in the glow of our Golden Eagle sightings, and headed the 45 minutes to Gooseberry State Park. This was another place Michael had been before with his family, so he knew generally where to go once we got there. We spent an hour climbing and walking around on the rocks near the falls and taking pictures. The leaves were almost completely off the trees except for a few smaller maples that were still clinging to their fall colors. But the trees in this area were primarily evergreens and birch that had shed their leaves already. It made for a really neat scene with the birches starkly standing out against the other colors of a fall landscape.

Heading back to Duluth, we decided to head over to Canal Park to look at the lift bridge, walk out along the wall of the channel the large boats go through to get to the bay and just generally poke around. The lighthouses by the canal stuck out enough into the bay to get some really nice views of downtown Duluth. The bridge itself is also pretty neat, with a center section that doesn't split apart and lift like other lift bridges, but complete lifts up to the top as one section. In my pictures it's down because there were no boats going through at the time.

We had some time to kill before dinner, so we headed to a brewery situated right on the boardwalk area. Canal Park Brewing Co. had a large selection of craft brews and, thankfully, another couple who had been there before and arrived around the same time as us, offered their recommendations on which ones to try. Nuthatchet Brown turned out to be our favorite, and the others I sampled were good as well. I'm not a huge beer person and I still liked everything I tried. The day was so mild that we could still sit outside on their patio area comfortably at 5pm in the evening. There was only a slight, southerly breeze so the temperature was incredibly pleasant. Turned out they also serve food as well as beer, although we were planning on dining somewhere else that evening, but I'd like to try their food another time. It's definitely a place we'll be visiting again on return trips to Duluth.

We left to walk up the boardwalk to the restaurant we'd chosen for dinner just as the sun was setting, which turned the sky pink and gold.

Just up the boardwalk a ways was Fitger's the restaurant that we ate dinner at. Fitger's is a huge complex of stores, a hotel and restaurants, but we ate at their main restaurant. They also brew beer here so Michael tried one of their brews as well. The food was delicious (I had the Friday fish & chips special while Michael had one of their burgers) and I probably over-ate, but we left to walk back down the boardwalk to the car content. We even got to see the lit-up lift bridge in action as one of the large ore boats went through the canal. It's amazing how someone could pilot a boat that huge through such a small channel. Once it was through it honked it's massive horn, which echoed off the city. Since Duluth is basically situated on the side of a huge hill, it was a pretty impressive echo.

It's cliche, but the day was pretty much perfect. I can't think of a single thing that could have been better. We both had so much fun, the weather was amazing, all the food we ate was great and all the outdoor experiences we had were awesome. I'm definitely excited for the next opportunity I have to go back.

Farm Internship Reflections

It definitely crept up on me, but Monday was my last day out on the Cornercopia Student Organic Farm as an intern. It was definitely a bittersweet day because I'm really going to miss working there. I have learned so much and I'm so thankful I was given the opportunity to work their this growing season.

Panoramic view of a storm rolling away from the farm.

There have been so many parts about this internship that I have loved, it's hard to list all of them. I really enjoyed working with the other interns, many of which come from different majors and backgrounds. It made the job interesting when I got to hear about the different perspectives on food and farming that everyone had. My boss has been incredible in teaching me a lot about what it takes to run a farm. She also was super understanding when I and the other interns would goof up on something (like putting tomatoes in the cold cooler or picking the wrong leafy green vegetable) which made our mistakes much more of a learning opportunity than something to be ashamed of. I have learned so much from her and I really hope that, eventually, I will know as much about plants, organic farming and organic food as she does.

All of us goofy interns and our boss, Courtney.

But more than anything I have learned the importance of food and the importance of appreciating where our food comes from. I can eat a tomato any day I want and not even think about it, but after seeding, planting, weeding, and harvesting the tomatoes I ate this summer, something about the fruit just tastes different and better. Maybe it's the emotional connection to the food, maybe it's simply because it's organic, but knowing more about your food definitely makes it more special.

Tomato picking party!

I now also hugely appreciate those that work with food as their profession who make it a point to use local and organic food. University Dining Service chefs and the chef at our on-campus restaurant Campus Club, have been huge supporters of the student organic farm and buy large amounts of our produce to feed to their customers. I specifically remember hearing from the head chef at Campus Club who talked about how a carrot soup she makes just doesn't taste the same unless the carrots she uses are organic. The flavor just isn't there with conventional carrots. I'm also very glad that we are a produce source for the food eaten by students on our campus. As the University of Minnesota works toward a more sustainable future, I think that food has a huge role to play in that shift. I'm hoping that buying produce from us is just the beginning of the U starting to source it's food more locally.

Coupon for lunch provided by University Dining Services.

And, of course, I have learned that food certainly creates community, whether that be here at the University or with other groups in Twin Cities area. Seeing how good food makes people happy was another thing I loved about this job. I hope that I can contribute to these food communities and continue connecting people to good food even more in the future with the knowledge that I gained at Cornercopia. 

