nature | Minnesota Prairie Roots

The poetry of trees at sunset April 14, 2020

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, Minnesota, National Poetry Month, nature, North Alexander Park, outdoors, photography, poetry, sunset, tree branches, trees

SUNSET. I FIND IT profoundly beautiful. Poetically beautiful.

Last week while walking a tree-lined trail in Faribault’s North Alexander Park, I stopped to appreciate the sunset through the trees.

I aimed my camera lens skyward, toward treetops. Branches, like lines drawn in wide chisel and felt tip markers, traced the sky. Sharp against backdrop canvases of blue, pink and orange. Lovely. The literary and visual work of an artist.

Scenes like this are so ordinary, yet extraordinary. Nature, when viewed in pause mode, seems even more stunning these days.

When I lift my camera and look through a viewfinder to frame a photo, I see so much. I notice details. Shapes. Colors. Patterns. Light.

It’s a process similar to writing poetry. I immerse myself in creating something beautiful. Poetry requires sparse, well-chosen words. Photography requires that, too, but in a visual way.

In this unprecedented time of social distancing, isolation and concern about COVID-19, I feel especially grateful for a quiet place to walk, to appreciate the art of nature and then create my own art via photography.

April is National Poetry Month. Celebrate by reading a poem, writing a poem or finding a poem in nature, like I did at North Alexander Park on a cold April evening with strong winds gusting from the northwest, sometimes shaking my camera lens.

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An October afternoon at Dunton Locks County Park October 24, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: autumn, county park, Detroit Lakes, Dunton Locks County Park, fall colors, Minnesota, nature, October, outdoors, parks, seasons

A stunning autumn scene sets the backdrop for this dock at Dunton Locks County Park, rural Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

OCTOBER MARKS ONE of those months when we Minnesotans feel the need to get outdoors as often as possible, to take in the autumnal hues, the sunny skies, the measured days of light and warmth. Too soon winter arrives and all the glories of October become but a memory.

In recent weeks, I’ve added pages to my autumn memories via viewing vistas of landscapes turning from green to the oranges, reds, yellows and browns of the season. Like at Dunton Locks County Park outside Detroit Lakes. It’s a lovely place just a short drive south of this northwestern Minnesota city. Here trees hug shorelines and trails lead through dense woods.

On the late Wednesday afternoon of our visit, lots of folks enjoyed the park on a particularly glorious day. A woman fished. A guy gazed toward the water from the bridge spanning the rapids linking Muskrat Lake and Lake Salle. A kindergartner and her mom collected colored leaves. A young family—new baby girl bundled against Mom and second son riding atop Dad’s shoulders while oldest son ran ahead—hiked in this park within a mile of their home.

There’s something about being outdoors on a beautiful day that brings us all together to appreciate the simple things in life. A sunny day. Crunch of drying leaves underfoot. The sound and rush of water roaring over rocks. The overwhelming feeling of gratitude for living in a place like Minnesota where we have easy access to public parks, where open space is abundant and where, on an autumn afternoon, folks delight in the beauty of this land.

BONUS PHOTO:

Rails for a mechanical boat tram run across the grass between two lakes at the park. The tram operates from Memorial Day to Labor Day and transports boats between Muskrat Lake and Lake Salle.

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Autumn ablaze at Maplewood State Park October 14, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 12:21 PM
Tags: autumn, fall colors, hiking, horseback riding, Maplewood State Park, Minnesota, nature, outdoors, Pelican Rapids, prairie, seasons, state park

BEFORE THE WINTER STORM arrived with predictions of feet of snow in nearby North Dakota, we embraced autumn at, for us, a previously unvisited state park. Maplewood State Park east of Pelican Rapids in northwestern Minnesota fits its name. This place blazes with hillsides of trees set among prairie and lakes.

A rutted and narrow gravel road takes motorists on a scenic drive through the park.

These horseback riders led their horses to the lake for a quick drink.

Restored prairies are found throughout Maplewood State Park, this one along a trail to a scenic overlook.

Last Wednesday, only days before that predicted winter storm (which also edged into western Minnesota), we toured this park that features scenic overlooks, miles of hiking and horseback riding trails, and a five-mile driving loop.

Driving into Maplewood State Park.

A glorious fall scene repeated throughout the park.

Trees ablaze at the picnic grounds.

