by Winding Pathways | Feb 5, 2026 | Garden/Yard, Nature, Trees
A backyard black oak tree recently taught us about healing. Both of us have had surgeries during the past year, and an assortment of scratches and cuts over the decades. Recovery from surgeries seemed slow. We were impatient.
Discovery Yields An Idea
One day, when loading a pile of split cordwood into our wheelbarrow and wheeling it to the woodstove, a hunk of oak caught our attention. Weeks earlier, we’d missed something when we cut, split and stacked the wood from this venerable but storm- damaged tree.
The piece of wood was remarkably different from other chunks that were mostly triangular in cross section. This piece was flat and about the size and shape of a book. One surface had normal looking bark while the other side showed marks of a saw that, years before, had been used to prune off a large branch. The tree had grown over (healed) its wound. But we wondered how long did it take?
Curiosity
Rich took out the sander and smoothed off an end. Counting the annual rings he learned how long the healing process took. Answer: About a dozen years for the tree to grow back over the cut…..the healing process. The tree patiently worked, year after year, to gradually expand living wood over the cut.
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We created candle holders from the injured tree.
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Varied colors on the wood.
Nature Heals
Healing is slow
We’re watching another tree heal. A young red maple in our front yard took the full force of a 140 mile an hour wind during an August 2020 derecho. The storm blew the tree’s top almost parallel to the ground. Fortunately, it didn’t break, but the force popped a section of bark off its trunk. Now, five growing seasons later it’s nearly healed over. Patience.
Perspective on Healing
Healing takes time.
Those trees gave us a perspective on patience and healing. While hauling wood Rich scraped some skin off his wrist. Gradually new skin replaced the scab over a few weeks. That’s a lightning fast heal. Earlier in the year Marion had back surgery and Rich had cataract surgery. Both of us were eager to heal quickly, but our bodies mimicked our oak tree. Healing takes time. Patience and self-care are important elements of healing. Skin heals relatively quickly. Muscles take longer, and nerve healing is a pokey process – about an inch a month after an initial recovery period.
Impatience is likely a natural human reaction to healing, and being impatient slows down the healing process. The tree taught us that health can be regained. It just may take a while.
Crafting Beauty
The piece of wood we found was too important to toss into the woodstove. Rather, we polished the inside and drilled two holes on the bark side, to hold candles.
Now, when we get impatient with the slow pace of our own healing, we light candles and remember the tree’s patience.
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Crafting something beautiful from a wound.
Healing Happens
We send our thoughts to anyone who’s recovering from surgery or a wound. Take heart. Healing may seem endless but the human body is as remarkable as a tree’s bark. Healing happens.
by Winding Pathways | Jan 29, 2026 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Amphibians/Reptiles, Birds, Garden/Yard, Mammals, Nature
Meet Our Geriatric Downy
Red cap on male Downy.
We often see a geriatric Downy woodpecker at Winding Pathways. He’s at least five and a half years old. More likely six or seven.
How do we know? Well, back in the spring of 2021 Dr. Neil Bernstein brought a class of college students to our backyard, strung a nearly invisible mist net and soon started catching and banding birds. One was a male downy woodpecker. Neil gently attached a tiny aluminum band to the bird’s right leg and released him.
Spotting the Band
For several years we watched the bird eat suet from a feeder near our back deck. When the light’s just right and the bird’s right leg is visible, we can see the band. Our last sighting was in late 2025. So, he’s been banded four and a half years, and was likely at least a year old when banded.
Could it be a younger woodpecker banded by Neil or someone else miles from our yard? “Not likely. Downy woodpeckers are homebodies. He probably has lived right here in your yard continuously since he was banded,” Neil recently told us.
We haven’t been able to restretch a mist net and recapture the bird. If we could read the tiny numbers on the band we could confirm whether or not that it’s the same bird. It likely is.
