discover nature

September 20 - September 26

Discover Nature this week in a freshly picked, juicy persimmon.

I’ll never forget when I was eight years old and tasted a persimmon before it ripened. That bitter experience was unforgettable. However, if you learn when and how to pick, process, and cook Persimmons, you can Discover Nature in a whole new way.

September 13 - September 19

Take a walk in the woods this week and Discover Nature as you hunt fall mushrooms. 

Most of Missouri’s edible mushrooms are distinctive in some obvious way. Once you learn their distinguishing features you won’t confuse them with any dangerous poisonous species.

September 6 - September 12

Discover nature this week as you witness the graceful flight of a monarch butterfly. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, these butterflies pass through our state in September after spending the summer in Canada and the northern U.S. When the days start getting shorter, millions of monarchs migrate through Missouri as they travel to the mountains of Mexico for the winter.

August 30 - September 5

Discover nature this week and look for intricately decorated black and yellow garden spiders in gardens and grassy areas near houses.

Though many in the United States are squeamish when it comes to spiders, in some parts of the world, people believe that giving a spider as a gift or meeting a spider will bring good fortune, a successful marriage, or fair weather.

August 23 - August 29

Discover nature this week as young male white-tailed deer rub the velvet off their antlers.

The white-tailed deer is aptly named because the white undersurface of its flag-like tail is all that’s seen as it bounds across an opening in the woods.