published October 13, 2026
A quick announcement: If you’re looking for a tool to help establish a daily nature ritual, the Nature Journal is meant for exactly that. I hope you enjoy it!
An unexpected visitor knocked on my window as I was sitting down to write this newsletter.
I’m sitting at my desk in my office on the top floor of an outbuilding on my farm, so it’s not that common for someone to knock on the window.
In this case, my visitor was a bird (maybe a junco, but I’m not sure – it was white underneath).
Normally when I use my nature journal, the friends I meet are critters I see on my walk – insects, turkey, maybe a deer.
Every now and then I meet a person on those walks, but I’ve been choosing to be a hermit lately, so it’s usually just me.
Getting a heads up from a bird made me jump up and run outside to see what it might have been trying to tell me.
And the message was – who knows? Certainly not me.
Maybe it was trying to tell me to come out and talk to people now and then. 🙂
I wonder if juncos hang out in black gum trees?
(If you’re interested in how the black gum provided the name for a famous bakery brand, check out this week’s episode.)
Black gum is one of those trees I really like planting in harsh conditions like parking lots and streetscapes because they can thrive in tough conditions.
I wonder if the trees would thank me for planting them there, though. Just because you can survive something doesn’t mean you’re happy you had to go through it.
But if anyone can rise above and stay strong inside, it’s black gum.
It can withstand all sorts of circumstances, and the wood stays strong and unsplittable no matter what. Their cross-grained wood can’t be split, so that turns out to be one of their super powers.
Challenges always come along, but we can stay strong in ourselves in spite of them. And enjoy a surprise visit from a friend whenever possible.
See you outside!
Listen now by searching “Plant Connection” in your favorite podcast app, or click the link below.
Black Gum – The Wood that Can’t Be Split
Journal Prompt: How could growing a metaphorical cross grain make it easier to deal with some of life’s challenges?
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