Wildlife Longevity
Most wild animals live a shockingly short life. It wouldn’t be a good idea to sell a life insurance policy on nearly any wild animal. They die young. Wild turkeys live a few years. A cottontail rabbit is not likely to live to its first birthday. The same for most songbirds and mammals. A whitetail deer could live for eight or ten years but few reach their second or third birthday. Usually, wild animals succumb to a predator, die in a storm or are hit by a car. Many birds meet unfortunate deaths when they crash into windows or overhead wires.
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Thick cover protects rabbits from predators.
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Hungry deer.
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Hardy birds that live about six years.
Reproduction is Important
Since few animals survive long enough to reproduce, their species continues because those that do make it to reproductive age have many babies. That’s especially true with fish. A largemouth bass or bluegill, for example, could live for upwards of ten years. They lay thousands or even tens of thousands of eggs, but nearly all die soon. Of the lucky few that emerge as young fish many are gobbled up by bigger ones. Only a few reach old age.
Longevity Champions
Turtles are longlived animals.
Reptiles may be the longevity champions, with turtles and tortoises sometimes living for decades, or even a century. A box turtle might live 35 years in the wild and much longer in captivity. But these long-lived animals lay few eggs and their babies mostly die when young. If they make it to young adulthood, they stand good odds to enjoy a long life.
Back To Our Downy Woodpecker
Our downy woodpecker has lived a charmed life. He’s not been snatched by a Cooper’s hawk, frozen in a blizzard, or died by an accident or sickness. The oldest known Downy lived for 11 years and 11 months. Most are lucky to live two years. Maybe ours will set a longevity record.
Helping Wildlife
His life may have been helped by having plenty of dead trees near our yard, the result of a massive windstorm five years ago. These old trees are filled with cavities that offer safe places to hide, escape storms, and raise a brood. Our Downy comes for regular helpings of suet at our feeder. That may help him.
We use the word “he” because male Downys have a blotch of red on the back of the head, making it easy to determine gender. Many Downy woodpeckers come to our feeder. We always look carefully to see if it’s our banded male.
by Winding Pathways | Jan 8, 2026 | Birds, Geology/Weather, Nature
Warm air flowing over cooler ground can create fog.
When we looked out our windows on the morning of December 27, we saw……. nothing! Well, we saw magical fog. It was so magical that it obscured the nearby houses and stores we normally see.
Fog made us feel like we lived in a remote area and reminded us of Carl Sandburg’s poem.
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Unusal Occurance
Cedar Rapids usually isn’t a very foggy place. Fog is most likely during winter, but sometimes a year goes by without a pea soup fog. Other American cities, especially along the northern East and West Coasts, often are foggy.
Marion walks the labyrinth or horseshoe loop of our drive nearly each morning. These foggy pre-dawn days were mysterious and colorful with neighbors’ lights glowing.
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Light bounces off water droplets enhancing the colored lights.
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House in dark.
After a quick look out the window on that December morning Rich bundled up, set up his lawn chair, and sat in the backyard facing Faulkes Woods. As is normal on thick fog days there was neither wind nor sound……until wafting from the foggy woods came the delightful call of a Carolina Wren. The combination of fog and our resident Carolina Wren made it a truly magical morning.
Carolina Wrens
This tiny and active bird isn’t up near the house like summertime’s House Wrens, but prefers to stay down in the woods. Tough to spot because of its small size and penchant to stay hidden, its clear call affirms the bird’s presence. It’s an easy call to learn and is especially melodious at a time of year when few other birds vocalize. Our wren seemed to love the fog as much as we did.
To learn more about this lesser-known wren and hear its calls on your computer go to Cornell Lab, All About Birds. eBird
Types of Fog
There are at least five types of fog. Check out the National Weather Service’s Website to learn more about these types of fog.
We’re glad Iowa isn’t as foggy as the coasts of Maine or Washington. Day after day of thick moisture would get gloomy. Instead, we revel in the quiet beauty of our rare fog.
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Dense. Long lasting.
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Moisture and temperature changes can result in fog.
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Upslope fog.
by Winding Pathways | Nov 27, 2025 | Foraging, Nature, Trees
As Christmas approaches, nearly every American radio station will play the familiar “The Christmas Song” commonly called “Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire.”
