Harvest of Riches

April 2 is a very meaningful date in my life for three reasons:

The birthday of Aaron Havenga, (April 2, 1975 ~ November 20, 1994).

The 42nd anniversary of my Journal (April 2, 1975 ~ present)

The fifth anniversary of: Walk With Father Nature (April 2, 2012 ~ present)


I title this anniversary post "Harvest of Riches" because I want to gather into the storage barn...

... a bushel of my favorite poems from recent years. It was difficult to choose from the 340 poems stored securely within these stone walls, but please open these old doors, and read the twelve favorites this old poet has harvested from the archives... (Click on the highlighted titles to go to that post)

The Same Sun ~ August 5, 2013

Unspoken ~ September 30, 2013

Only Silence Remains ~ October 14, 2013

Aspen Fire ~ October 21, 2013

You ~ February 5, 2014

Witness ~ August 18, 2014

Future Prayer ~ November 17, 2014

God Whispers ~ June 8, 2015

words dreaming ~ January 4, 2016

How These Words Became a Poem ~ March 14, 2016

Given ~ December 2, 2016

Desire Waiting ~ February 6, 2017


Thank you to all of my loyal viewers, and to those who have recently arrived. I hope you will explore the hundreds of entries in the TOPICS section, and search the ARCHIVES through the 600 posts I've written over these five years. 

I would love it if you would insert your email into the white slot above, to receive WWFN free each week. Please continue to follow my work, and share WWFN with your friends. I sincerely appreciate your presence. 

Gratefully,

Richard Havenga                         

Coming Soon

Coming this summer at Walk With Father Nature, these new titles:

"Close to the Sky"

"Taste of Morning"

"Wind Song"

"Sleeping with Crickets"

"Carrying Hope"

"Touchstone"

"Summer Winds"

Don't miss these new offerings of Photo Poetry. Sign up for free. Enter your Email in the small white box at Walk With Father Nature.

Stop by anytime. Browse around. The door is open. Come on in. 

Gratefully,

~ Richard Havenga ~



Photo Location: Wild Columbine - Ada Township - Kent County, Michigan 

Readers Write at WWFN

Readers and viewers of Walk With Father Nature:

It's your turn to write. 

After contemplating this photograph, please submit your poem (any length) or Haiku (5-7-5 format). 

Click to enlarge.

Place it in the comments section at this site, on my Facebook page, or preferably, by email:

RichMaryH@gmail.com            subject heading: "Submit"

The winner will become a guest blogger at WWFN , and the winning entry will be posted at:

Walk With Father Nature.

Good luck. Good skill. 
Take your time. 
Be inspired. 
Be receptive. 
Revise.

Gratefully,

~ Richard Havenga

And the winner is...

Tom Conley - Denver, Colorado
Here is Tom's poem:

I Know This Place

A place where my body can rest

A place where my soul can be blessed

A place to worship my Lord

A place so loved and adored

It is here where I can wipe away my sin

It is here that with God I know I can win

It is here I will always find peace

It is here with prayer my pain will cease

© 2016 Tom Conley

Congratulations to Tom Conley, who has visited this historic church in Colorado, and promises to return again.

Three Years @ WWFN

On April 2, 2012 I began my blogging adventure by launching "Walk With Father Nature". WWFN now celebrates three years of sharing.

Over 440 posts have been published during this time. I still hold the passion to write and create, the desire to learn and share, and the curiosity to explore for more.

The "Visitor Number" button now is over 275,000. I sincerely thank all of you for your continued support. Please share WWFN with your friends, family, and associates. I especially appreciate the kind remarks that some of you have written in the "Comments" section here at WWFN. 

Remember, my mission statement is always at the top of every post. I will continue to Give the Glory to God for this opportunity, for this blessing, to share His creation in words and photographs. I will always be grateful for the gifts and talents God has given me, and the chance to share them with you. 

Remember to browse the "Topics" section for hundreds of topics, and the "Archives" (2012 - 2015) for any posts you may have missed.

Of course I always love to hear from you, dear reader. Please enter your detailed responses in the "Comments" section at the end of each post, and I promise to respond. 

For inquiries about the programs I offer, click on "Programs" in the top menu, or for special requests for photographs, my Email is: 
richmaryh@gmail.com

You can receive new posts (free) as they are published, by entering your Email in the little white slot in the sidebar @ WWFN.

I think I hear you asking to see my own list of personal favorites. My selections are based on the quality of the writing in my poems, and the inspiration I felt as I composed and revised. Over the past twelve months, I've narrowed it down to these twelve. Click on the titles that appeal to you, and please share them with your friends. 


