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CASUAL COUNTRY: Walking through Cariboo wildflowers

Elder College offered a walk in the woods with a wildflower enthusiast

It is truly a beautiful thing when a person’s passion and enthusiasm for a subject is infectious.

This was definitely the case with Vanessa Robinson during the Cariboo-Chilcotin Elder College workshop Cariboo Wildflowers this past spring.

Crouching down to get up close to a wildflower in the open meadow the group is standing in, Robinson points out the vast numbers of the tiny purple flower blooming around us, creating a delicate pattern laced throughout the grasses. She identifies the flower as Shooting Stars.

The vibrant blooms have strange anatomy, which she vividly describes, along with the process of pollination the tiny flower undergoes thanks to the high-frequency vibration of bumblebees.

Robinson is beaming as she shares her curiosity at the interdependence of the bees and the flowers.

“Who is really controlling who?” she asks, clearly not expecting an answer, but full of wonder at contemplating this eternal, mystical question.

Robinson was as charming and engaging an instructor as could be imagined for the course, and everyone seemed to have a question or be spurred on by Robinson’s own curious nature, engaging with the Douglas fir and grassland environment which surrounded us.

There was a small detour to a panoramic view which, despite having been born and raised here, might be one of the most quintessential springtime Cariboo landscape views this reporter has witnessed.

Bordered by a Russel fence, an open grassy hillside rolled down towards where a herd of cows were grazing. There were Douglas fir trees bordering the field, and arrow-leaved balsam root flowers blooming atop the hill. The rocky outcroppings of Desous Mountain were visible towards the Fraser River valley.

Covering what must have been less than a kilometre, the wildflower walk still took over two hours to complete, with discussions ranging from wildflowers into a sidebar discussion on forest fires and forest structure resulting from fire suppression.

It was a morning well spent and one which has resonated with me since, as I walk more carefully and thoughtfully through the forest and fields, enjoying the smaller things and the bigger picture.

Read more: Cariboo Chilcotin Elder College back in operation for 2022



ruth.lloyd@wltribune.com

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Ruth Lloyd

About the Author: Ruth Lloyd

After moving back to Williams Lake, where I was born and graduated from school, I joined the amazing team at the Williams Lake Tribune in 2021.
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