While many of you were squeezing in last minute trips to the beach, fishing outings, or backyard barbecues, I spent much of my last summer weekends out collecting native prairie wildflower and tallgrass seeds. A great activity for the family, I was able to spend some high quality time with the kids out walking the tallgrass, taking the chance to embrace the much under-appreciated beauty of our prairies.
![tallgrass and wildflower seeds tallgrass and wildflower seeds](http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/6524/seedsy.jpg)
Now that the summer sun has faded and the seeds have dried, I took the opportunity to winnow the seeds and sort out the undesirable stems, leaves, and leftover cones. After a little fall cleanup around the yard, I overseeded the riparian area below the house, in efforts to enhance the diversity of the developing wildlfower community that I've established over the past few seasons. Being a good steward of our riparian areas is just common sense, something that many in our world seem to lack these days.
![tallgrass and wildflower seeds tallgrass and wildflower seeds](http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/6092/seedpan.jpg)
During those Fall walks down gravel forest roads in the brisk morning sun of the northwoods, something is needed to pass the time between flushes of ruffed grouse. I collected a bag of cones from some of the prized conifers of the boreal forest: red pine, white pine, balsam fir, douglas fir, jack pine, and the northern whitecedar. Hopefully some of these cones will take root in my wooded swamp.