Earth Day Nature Walk

Hepatica among the Trillium leaves

Today is Earth Day +1, but I was working yesterday and mindful that it was also the anniversary of Mom's passing in 2013. Today was a warm, sunny spring day, when spring buds double in size and tree branches start to show subtle colour. Forsythia bushes were covered in bright yellow flowers by evening.

Steckle Woods is near our home, with well-groomed and easy-to-walk trails. We visit the site frequently. 

John and Esther Steckle were Mennonites who settled and farmed here in 1833. Susannah Chase Steckle, born in 1898, married John and Esther's grandson, John Steckle II. She was the first woman to graduate from Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) in 1921. Her father and husband were also graduates of the college. 

Susannah went on to plant the first commercial apple orchard in Waterloo County and was very active in the community.. Susannah and John donated some of their land, now known as Steckle Woods, to the City of Kitchener in 1967. Susannah used to host Trillium Teas in the woods to raise funds for their church. The south side of the woodlot is still covered in a spectacular display of trilliums in early May. But before the trilliums bloom, other spring ephemerals make their brief annual appearance while the canopy is still open to light. 

I walked there alone today, the first time without a dog in decades. All of our dogs have loved walking these trails with us. But the early flowers did not disappoint! As a bonus, a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers called and laughed and flew about in the treetops as they prepared their nesting area. Masses of Hepatica bloomed today on a hill that will soon be covered in Trillium flowers. The photos below show other early wildflowers I found.

Bloodroot with its wrap-around leaves

Trout Lilies

Spring Beauty

These early ephemerals will fade out soon to make way for Wild Ginger, Wake Robins, White Trilliums, Jack-in-the-Pulpits, Dutchmen's Britches, May Apples and more. I never get tired of rediscovering them every year.

The Steckle family history mirrors a little of our family history. Grandfather Devins, who was very close in age to Susannah Steckle, also planted a commercial apple orchard at his hobby farm. My Uncle Bill, Mom's brother, also graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. He worked as a food inspector at Holland Marsh and ran the family orchard for many years on the side.

Susannah and John's daughter, Dr. Jean Steckle (1929-2003), was the last member of the original family to own the farm. She was a remarkable woman who worked in the field of nutrition in Canada and around the world. The Steckle Homestead is now managed by the City of Kitchener. I ride by it frequently on my bike, but have yet to visit it.

I will walk through these woods every few days now, as I do every spring, to watch the succession of wildflowers that make their brief appearance before the leaf canopy blocks the light they need to reproduce. A Trillium Tea picnic sounds like a lovely idea. And perhaps we will be introducing these trails to a new puppy soon!