Nature Preserve | Maya Creek

Unglamorous Accomplishments

November 14, 2013 by Tao

It's been almost 5 months since my last blog entry. Summing up so many months to a length that won't drown you is the challenge now. The reoccurring themes of this past summer seem to have been ma...

Black Rat Snake... under my covers

April 27, 2012 by Tao

I found this guy under some blankets on my bed while I was cleaning up the tipi this evening. For a few seconds I was terrified until I recognized that it wasn't something poisonous. It's one of the b...

Chicken of the Woods

April 16, 2012 by Tao

We found this nice sized Chicken of the Woods mushroom(Laetiporus sulphureus) on a walk through the woods today. Supposedly they have a texture like chicken, we'll cook it up tomorrow and see. This is...

Lumberjacking

April 11, 2012 by Tao

It's not fun to cut down trees, for the trees or for us. No one likes using a tool as noisy, smelly, and dangerous as a chainsaw, but this last month has been packed with tree felling and processing...

Foraging for Breakfast

March 12, 2012 by Tao

After a long weekend of cleaning barns and making compost piles, I woke up with a craving for eggs. Luckily we introduced 4 Mallard ducks into Mom's pond a few years back. 4 ducks soon turned i...

Beavers

March 4, 2012 by Tao

We all took a walk back down to the Auxvasse creek that borders the property. The lowlands back there are filled with giant sycamores and a few giant oaks. We saw evidence of beavers going to work...

A Spotted Salamander

March 2, 2012 by Tao

This is the first I've seen a spotted salamander in the wild and it was literally on our doorstep. Based on the stuff I found the Missouri Dept. of Conservation's page on them it was probably out lo...