We hit the park at the peak of fall color. So did many others—busloads of school children, generations of families, couples, horseback riders…

Wildflowers on the prairie.

Acres and acres of prairie grass wave in the wind.

Even dried seed heads hold beauty.

When you live in Minnesota or the Dakotas, you need to take in every single last glorious day of autumn before the snow flies, the leaves fall and winter settles in for months.

We enjoyed a sunshine-filled, albeit windy, afternoon exploring Maplewood. There’s something incredibly soothing about immersing one’s self in the outdoors, far from work and worries. Spirits soar in sunshine in a place that is spectacularly beautiful in this season of autumn.

TELL ME: What’s your favorite location to view fall colors?

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September at River Bend September 11, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, Minnesota, Monarch butterfly, nature, nature center, outdoors, photo essay, photography, prairie, River Bend Nature Center, seasons, wildflowers

FIELDS OF GOLDENROD brighten the landscape—edging roadways, filling fields, erupting seemingly everywhere as summer slips ever closer to autumn in Minnesota.

A walk through River Bend Nature Center reveals hues of brown, orange, red and yellow. In leaves changing color. In fading flowers.

In mature milkweeds and drying prairie grasses.

In butterflies galore.

Days carry a visual impression of autumn. But also a feel of autumn. There’s a sense of urgency, of the need to be outdoors as much as possible.

Autumn marks my favorite of Minnesota’s seasons. So I carry my camera through Faribault’s sprawling nature center to take it all in.

The places marked by man with words of adoration.

The trails that trail through the woods.

And always the path cut through the prairie, where I imagine settlers of long ago crossing Minnesota Territory in covered wagons or slicing plow blades through sod or simply journeying westward into dreams.

These are my thoughts within this land set aside to preserve today for the dreamers of tomorrow.

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Connecting with nature at Carleton College August 19, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: 9/11, Ann N. Nelson, Carleton College, memorial, Minnesota, nature, nature area, Northfield, terrorist attack, wildflowers

TO WALK HERE, among wildflowers lining water’s edge, is to find peace. And these days I crave peace, a short escape from the challenges of life. Nature offers that quiet, that solitude, that ability to forget reality for awhile.

On a recent Saturday, Randy and I followed a trail into a nature area at Carleton College in Northfield. I thought how lovely to attend college here, to have this natural space available on the edge of campus. A place for students to retreat, to recharge, to reboot.

On this day, I retreated, focusing my attention (and camera) on vivid and pastel petals,

reflections on water,

the arc of bridges

and then, the unexpected—a memorial to Carleton alum Ann N. Nelson who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. A second Carleton alum, Joe McDonald, also died there.

The memorial stone placed between benches next to a labyrinth drew my thoughts away momentarily to that awful day in our nation’s history. And I considered the pain and the horror of it all and how, even in this peaceful place, one cannot fully-escape the difficult realities of life.

THOUGHTS?

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My prairie place of peace in Faribault July 8, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: energy, Faribault, Faribault Energy Park, Minnesota, Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, nature, outdoors, parks, prairie, wildflowers

I’VE FOUND MY PARK in Faribault. The place of wildflowers and waving grasses, of songbirds and waterfowl, of gravel trails that curve around bodies of water.

Faribault Energy Park reminds me of southwestern Minnesota, the prairie place of my roots. Located on the city’s northwest side and visible from Interstate 35, this Minnesota Municipal Power Agency park invites visitors to walk paths in an ever-changing natural landscape.

Even with the steady drone of I-35 traffic in the background, birdsong breaks through the noise. The memorable voice of the red-winged blackbird, especially, sounds a sensory delight.

I’ve visited the park mostly in the evening, when the golden light of sunset falls upon ponds, angles through grasses and flowers, and slices between tree branches.

Daisies, milkweed, clover, Iris and other flowers familiar but not identifiable to me by name populate the landscape in clusters of white, clumps of purple, flashes of yellow. Focusing my camera causes me to slow down, to notice blossoms I might otherwise miss while following the winding dirt paths.

But visitors can’t miss the wind turbine towering above the park next to a hillside block of solar panels. Informational signage explains how wind energy converts into electricity. Faribault Energy Park, though, is a dual fuel (natural gas and fuel oil) facility, not primairly wind-powered, and runs during periods of high demand for electricity.

