Exploring the 'hood

Home Sweet Home; the other day my husband came home and was a little confused about the absence of my favorite fairy (a gift from my dad many years ago).  I too am looking for our familiar "we are home" landmark. For our last three homes she has stood in our front yard to welcome us.

What a relief to come around the corner to our new house and see her waiting patiently there for us.  I already feel at home at the new place even though our current visits have only been to enjoy the yard and drop off our garden supplies.

  

Of course what fun would it be to just drop some stuff and run, so I took a walk down to the dock...still looking for the real fish (so far only little guys under the dock).  

Along the way there were tons of brand new oak trees popping up all over the yard.  So I became a little concerned about how the children will know the difference between the scary poison ivy and the acorn sprouts.  

More concern came when I ran into the neighbor tinkering in his backyard.  He warned me about a large black snake that has been hanging out in our driveway.  

Am I worried about this snake?  

No way...black snakes are welcome here...they will keep down the rodents and chase away the venomous snakes.  

My concern lies in that I realized that my "citified" children (despite their weekly trips to the park) will not know the difference between safe nature and the tricky kind of nature.  

So I am collecting charts to hang up for them, if anyone finds any great ones please send them my way.  

I want to include:

Toxic Plants

Venomous Snakes

Freshwater Fish

Bees (which ones to run from)

Insects (beneficial or panic worthy)

Waterfowl

Wild Edibles

 ...did I miss anything?

Speaking of wild edibles the yard is full of them--from honeysuckle to blackberries...can't wait to dig around in the ground cover and see what we have to eat there!

Our current home does not allow for anything but green grass that is sprayed seasonally for any trace of edible "weeds".  I can't even begin to express my excitement about having an
edible/medicinal yard.  

From the dock looking back at the house beyond the great mother oak.

And last but not least, my most frequented store and fortunately the closest.

I can also see how it will become my favorite.  

So far I have not bought a thing...but they have the best moving boxes and they are eager to pass them along to people so they don't have to push them through the compactors.  

What else am I finding there?  Anything you need to live the homestead life...from feed to yes, tractors.  They even have a paddle boat I have my eye on for later.  But most importantly, the nicest people.  

I hope to find that same kindness throughout our new locale.