Something - May 12, 2014

New Prayer, New Day - May 23, 2014

A Small Act - May 29, 2014

Witness - August 18, 2014

Cathedral - September 5, 2014

The Summons - October 3, 2014

In the Present - October 22, 2014

Future Prayer - November 17, 2014

Finding Gifts - December 22, 2014

Stone Chalice: Sound Within Silence - January 5, 2015

Opportunity - February 2, 2015

Gesture II - February 5, 2015

A few personal notes about this special date:

April 2, is the birthday of our son, Aaron; (1975- 1994). He would have been 40 years old today. I remain grateful to God for the nineteen years we were blessed to have him with us. We still carry his spirit of love, everyday, within our hearts.

April 2, is also the date I started my daily Journal in 1975 (one page per day - every day). 
My Journal is now 40 years old.


Gratefully,

Richard Havenga

Saturday Morning Backroads II

This is the second edition of "Saturday Morning Backroads". All of these photographs were taken within four miles of my home, near Cannonsburg, Michigan. 
Sit back and enjoy the views. 
Then, prepare for your own departure. 

Egypt Valley State Game Area - Biking anyone?

Silver Maple — turned scarlet.

Wild Grapes

Mute Swans with Cygnets

Virginia Creeper — Climbing Walnut Trees

Turkey Vultures circling Murray Lake

Parnell Pastoral

Wood Ducks

Cannonsburg pond in the rain.

You may also enjoy the first edition of "Saturday Morning Backroads" from June 12, 2012.

JUNE with "Father Nature"

Sweet Clover

Wild Geranium

Mute Swans with Cygnets

Sensitive Fern

Wild Iris - Blue Flag

Cedar Waxwing

Cottonwood

 Daisy Fleabane

American Robin

Spiderwort

Grasses

Spotted Sandpiper

Buttercup

White Oak limbs

Forget-me-not

Freshly mowed hay field

Bridal Wreath

Vetch

Honeysuckle

Muskrat

Ox-eye Daisy

Storm approaching

Click on photos to enlarge.

Umbels of Umbels

I'm trying to compose a poem
with the words
cow and parsnip in it.

But as you can obviously see,
there is no good way
to spin it.

Therefore, forget the poem,
and I'll return 
to my teaching mode.

And by the end of this road
I will have showed
what I knowed. 

Cow and parsnip may sound like a bland, or even ugly combination to you. And at first glance, from a distance, this plant may look gross; not worth your time.

However, it is my philosophy that one can find beauty, or at least something unique about every plant that grows, especially during close examination.

So I'm driving down a local gravel road, named after the local McPherson family, looking for something to look at. I spot a spotted cow in a pastoral pasture, and along a small creek, this giant parsnip! 

I stop to take a few shots, not at the cow, but of this purple-stemmed perennial. I look up, way up, to one of its many heads over my head. I am not small, but it can grow up to nine feet tall! That's a lot in one Michigan growing season.

I am slightly more solid than this stout plant, and about as ugly. No, wait, I'm looking for beauty, or uniqueness. We're going to have to look harder. Look closer.

Stay with me now, as we examine parts of the Cow Parsnip. The stalky stem is totally tubular, dude. 

And for you true plant lovers, here are some tasty bytes of Botany from my always dependable Michigan Wildflowers book, which I've been using for forty years. This book is not as old as me; published when I graduated from high school; © 1966, but facts are still facts. 

In the rare situation when someone asks you, "What is a Cow Parsnip?" here is what you say:

"A very stout perennial up to 3 meters tall, the stems hairy, strongly ridged, up to 5-6 cm thick at the base. 

Flowers white, borne in very large, flattish umbels, composed of 15 - 35 smaller umbels; involucre  soon falling. Corolla irregular, largest on outer flowers; fruit broadly oval or obovate, flattened. 

Leaves 3-folioate, up to 6 dm long, the leaflets broadly ovate, circular, or heart-shaped, deeply lobed and sharply toothed."

If you understand all these scientific terms, congratulations! You're a Botanist or a Naturalist. If not, I hope your corolla remains regular, and your involucre doesn't fall soon. 

Oh, before you desert me or my site, I need to show you this V.L.U.B. that I found just down the road a piece. 

This verylargeuglybird may be uglier than me, and the Cow Parsnip. That's for you to decide...

Thanks for your patience with this difficult subject. Perhaps you learned something. Maybe I got your curiosity up. 

Aw, come on, before you go, take just one more look; closer this time...

There you go. We just found something unique. 

