You can blame my new hobby on the natural heritage of Indiana, a book I checked out from the Brown County library in 2019. The geologic history of our state is where I was drawn in, specifically the evidence of geologic time like road cuts, caves, the Mt. Carmel fault, glacial boundaries, glacial lakes and my favorite… limestone. I’m still working on an understanding of the eras. My desire was to learn all our natural regions, the forces that shaped them and the species that inhabit them. In the process I have really geeked out on plants. Two examples mentioned in the book that pushed my adventures are Hymenocallis occidentalis, the largest flower in Indiana and Penstemon deamii, our only state endemic. I started an Inat in the spring of 2023 in order to learn scientific names and use it as another information source to educate myself and really enjoy the app and the community. I have found myself really enjoying wetlands and rivers as habitat but also as natural, ever-changing infrastructure (fluvial geomorphology). I am leaning into whatever is the most fun and coolest to learn so I a jumping all over the place with the seasons. I try to get up north but usually visiting spots in southwest Indiana where I work and southcentral Indiana where I live. I am making it a priority to learn as much as possible while having fun so please forgive my excitement. I grew up on the norther glacier scrape and went to college for art in the toe of her boot. I lived in Indy and then Bloomington, now I reside in Brown County in one of my favorite areas of the entire state. Sober since 2021…I wake up every day thankful and excited to learn about this amazing planet we take for granted.

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