South Shore Blog

“Hey, whattaya know, we got ourselves a cinnamon!” April and May are the typical calving months for our Kankakee Sand bison. So, you can imagine our utter shock and surprise when we saw a little red bison calf in the pasture this past November!

The first question that comes to mind is, “How did that happen?!” Well, we know how it happened.  The better question may be, “Why did that happen?”

Though many good sized fish inhabit small lakes and streams, when that’s the case, the big dudes are

Sláinte! to the South Shore!

Get ready to embrace Irish traditions in the South Shore! Below you

Every March, maple trees in the South Shore awaken with the warm days and cold nights and the sap begins to flow. It's that time of year again, and the maple sugar farmers are busy, headed out with their tools to tap the trees.

Photo: Aphrodite butterflies on butterfly weed by Gus Nyberg

My mailbox is starting to fill with seed catalogs. Even though it is only February, my mind is already dreaming of a well weeded garden, overflowing with the ripest of fruit and not a garden pest within 40 miles. 

Oh! And I just know that this year my landscaping of native flowers and shrubs will bloom all through the spring, summer and fall, with nary a weed to be found. Sigh…maybe someday. 

Photo copyright Christopher Jordan

While visiting the east coast this past December, my family took an evening drive to a “Winter Wonderland.” For $18, we were able to drive through three miles of outdoor light displays. Holiday tunes played in time to the light display. The displays were made of silver, blue, red, green and gold lights welded to metal frames in the shapes of larger-than-life castles, horse drawn carriages, poinsettias, wreaths, snowmen, St. Nick, the Grinch, pine trees, leaping deer, dinosaurs and exploding volcanoes! 

Ice skating is the one outdoor activity that always reminds me of Christmas. This may be because one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies is The Bishop’s Wife. There is a wonderful part in that film where Cary Grant and Loretta Young’s characters go ice skating. It was with that scene in mind that I decided to check out the Ice Skating Plaza at Deep River Waterpark, imagining that I would be as graceful as Cary Grant and Loretta Young were.

We’ve had our first snow and expected to get more this weekend! Will you be building a snowman, Christmas shopping, or curling up on the couch to binge-watch Netflix? If you’re feeling adventurous take a look at these ten, great spots to enjoy sledding, cross-country skiing and ice skating this season.

Thanksgiving week is full of activities between cooking, eating and starting your holiday shopping. But if you’re looking for more to do this week – either for grown up fun or just something to keep the kids busy during the long weekend – we got you covered!

It’s iffy whether or not you’ll see a wild turkey during a walk in the woods at this time of year. But it’s a surefire bet that you will see the striking, turkey tail fungus. For that, I’m always grateful. 

Turkey tail, Trametes versicolor, is one of the most common fungi growing on the sides of logs or trees.  It is a stalkless mushroom, called a shelf fungus, which looks much like a fan with scalloped edges.