You are free to go now; to look at some of the more beautiful posts at:

"Walk With Father Nature"  « click here

... to heal the possible pain in your eyes, to restore gratitude for your vision. You could start with "Viewers' Favorites". After 230,000 page views, how could they be wrong? 

May I suggest:  Two Years @ WWFN 

P.S.

If this article didn't whet your appetite, perhaps this will:

The Indians used this species for medicine and food. The young stalks were roasted over hot coals. The leaf stalks were peeled and eaten raw like celery. The young roots when cooked taste like rutabaga. (does anything rhyme with rutabaga?)




Photo Locations:

All Cow Parsnips and the Turkey Vulture were shot in Vergennes Township, Kent County, Michigan.

The fork in the road was captured by my wife Mary; near Ramsey Canyon, (a famous birding spot) south of Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Two Years @ WWFN

April 2, 2012 is the day I began my adventure into blogging. "Walk With Father Nature" is now two years old. I cannot believe the attention that WWFN has received. 

I never dreamed I would write this much, for this long. I had no idea I would create so many poems, Haiku, and creative non-fiction pieces. 

Over 325 posts have been published here, as of today's date. Over 200,000 page views have been recorded. I wish to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all of the viewers: 

• Visitors from 123 countries. 
• Hundreds of new acquaintances from around the United States. 
• 2,000 + connections from LinkedIn who are:
•  Bloggers, Writers, Poets, Artists, Photographers, Editors, Publishers, Authors, Teachers, Administrators, Professors, CEOs, and Naturalists. 
• Many Home School families are looking at WWFN regularly. 
• And of course I sincerely appreciate the support of family members. 

My dear wife, Mary knows the time I invest into every post; searching for ideas, composing, writing, revising, revising, and revising until I am satisfied with the results. She knows about the planning, work, time, travel, endurance and patience involved in collecting photographs acceptable for this venue. I work hard to match the words to my photographs; or the photographs to my words.

My awesome daughter, Sarah, a Writer herself, has been a devoted "Follower", composing eloquent responses to my posts, and is a constant source of encouragement for her "Daddy".

Many people on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and those in my Circles, "Like" the Nature Photography that they see there. I assume you are all visiting the actual site at WWFN, and not merely "liking" it on FB, etc. I would like to see more discussions about the writing, the poetry, the learning... here at WWFN. I will reply to all of your comments. 

I also encourage you to check out the WWFN Archives: 2012-2014. Select a year, then select a month. Explore around through the seasons. 

You will of course notice the "Viewers' Favorites" column with every post. These may be subtitled: "Last 7 Days", "Last 30 Days", or "All-Time Favorites". 

You and your friends are encouraged to subscribe to WWFN with your Email to receive new posts as they are published. If you wish to write to me directly, you may go to my Google website: click here» Richard L. Havenga for my Email.

Also, click on any topics from the "Topics" section that appeal to you. There are hundreds to choose from: A to Z. I see I haven't used the letter X yet. 

Look over the "Readers' Comments" in the sidebar. Perhaps yours will be in there someday.

Remember my mission statement is always at the top of every post. I will continue to Give the Glory to God for this opportunity, this blessing, to share His creation in words and photographs. 

 Many viewers at WWFN have asked: "Richard, what are your favorites?"  From posts over the past 12 months (only), I've tried to narrow it down to 12 of my  favorite posts. Click on a few of these now, a few later this week, and please come back often to explore for more.

You may wish to compile your own list, then write a comment telling me what you like and why. Thank you very much for your participation. I promise to respond. 

Here are my personal favorites. Please click on the titles that appeal to you:

Only Silence Remains - October 14, 2013

The Same Sun - August 5, 2013

You - February 5, 2014

The River Dancing - January 20, 2014

Journey of a Journal - April 2, 2013

Willow's Shadow - September 9, 2013

A Wing and a Prayer - July 8, 2013

When - July 31, 2013

Silver Bells - Silver Prayers - December 30, 2013

The Way - March , 2014

Unspoken - September 30, 2013

Aspen Fire - October 21, 2013


May I please add a few of my favorite Haiku?

Willow Leaf - July 27, 2013

White on Blue - March 3, 2014

Gold Rings - July 11, 2013

Heron Sleeps - August 10, 2013



Readers:

I want you to know that I pray daily to God for the Holy Spirit (within) to inspire me to write. 

I truly and sincerely appreciate you being here at WWFN for these two years. I am blessed and motivated by your presence. Please help me to grow and sustain this blog by passing WWFN along to your friends and family. 

Gratefully,

Richard Havenga



Please note: 

April 2, 2014 is also Aaron's (would-be) 39th Birthday. Aaron is our only son. We still think of him every day. See "Journey of a Journal" above.