January and February occasionally provides a few warm days to plant precious native seeds collected in the fall.

Let me tell you about my business partners and the relationship we have built.  It is actually the result of a very organized process that begins with a hand saw each and every year in early October, and ensues in my backyard food forest with the impending change of the seasons. 

The first reward for us is an understanding.  The second reward for my naturalist friends and our community team is a festival atmosphere and we got it!  We would have been there in the bitter cold, but fortunately the day was spectacular. We would have been there if only a few people showed, but the public ushered in by the hundreds.

The Festival of Eagles is scheduled for

Saturday, 27 January, 2018.

Stella, Missouri

Drop by any time between 10am-3pm

In 2016, Missouri Parks issued a Missouri State Parks Centennial Passport book (similar to the National Park Passport book) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Missouri's state parks in 2017. I purchased a book in 2016 and began a 15 month quest to visit all the parks.

I believe even the folks who don’t care for snow, find themselves three days before Christmas wishing for a few inches of fluffy white precipitation.  Perhaps there is Christmas Magic in those flurries mixed with twinkling lights and air full of holiday anticipation.  I don’t know all the particulars, but flurries certainly give the season an added festive feel.

I’m not a doctor, I have never played one on TV and I’m not an “indoor” guy so I don’t think I have a prospect working on hospital grounds. However, I casually find myself prescribing hikes, adventures and nature activities for people of all ages and abilities. 

How do you describe a perfect day? For me, it’s being outside and there’s no place bette to be outside than in the Ozarks. And that’s exactly how a few of us spent one recent Sunday afternoon, hiking the Ozark Chinquapin Trail in the Big Sugar State Park.

Monarch butterflies traveling from Joplin to Mexico this year will be accompanied by cyclist Sara Dykman (32) from Kansas. Dykman left Mexico last March with overwintering colonies and has traveled north into Canada and will return with them to Mexico. She calls it “Butterbiking with the butterflies.”

Are you a fisherman or fisherwoman? Do you spend time down at the creek tossing stones or maybe watching your kids frolic in the cool water on these too hot days? Maybe you enjoy the “Lazy River” approach and load nine of your closest friends into a rubber raft along with coolers, speakers, and a big screen T.V. for a day long float.  Whichever way you enjoy the streams and rivers of Southwest Missouri, I am here to tell you that you might be missing out on something, and I need your help to keep it going.