The song was written by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé in 1945 and made famous by the Nat King Cole Trio. Released in 1946 it became a Christmas melody popular for nearly 80 years. A pdf in the Library of Congress has an intriguing story.
Cruel Irony.
Chestnut blight wiped out Americn Chestnuts all over the East.
For thousands of years Native Americans harvested baskets full of chestnuts. So did Eur-Americans who swept across North America. Nutritious and abundant, chestnuts fed people and wildlife. Many were, indeed, roasted by open fires and on woodstoves.
The American Chestnut was one of the abundant trees in the Eastern Hardwood Forest.
It was a perfect tree with gorgeous honey colored wood that was strong, lightweight, and easy to work. Chestnut’s abundant nuts fed wildlife and people. Settlers turned their hogs loose into the woods to fatten on them.
Then one of America’s greatest ecological tragedies happened when an imported fungus created a blight that killed nearly every single one of billions of trees. They disappeared from forests and the human diet……almost.
Disease Resistant Options
Rich bought a couple of pounds of edible chestnuts from Iowa’s Stringtown Market and roasted them on our woodstove for a gathering of friends to enjoy. How?
Well, across the world are Chinese, Japanese and European chestnuts. Chinese Chestnuts resist the blight and have been planted here and there. The nuts Rich roasted were either Chinese or a hybrid of a few types.
Personal Connection to American Chestnuts
Growing up in wooded New Jersey Rich remembers fallen trunks of blight killed American Chestnut trees and small trees growing from their roots. They die before maturing enough to produce nuts. Rich’s Dad, Henry Patterson, salvaged wood from fallen chestnuts and fashioned many objects from it. Marion’s father, Les Fellows, remembers gathering chestnuts when he was a child in New Hampshire. He crafted picture frames that we think are from American Chestnut wood. The pictures in the frames are of Hardwick, MA, where Marion lived first out of college. Chestnuts are part of our personal heritage.
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Handmade Frames
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Honey colored wood.
Enjoy Edible Chestnuts
Although hard to find in the market edible chestnuts still make delicious fare. Many recipes can be found online. We like plucking them from their shells and eating them right after roasting. Here’s how Rich prepares them:
- Cover the nuts with water and boil them for at least 15 minutes to soften the hulls and leach out tannin.
- When they are cool enough to handle, use a stout sharp knife to make an “X” shaped cut on the top of each damp nut.
- Place the nuts in a cast iron skillet and heat on the woodstove. Watch them carefully and stir occasionally. The idea is to drive off most of the water.
Putting them on a cookie sheet and baking them in an oven also works well.
Then they’re ready to peel and eat.
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Slice the nuts
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Boiling softens the nuts’ shells.
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Chestnuts in cast iron pan roasting.
Beware
Edible chestnuts are unrelated to horse chestnuts or buckeyes but the nuts look similar. Horse chestnuts are toxic. DON’T EAT THEM. Here’s how to tell them apart.
> Horse chestnuts have compound leaves with leaflets that radiate out like fingers on a human hand. Edible chestnuts have single elongated leaves, often with shallow pointed lobes.
> Nuts in tight husks that don’t have porcupine-like spines outside are characteristic of Horse chestnuts. You could call edible chestnut husks “vegetative porcupines.” Prickly!
> Horse chestnut nuts are entirely smooth, while edible chestnut nuts have a “nub” at their end. See the photo with the arrow pointing toward the nub.
Note the nub.
The Future
Enjoying Edible Chestnuts, Growing Them, and Saving the American Chestnut
We mostly enjoy peeling and eating edible chestnuts as they are. And, they work perfectly in many recipes. A good recipe source is at foodandwine.com.
(search for edible chestnuts)
Many nurseries sell chestnut seedlings. Pure American chestnuts are most likely to thrive when planted outside their native range where the blight still lingers. Many hybrids sold by many nurseries resist the blight. It’s wise to plant them a ways from the house for these reasons:
- Blossoms just plain stink. And the trees produce hundreds of “porcupines”. Don’t step on one with bare feet!
For these two reasons, we will never know why Marion’s dad planted the edible chestnuts near the house in New Hampshire.
The American Chestnut Foundation
The American Chestnut Foundation, tacf.org, has worked for years seeking ways to restore this valuable tree. Its website has excellent photos and information.
We hope some day to spend an evening sitting by our woodstove snacking on genuine American Chestnuts while listening to Nat King Cole’s Christmas song. Until then we’ll roast the hybrid Chinese Chestnuts we buy.
by Winding Pathways | Nov 6, 2025 | Birds, Nature, Trees
Fascinating Changes
Juncos migrate south to the Upper Midwest each fall.
“There’s a junco!” Rich exclaimed as he pointed toward the tiny bird on a mid-October Walk. We knew the changing of the guard had happened.
Sighting the first junco each fall is, for us, a sign of the changing of the guard. They arrive for the winter at about the same time house wrens depart Iowa for warmer locales down south.
Changes in both bird species are fascinating to watch. On the same walk that we spotted the junco we saw dozens of robins. Unlike wrens and juncos, robins aren’t ambitious migrants. Come spring they cavort on lawns and love suburbia, but when the weather cools, they pack up and move to nearby orchards and brushy places that offer dried berries to eat through the cold winter.
We like watching birds, but we’re not serious birders. Serious enthusiasts will drop whatever they’re doing and drive a couple of hundred miles to see an unusual bird. We’re content to sit on our back deck or walk local trails to watch changes in bird numbers and species. We love the changing of the bird guard.
Birds
Geese flying
Big changes come in mid-autumn and late winter. Waterfowl are the most obvious “changing of the guard” as they wing overhead on their way back south, or north in the spring. Unnoticed by many people are the earlier migrants like the shorebirds that head south as early as August. Wrens hang around in late summer after fledging but are quieter. Nighthawks and chimney swifts stage to head south. Vultures soar overhead and drift to warmer climes when they need to. Often, we just don’t notice these changes in bird activity until we realize we have not seen a species for a while. Or when we see birds that have been “quiet” for a few weeks, begin to flock.
Spring Changes
In late March Robins on lawns, waterfowls calling from aloft, and Vultures circling overhead herald spring’s return. Figuring out when the last junco leaves is tougher as they simply seem to melt away. Often, we’ll ask each other, “Have you seen a junco lately?” If the answer is “no” they’ve likely left for northern breeding grounds. In April we anticipate the first wren’s arrival.
Busy Summer Months
April and May are fascinating months as the summer guard arrives. Some, like many warblers, stay just for brief stops to rest and eat. Then they head north. However, orioles, grosbeaks, phoebes, and a few warbler species, stick around all summer to delight us with their songs and color. It is sad when they slip away as summer transitions into fall.
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The jelly attracts the orioles.
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With brilliant plumage and distinctive call, the grosbeaks announce their arrival.
Trees Change, Too!
Many people anticipate the change of tree color and travel to catch “the height” of fall foliage. In New England these “migrants” are called “leaf peepers.” The come, catch the color, spend money and go back home. Here is one road trip that is worth reading about. Marion is familiar with many of these places in her home territory.
Around here, we notice more color in towns and cities than the countryside as the tree species are more varied. Ashes turn purple or yellow, maples are known mostly for reds and oranges. Yellow Cottonwood leaves dance in autumn breezes before winds strip them off. The driftless area of Northeast Iowa, Southern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and northern Illinois are always worth a jaunt to for color and birding.
Glorious weather of warmer days and cooler nights feel good all around. Fall sports have cranked up. And, there is a longing in the air. When our avian friends slip away unnoticed, we feel slightly bereft. Time is moving on.
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Trees turn color.
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Brilliant trees.
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Firetower in background.
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lake and trees.