This park serves also to educate, welcoming students to tour the plant each May, to view the control room, the steam turbine and then to walk those wetland area trails. Tours are also available by appointment.

For folks like me simply seeking a place to escape into and photograph nature, Faribault Energy Park wetlands park offers a respite of natural beauty. Some also come here to fish, although I’ve yet to see an angler pull in a catch.

But I’ve observed geese and ducks claim this property and swim these ponds. I’ve glimpsed, too, an otter gliding through the water.

And I’ve rested in the gazebo.

In the chaos and busyness of life, reinforced here by the sights and sounds of adjacent I-35 traffic, I still find peace in this place reminiscent of my native southwestern Minnesota prairie.

FYI: Faribault Energy Park is located at 4100 Park Avenue. The wetlands park is open daily from sunrise to sunset.

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Poetic & healing thoughts inspired by a walk through River Bend June 4, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, Minnesota, nature, nature center, nature photography, outdoors, photo essay, photography, River Bend Nature Center, the outdoors

RIVER BEND NATURE CENTER in Faribault offers a respite from reality, a place to envelope one’s self in nature by walking the wooded trails or the open prairie.

Here, within this place, nature writes poetry.

I read poetic words in signage and flowers and greenery.

In sky and landscape and vistas.

If I walk too quickly, I miss the poetic lines, the nuanced words that create a rhythm of peace in a chaotic world.

It takes discipline to slow down, to notice the descriptive details that hug the earth, that scent the air, that hide within the natural colors of the world.

How often do we as humans choose to hurry through our days, oblivious to those around us? I challenge each of you to slow down, to pause in the busyness of life and look outside yourself and your lives. See your co-worker. See your friend. See your neighbor. See your family member. Then reach out. Connect. Support. Rain your poetry of love upon others.

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From Faribault: The golden hour of evening photography in spring May 30, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 3:43 PM
Tags: Cannon River, city parks, Faribault, geese, May evening in Minnesota, Minnesota, nature, North Alexander Park, outdoor photography, outdoors, photography, rivers, spring, Straight River, the golden hour of photography, Two Rivers Park

A view of South Alexander Park from the shores of the Cannon River in North Alexander Park.

THE GOLDEN HOUR. Those three words hold great meaning to anyone into photography. It is the 60 minutes after sunrise and the 60 minutes before sunset—the time when natural light lends a softness to images.

A lone mallard swims in the quiet waters of the Cannon River in North Alexander Park.

Recently, I grabbed my camera to photograph early evening spring scenes at two Faribault city parks—North Alexander and Two Rivers. The results show the beauty of incredible natural light in making a photo.

Enjoy.

The converging of the Cannon and Straight Rivers at Two Rivers Park.

A nearly camouflaged bird along the banks of the Cannon River, North Alexander Park.

In the still of a beautiful May evening. trees reflect in the Cannon River as seen from North Alexander Park.

Lots of geese populate the Cannon, including this young family photographed in North Alexander Park.

The historic Faribault Woolen Mill sits along the Cannon River, photographed here from North Alexander Park.

Reflections at Two Rivers Park.

Picnic tables placed along the Cannon River in North Alexander Park (next to the recreational trail) provide riverside dining.

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Make way for geese May 22, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Cannon River, Faribault, geese, Minnesota, nature, parenting

THE LITERARY SIDE of me wants to write Make Way for Ducklings as the title of this post in reference to Robert McCloskey’s children’s picture book.

But that would prove inaccurate. These water fowl are geese, not ducks. And they were swimming in the choppy waters of the Cannon River several days ago on their way to wherever.

That they paddled a safe distance from me eased any concerns about an attack. I stood along the shoreline, amazed at these determined geese, amazed at the natural instinct of parents to shelter, guide and protect their young. A lot, I thought, like us human parents.

THOUGHTS?

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A Minnesota evening in May: A photo essay May 16, 2019

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Cannon Lake, Faribault, kayaking, May evening, Minnesota, nature, outdoors, photo essay, photography, recreational trail, Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail, Shager Park, spring in Minnesota

A QUEST FOR ESCAPE, for peace, for a closeness with nature took me to Shager Park and the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail along Cannon Lake near Faribault Tuesday evening.

In the golden hour just before sunset, I walked the trail, stopping often to photograph my surroundings before landing on a dock overlooking the lake.