 

Mystery Hawk on Campus: Solved

So as well as being a gardener, my recent trip to Yellowstone brought back my love of birding that I had so much as a kid. I used to sit by sliding glass door that led out to the patio with the bird feeders back home and count chickadees, nuthatches and juncos in the snowy bittersweet vines. It can be a little difficult being an active birdwatcher while taking college courses and living in a house with nowhere to hang a birdfeeder.
But after seeing mountain bluebirds, harlequin ducks and all manner of stunning birds on the trip out west, my interest was peaked again.

eBird, a bird reporting website from Cornell University is my favorite birding tool because it compiles my "life list" of birds for me and I can add notes about where/when I saw them, age, sex, details about what they were doing, etc. It's a pretty neat tool if you're at all into birding. And they use the data to keep tabs on bird populations, so everyone benefits.

Yesterday I was over on the UMN East Bank campus, talking with a friend while she stood waiting for a bus. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a large bird swoop up into one of the ash trees outside of Folwell Hall and immediately got excited. It's not too often that I get a close look at a raptor that's stationary instead of soaring overhead.

Peeking up through the branches, I found my bird.

I'm not the best bird identifier out there so I knew it was a hawk, but not what kind. Going home, my internet search brought me to the conclusion that it was a Broad-Winged Hawk...only to be told to day by a kind passerby on Google+ (who had seen the picture I put up) that it was actually a juvenile Cooper's Hawk. Apparently there's a successful nest on campus with 5-6 young birds that have been flying around campus.

Bird Identification 1-Abby 0.

But that's what I like about birding. If you don't know what bird you saw, chances are there's a nice birder out there who will let you know what it was.

Wordless Wednesday: Farmers Market Fun

Wild Weather!

In true Minnesota fashion, the weather has taken a turn for the weird this week. Over the weekend we felt some cool breezes, but nothing compared to today when the highest temperatures we got were in the mid-60s! Is this July? Can someone check the calendar for me because I'm confused. I wasn't complaining when I was out at the farm today, however, because man was it nice to work in cooler weather. Then around 4pm the rain started up and came on again and off again all evening. This patchy rain became the most AMAZING sight on our way home from dinner this evening. A massive rainbow that, at one point, looked as if it ended directly downtown Minneapolis. I always said this city was magical. :)

It looks like something similar to this winters infamous "polar vortex" is causing this craziness. A big low pressure bubble has made it's way down from up north and we could be seeing estimated low temperatures in the 40s (what???) on Wednesday. Crossing my fingers that it'll warm up before our planned trip to the cabin at the lake this weekend!

Spring! Spring?

So Minnesota has decided it doesn't remember what season are anymore and, despite the few days of gorgeous, spring-like weather we had last weekend, yesterday brought almost a foot of snow to the southern part of the state. Thankfully, the Twin Cities didn't get any and instead get to enjoy chilly, cold, gray weather. I'm sure all the plants that got excited and sprouted during the warm weather are rather confused by this point. Frankly, I am as well. Last year, we had daffodils by the beginning of April, and this year we're dealing with 30 degree days at the beginning of May. Doesn't really make much sense.
Thankfully the St. Paul campus has some color to offer up in the form of the adorable little scilla flowers that blanket the more wooded areas.

In other news, last week I started my greenhouse job and am having a really good time. Just being able to work in a place filled with plants makes even the more simple tasks enjoyable. We do a lot of rearranging displays, watering and lots and lots of sweeping. My favorite task so far was when we got a new shipment of  moth orchids in and I got to help unpack the boxes, tag them and set them out on display. It was like a mini Christmas, pulling plant after plant out of the boxes, all with amazingly vibrant colors. They were right in mid-bloom and absolutely gorgeous. Some of the larger varieties included some giant, pure white blooms, a white variety with purple spots on the petals and a purple center, one with yellow-green petals and a purple center and rich, dark purple ones as well. There were tiny ones too, some bright pink with yellow edges, purple with darker centers and peach colored ones with gold centers. I've probably ranted enough about orchids now... Anyway, I've found I have to learn things in a really short amount of time, and by no means do I know even close to half yet. But I have another full weekend of work starting tomorrow, so we'll see what that brings.

I'm planning on filling another Grow Write Guild prompt for my next post, but I'll probably be pretty busy until finals week is over. So probably somewhere around the 17th or 18th I'll try to have that up.
In the meantime, I leave you with more scilla carpet pictures. I hope spring is proving to be a lot...springy-er than mine!

This Is What Spring Should Look Like...

Growing up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula has gotten me used to wacky weather. But yesterday and today have pretty much taken the cake for my Minnesota experience thus far. Saturday was gorgeous and balmy, staying in the mid-70s all day. Yesterday started out cloudy and muggy, the temperature hovering right around 65 degrees. After dinner, just as my boyfriend and I were about to leave his aunt and uncle's where we had been eating, the sky turned the weird just-before-a-storm tan, then went REALLY dark. We watched in awe as a sheet of rain raced toward us, first consuming the backyards of the people across the street, then the road, then us. There was thunder and lightening and hail, all in all, quite a spectacle. Once we got back to campus and the storm blew over, the temperature began dropping lower and lower...and finally this morning as I was waiting for the bus, there were snowflakes flying.
Needless to say, the snow and cold, whipping winds have made me slightly depressed. I was so excited for spring with all the trees putting out great-smelling blooms, lilacs blooming and everything turning green.

So to combat the sadness of the cold, rainy day, here's what it SHOULD look like outside. I took these pictures the Friday before Easter and never posted them. Hopefully these sunny daffodils will brighten the gloomy day slightly.

Here's to hoping spring comes back soon!