I want to be a naturalist when I grow up!
In the meantime, I peruse roadsides in rural Anson County, NC, looking for native wildflowers. I add my finds to the project, ‘North Carolina Piedmont Roadside Native Plants’. I am continually surprised at how many rare wildflowers I find on the side of the road. These are automatically collected in the project ‘Rare Vascular Plants of North Carolina’ .
I have a goal of recording wildflowers on every road in my county. I have been doing that at a rate of about 100 roads each year for just over 3 years.
UPDATE: Y’all, I have recorded wildflowers on 360 Anson County roads. Going into the new year, I still need to visit 114 roads. Another year to a year and a half should do it! Then I’m thinking I will return to every road and collect at least one specimen to send to herbariums. I’ve already started doing that, thanks to @camcc ‘s long distance tutoring on the pressing process. My profile pic is a teeny Sisyrinchium rosulatum from a mowed lawn.