Introduction

Nineteen years ago, we built a home on 5.6 acres in a rural residential area of central Ohio. When we bought the land, it was covered in soy beans, and because it was on a slight rise, we began calling it Bean Hill. The name stuck.

We were city people, and didn't know what to expect of life in the country. As birders and gardeners, what we soon realized was we had the opportunity to create our own sanctuary. Simultaneous to the house construction, we established the first perennial garden, and erected the first bird feeder. And we just kept on going. Today Bean Hill has 16 perennial gardens and 21 bird feeders. We also maintain a ground feeder for various "woodland creatures" at the edge of the Jersey Woods, a 7-acre wooded area adjoining our property.

Living at Bean Hill has made us better nature observers. We're attuned to the small changes that signal seasonal changes, and always find delight in them. Our sense of unity with all things has made us more aware of our responsibility to the earth; we take seriously the call to be good stewards.

It's a privilege to live close to nature, and to have the many opportunities to observe and learn that Bean Hill provides. What we're seeing and learning lately, however, is more unsettling than delightful. The plants and the animals have begun to show us the reality of climate change. Some changes were noticed over the last four or five years but not particularly remarkable. In 2016, on our 5.6 acres, there were too many changes to ignore.

We knew 2014 was the hottest year on record world-wide, that 2015 surpassed it, and not surprisingly, given the abnormally warm winter and the extremely hot summer, 2016 surpassed both. Now it's 2017, and already 14 record highs have been set here at Bean Hill, and the climate-deniers are in charge of the nation.

This blog has two purposes. The first is simply to share the beauty of Bean Hill through a year. The second is to record the effect of the changing climate on a relatively small patch of land in central Ohio. Perhaps that record will provide evidentiary talking points we can use to change hearts and minds--one person at a time.

Pictured above: Winter and Spring in the Jersey Woods.