Welcome to Winding Pathways
Winding Pathways encourages you to create a wonderous yard, whether that yard is an expansive acreage, a suburban lot or a condominium balcony. Go outside and play!
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Wapsi-Ana Gardeners Visit
What fun Winding Pathways and the Wapsi-Ana Garden Club had on July 26th! Charlene George gathered fifteen avid gardeners and close friends who followed "rooster" Rich around like chicks. They chatted about gardens and childhood experiences, explored the yard with a...
Opossums are Wondrous Animals!
We like opossums and are always happy to see one shuffling off when we startle it after dark. This amazing animal gets too little respect and appreciation by people who consider them dirty, stupid, and ugly. They are just the opposite! Opossums are doing something...
Summer Wood for Winter Use
Much of our heat at Winding Pathways comes from our two woodstoves. We love the cozy warmth given by our stoves but there’s more to it than just heat. The wood we burn comes from trees that snatched carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the past 100 years....
High Summer Labyrinth Walks
What fun hosting Bankers Trust staff and clients and welcoming an out of town visitor to the Phoenix Harmony Labyrinth. Tuesday, July 11 was steamy and threatening storms. But, the hardy crew engaged in lively discussions and asked probing questions about the more...
Ornithologist, David Allen Sibley
In June, we had the delightful experience of hearing ornithologist David Allen Sibley address members of the Outdoor Writer’s Association of America. Following his talk, he chatted with us about his career, birds, and how people can best attract and enjoy birds in...
Reflections on Labyrinths
Labyrinths come in many shapes and sizes. This spring and summer we've been busy re-designing and re-naming the 1080 Labyrinth. Now the Phoenix Harmony Labyrinth, it is five circuits and is honored in its center with a Bur Oak. Phoenix because we burn the labyrinth...
Summertime With Winding Pathways
Summer in the upper Midwest has been pleasant and we are out and about! Summer Flowers and Activity And, Terry Pitts shared this video of an industrious bird making its nest. Likely a second brood.
Black Snake!
Our blog on snakes in the yard struck a note! People loved it and some shared their "rattler" experiences. But, for most of us, snakes are helpful in the yard and we can help them, too, as these readers did. From Jackie and Peter Hull in Bedford, Virginia, a story...
Bears! Oh, My!
Bears sightings are in the west are common and increasing across the northeast. Mountain lion sightings and encounters are well documented in Los Angeles, CA. A guest blog by Susan Fehsinger, New Hampshire "I've spent most of my life in southern New Hampshire. Growing...
We Have a Snake in the Yard!
Every once in a while, when we’re out in our summery yard enjoying birds and flowers, we encounter a snake. We’ve been around snakes for decades and know there are no venomous species in our area but we’re still startled when one slithers away. Managing a yard to...
Chickens with Hoover’s Hatchery!
If you missed our first Facebook Live watch this Hoover's Hatchery video. We chatted about Chickens and Gardens, Insects and Pests, Keeping Chickens cool in the summer and free from insect bites and predator invasions, and gave some tips on keeping water and feeders...
Bubble Gum Clouds!
The Bubble Gum Clouds! This poem is in honor of memories at Grammy Gibbs' home in Maine where my sister, Lucy, and I used to swing on the hammock in the summer watching the clouds. Yvonne Gibbs Fellows Perrault also took pictures of clouds and captured narratives and...
The “Little Acreage” Bluebird Log
Here's a fun guest blog by friends, Gordon and Nancy, about their husbandry of birds on their "Little Acreage." "A few years ago my wife and I decided we wanted to attract wildlife to our little acreage. We already had deer and wild turkeys so we decided to try...
Helping an “Orphaned” Baby Animal
“Oh my gosh! I just found an ‘orphaned’ baby bird sitting on the front porch. What do I do?” “There’s an ‘abandoned’ fawn in my hostas! What do I do?” “Oh, the poor baby bunnies, they have no mom. What do I do?” We get these type comments all the time at Winding...
Spring Haikus
Reminiscing on some Haikus from the past. These seemed a good way to honor spring and welcome summer. March Quivering seed pods Last year's fruit, This year's promise Red buds produce life. April April 'to Open' Birds beckon, flowers unfold Hope, re-birth, re-new. May...
Foiling Chipmunks
Our dining room table overlooks a tiny pond circled with large stones. Many wild animals come to drink or bathe. One of our favorites is the sleek Eastern Chipmunk. Often, chipmunks fill their cheeks with seeds that fall from our bird feeders and carry them off to a...