A Weekend With The Girls!

Whew! I have a lot to catch up on in this space. Between baseball, weekend adventures and new business ventures my blog time has been almost non-existant. But I have so much I want to record and remember. I think I will start with this past weekend and move backwards.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending an all-women's weekend entitled "She Is...Outdoors". There were appx. 30 classes to choose from - from handgun to mosaic. I attended with 4 fabulous women - 2 I already knew and 2 I had never met before. We clicked right away and had a fabulous time! We each made our own class choices depending on our own interests. There were a few where 2 or 3 of us were together and others where we flew solo. Room and board was provided and the location was fabulous. The Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, MN was our host and I can not say enough good things about this place and it's staff! There goal is to educate adults and children alike to love the outdoors and in doing so learning to walk more softly on this great planet of ours.

The four classes I took were...

The Root River Hike: the Root River winds it's way through the Southeastern corner of Minnesota and sets the backdrop for many wonderful outdoor activities - canoeing, biking, hiking, fly fishing, bird watching, camping and the list goes on!

Columbine (and can't remember the name of the purple flower)

The Root River

The view of the Root from the Director's house

The solar panels on the Director's house.
It is a green home with a carbon neutral footprint (I think that is how they described it).

Beekeeping: In full bee suit a group of us examined the hives that the learning center keeps. What an amazing experience! Nothing like being surrounded by bees! And the honey - wow!

The Center's hives.

The first group examining the hives with the rest of us back a safe distance
(thank goodness for a little zoom to the camera lens).

The Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man (or me in a bee suit :)). Yep - MUST LOSE WEIGHT! 

Food Dehydration: Taught by none other than the queen of food dehydration, Mary Bell! I learned alot and can't wait to give some of her recipes a try.

Flora Hike: My favorite class of all! Taught by a Seneca woman who has been studying native plants and their uses. We hiked out and found all kinds of goodies within 1000 yards of the Learning Center and then went back and cooked and ate them. We tried Sweet Cicily Tea and stems, Burdock root, Trout Lily,  and a couple other things that for the life of me I can't remember. I will definitely be taking this class again!

What a fabulous weekend! I could share so much more but my mind is still sorting out all the information I gathered. But we are all going back next year so there will then be even more to share!