Most often, we think we need to travel far to explore unique places, but often there are really neat and unique places close to home. In previous posts (My Backyard and My Backyard II) I shared some new discoveries and experiences riding on the back of my motorcycle to places nearby. Recently, I re-explored a fantastic landscape literally just outside my backyard.
It just took some prodding to venture next door again. We had been hosting the dog of good friends who were visiting family for a few days. Belle, their special and fabulous Munsterlander, and Eric's resident dog, Fiona, were getting along famously. Both dogs just love running through the woods - as most dogs do, I guess. They had been lying around the house, looking up every now and then, hoping for either a steak to fall off of a countertop, or for someone to take them out for a walk. I decided they needed some real exercise, and thought the walking trails available to us across the road would be ideal. The weather was unusually warm and quiet, perfect conditions for checking out the prairies of the Belwin Conservancy.
Belwin was created by Charlie and Lucy Bell as they started accumulating parcels of farm land in the Afton area in 1958 in the hope of preserving some of the area from development. In 1970, the Bell's donated 500 acres of the land to start the Belwin Foundation, which has grown even further since then. They established a mission of restoring natural prairie and providing a home for the outdoor nature education of children from urban areas, in coordination with the Saint Paul Public School district.
Not well known is that one of those parcels is available to the public for hiking and cross-country skiing. The landscape looks and feels as it might have a long time ago. Vast fields of prairie grass harbor wild flowers in the summer. Deer, coyotes, turkeys, pheasants, raptors, and all kinds of other wildlife live in the woods surrounding these open areas.
The dogs and I had a great hike. It was fun to watch them follow all the many and interesting smells, each stopping where the other had been only moments before - sometimes at the same time - and leaving their own smell behind. By the time we returned, and hour and half later, all tongues, including mine, were hanging out.
We're lucky to have Belwin as neighbors. It means we will forever have the opportunity to step back in time and escape the confines of development just behind our own back yard.
It just took some prodding to venture next door again. We had been hosting the dog of good friends who were visiting family for a few days. Belle, their special and fabulous Munsterlander, and Eric's resident dog, Fiona, were getting along famously. Both dogs just love running through the woods - as most dogs do, I guess. They had been lying around the house, looking up every now and then, hoping for either a steak to fall off of a countertop, or for someone to take them out for a walk. I decided they needed some real exercise, and thought the walking trails available to us across the road would be ideal. The weather was unusually warm and quiet, perfect conditions for checking out the prairies of the Belwin Conservancy.
Belwin was created by Charlie and Lucy Bell as they started accumulating parcels of farm land in the Afton area in 1958 in the hope of preserving some of the area from development. In 1970, the Bell's donated 500 acres of the land to start the Belwin Foundation, which has grown even further since then. They established a mission of restoring natural prairie and providing a home for the outdoor nature education of children from urban areas, in coordination with the Saint Paul Public School district.
Not well known is that one of those parcels is available to the public for hiking and cross-country skiing. The landscape looks and feels as it might have a long time ago. Vast fields of prairie grass harbor wild flowers in the summer. Deer, coyotes, turkeys, pheasants, raptors, and all kinds of other wildlife live in the woods surrounding these open areas.
The dogs and I had a great hike. It was fun to watch them follow all the many and interesting smells, each stopping where the other had been only moments before - sometimes at the same time - and leaving their own smell behind. By the time we returned, and hour and half later, all tongues, including mine, were hanging out.
We're lucky to have Belwin as neighbors. It means we will forever have the opportunity to step back in time and escape the confines of development just behind our own back yard.
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