Winter has finally melted into spring. The sun finally remembers the northern hemisphere exists and is sharing its cheerful rays with us more and more each day. Which means, we are all aching to be outside basking in the daily miracles spring brings with it every year.
New flowers blooming everywhere we look. More new leaves unfurling on branches daily. The woods are filling out. The birds are returning. The animals are coming out from their winter burrows. Babies are born. Baby bunnies. Baby birds. Baby squirrels. Yes. The insects are back, too. Yet, they also play a role in the tapestry of Life.
Gene Stratton-Porter was born August 17, 1863 on the family farm, Hopewell Farm, in Wabash County, Indiana. Here’s a lovey excerpt from her Wikipedia bio:
“Gene received little formal schooling early in life; however, she developed a strong interest in nature, especially birds. As a young girl, Gene’s father and her brother, Leander, taught her to appreciate nature as she roamed freely around the family farm, observing animals in their natural habitats and caring for various pets.[7]
When her father shot a red-tailed hawk, she rescued it and nursed it back to health. Her family nicknamed her “Little Bird Woman” and her father gave her “the personal and indisputable ownership of each bird of every description that made its home on his land.”[8]
It was said of Stratton-Porter’s childhood that she had been “reared by people who constantly pointed out every natural beauty, using it wherever possible to drive home a precept, the child [Stratton-Porter] lived out-of-doors with the wild almost entirely.”
No surprise that Gene became a prominent and well-respected naturalist in her own right. She is well-known for her work to preserve the Limberlost Forest in Geneva, IN.
Not only was she a well respected naturalist, she is a well beloved author. Her love for the natural world shines brightly throughout her works. Her books are known for their beautiful themes of nature, family, and love. Several of her books take place in her beloved Limberlost forest.
Gene Stratton-Porter died in a car accident in Los Angeles, CA on Dec. 6, 1924, yet her legacy lives on in her books.
You can visit her two homes in Indiana which have been preserved as Indiana State Historic Sites:
Limberlost State Historic Site
Wildflower Woods State Historic Site
Click on an image to place that book on hold
Biographies on Gene Stratton-Porter:
Book written by Gene Stratton-Porter:
Books on exploring nature:
Books on exploring nature with children:
Books on creating art with nature:
