first day in our woods

With the fear of rain canceling our work party, I spent the day in the woods behind our house pulling garlic mustard from the hillside. The task was an enjoyable way to cover every inch of our wooded lot, and provided a great opportunity to identify what plants are growing there. Besides the garlic mustard there are little invasive species. Clearing out the slope revealed some beautiful varieties of ferns, lady's thumbprint, spring beauties and lots of celandine poppy.

Like many parts of the west side, there is evidence of dumping on our hillside. Though most all of it had been removed I found a beautiful antique glass bottle in great condition. It was later in the afternoon when Piper and I ventured back into the woods beyond our neighbors lot did we really find some treasures. We explored the hundreds of wooded acres that lay to the east of our lot. It was such a beautiful hike and we're really excited to be living inside the city and still have wooded area to explore. We found some of the largest sycamore trees I've ever seen and discovered a great young pawpaw patch. Their beautiful flowers were in bloom and I couldn't resist taking one with me.