A Few Updates & The First Snow!

I haven't been keeping up with blogging as much as I'd like to, lately. I still have a few posts from my Alabama adventures to post (one is halfway finished), but I've been microblogging, as usual, on Instagram.

We finally had our first snow on Friday, which seemed more akin to  what we'd see in January. It isn't terribly cold since then, and I think we will be back up to the 50s soon. I'm trying to have a better appreciation of this season, but being around snow my whole life, it more or less lost its charm after so many times having to drive in it.

I would like to pursue an A.A.S. in Natural Areas Management at CLC within the next few years. I'd like to go further than volunteering. It isn't set in stone, as I'm also looking at other options, but I'm feeling pretty good about what I've found out about that degree, so far. Horticulture is pretty sweet, but I think I'm leaning more towards botany and conservation than working at a public garden or in general gardening jobs (though those aren't completely out of the question).

I'd also ideally like to get involved with CBG's Plants of Concern as a volunteer; I found out about this program when I volunteered with Habitat2030 in October to rid a part of IL Beach State Park of Robinia pseudoacacia, in hopes that missing plants would return. Another great group is SCA; I had the pleasure of joining them at Thatcher Woods in September.

We will see what the future holds, but I'm pretty excited about all the possibilities! At the very least I will continue to volunteer as usual and meet fellow plant nerds. There's so much important work to be done, so if you have time, consider volunteering at local conservation programs and events.

Here are a few pics I snapped Saturday during a volunteer workday, processing seeds for FPCC.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Steve & I are looking forward to this holiday season with family.