Winter...

In winter, nature makes for plenty of good ole fashioned free exercise!

The value of the workout is always unpredictable,

dependent upon the size of the dump!

Garden brussel sprouts picked on Christmas Eve day... in MN!?

Christmas Eve day, we went out back to our natural freezer...

Thank goodness we guessed right, as we had forgotten

to mark the spot (that snow can catch you unaware!)

December harvest makes for chilly hands in short order!

That brussel sprout dish tasted all the better just

knowing the sprouts' history!

Another of the many shapes winter precipitation can take...

seeing nature from skis...

What a lovely backdrop for nature... a snowy base with a fresh, crisp frost!

The outdoor scene this morning was one that couldn't be

passed up, especially since we have been

meaning to get out skiing this week!

The intricacies of the tiny frost particles were incredible!

This is an awe that cannot be appreciated from a distance.

The ice crystals protruded from the branches like pine needles.

(The camera gives a glimpse, but there is nothing like

the naked eye for this kind of detail!)

Even more incredible was the symmetrical form

of each individual crystal, when looking even closer-up!

and another neat thing from today's walk...

was the little bitty tracks someone spotted at the lakeshore. Raccoons and mice, the kids guessed?!

One small square

We set out to do the small square, but realized that there wasn't much activity on the floor of the woods this late November day! We did notice that there are still a number of different things to be found in just a little area, even without the insects. We did see some more beaver work and, like always, enjoyed the fresh, crisp air of late fall in MN!

Wow, what a topple!

It was a beautiful scene where the beavers had been at work!

We appreciated the bit of color in the dullness!

Checking our location...

Always need to plan for little one tuckering out.

The ongoing collections.....

The kids collected a bit of nature for our table again since

it was dry this week. We are past the 'collections challenge' but everything

was wet that week. We usually end up on some sort of bunny trail

anyways. Collections never cease to accumulate in our house though.