Steppping Into Winter Mode
So, the first junco sighting stirs pleasant memories. We find few winter activities are as delightful as sitting indoors embraced by our woodstove’s warmth while enjoying a cup of steaming tea while watching juncos along with, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, cardinals and bluejays that visit our feeder. The latter here all year and bring joy and color during the drab winter months.
by Winding Pathways | Oct 16, 2025 | Amphibians/Reptiles, Garden/Yard, Nature, Water Resources
Wildlife Parade
Of all the wildlife attractions we’ve created at Winding Pathways nothing beats our tiny pond’s wildlife parade. Hardly the size of two king beds, it proves that even a miniscule water feature is one of the best ways to lure fascinating animals into a yard. How and why do ponds attract wildlife?
Simple: Animals need water. For shelter and nurishment.
We actually didn’t create our pond. It was here when we bought the property, but we’ve spiffed it up. At about 80 square feet and less than two feet deep its but a speck of water set beneath our dining room window.
A Pond Out of Place
Wildlife attractant
It shouldn’t even exist. Our house is built on an ancient sand dune. Water percolates quickly into the soil and no natural pond or stream would have a chance of staying wet here. Fortunately, the previous owners had a hole dug and lined with a waterproof membrane. They then had it lined with stones and planted water lilies in a shallow bit of mud over the membrane. We’ve added native vegetation and domestic flowers that attract insects, birds, mammals and amphibians.
Wildlife Attractant
While eating every meal we watch the pond. Wild turkeys, cardinals, titmice, nuthatches, and house sparrows, are among the regular residents that come to drink within a few feet of where we sit. This spring a mallard pair swam in tiny circles during the two weeks they rested on their way north, and a few times wood ducks have settled in to rest. Each summer and fall hummingbirds forage on the succession of plants like Solomon Seal, Purple coneflower, Obedient Plant and other seasonal flowers. Although there is plenty of nectar, they also seem to prioritize “scuffling” with each other. Insects routinely make their rounds to the flowers.
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A catbird drinks by a pool.
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Birds stop for a drink and to fill up on the berries nearby.
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Keeping a wary eye, the robin cautiously gets a drink.
Squirrels, chipmunks, and deer visit routinely. Once a mink jumped in for a quick swim. Cagey woodchucks sip and scoot off when they spot any movement inside.
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Enjoying a drink
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Stopping by.
We can figure out how all these animals make their way to the pond’s edge.
Baffling Visitors
However, some visitors and temporary residents baffle us. Every spring toads and tree frogs call from the pond’s edge and lay their eggs in the shallow water. Where did they come from and how far did they have to hop? Do they use a “hop-ometer” to measure their hops?
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Toads need water to mate.
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Tree frog resting near our pond.
Unusual Visitor Returns
Safe from predators
In the summer of 2020 an amazing visitor arrived at our pond unannounced. That same year, COVID-19, the Outdoor Writers Association of America held their conference virtually and sponsored the photo hunt with the theme “home.”
Marion’s photo of a frog sheltered in the pond’s egress won third prize!
That was the last we saw of frogs until this summer. Then, while we were eating lunch we spotted a bullfrog sitting on a rock at the pond’s edge. Frogs and ponds go hand in hand but what’s puzzling is, like with toads and tree frogs, how this frog knew our pond was there and how it found its way to it. Our home and pond are about a half mile from Indian Creek, the nearest body of water. And, we’re almost 200 vertical feet above the creek!
Long Way to Hop
To reach our pond the frog had to hop a long way through thick woods and prairies filled with animals that would love a frog dinner. Hawks, owls, snakes, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, and skunks live in the area and would quickly convert a hapless frog into lunch. Somehow our frog survived the gauntlet of predators and a long hop.
Our frog gives us joy watching it and we marvel at how it was able to hop into our lives.
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Sunning
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Bullfrog waiting for a snack.
Opportunities To Create A Pond
Many wildlife lovers set up bird feeders and create diverse plantings to lure wildlife into their yard. They might consider taking it a step farther and building a tiny pond to entice a stream of wildlife to visit. Wonder how to do it? Check out thisoldhouse.com/yards. Scroll down for a good read. There are also several credible YouTube videos that show how to create a tiny yard pond.
