Hortus siccus

Outside is cold and dreary today, but the sunshine is on its way back. Join us this Saturday, December 13, at 10:00am for our usual Second Saturday hike. As always, we meet at the Lick Creek bridge by the Rainbow Lake parking area, at the east end of Old Forest Lane.

You might think there isn't much to see in the Old Forest this time of year, but you'd be wrong. Our winter woods are chock full of huggable trees and gawkable natural wonders of all shapes and sizes.

In winter, nature is a cabinet of curiosities, full of dried specimens, in their natural order and position. The meadows and forests are a hortus siccus. The leaves and grasses stand perfectly pressed by the air without screw or gum, and the birds' nests are not hung on an artificial twig, but where they builded them.

- From "A Winter Walk" by ol' Hank Thoreau

See you in the woods!