Into the Arb!
Yahnee shares more about the Arb from a student perspective.
Yahnee shares more about the Arb from a student perspective.
Starting the Day in the Arboretum 🌾
There’s something grounding about starting your day in a place shaped by nearly a century of care and restoration. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I got up around 7 am to make it to Cowling Gymnasium for an aerobic fitness class—and even on the groggiest mornings, it’s hard not to feel awake when you know that you’ll be surrounded by so much space, light, and green
A Living Landscape
The Cowling Arboretum—or just “the Arb,” as we call it—is more than 800 acres of prairies, forests, wetlands, and winding trails. Originally farmland, the area was gradually transformed in the 1920s and ’30s into a natural sanctuary with the help of Carleton faculty and students. It’s now a protected green space dedicated to restoration, learning, and quiet connection with nature.
When Day Turns to Memory
One night near the end of spring term, I wandered into the Arb just before sunset. The light was slipping behind the trees, and everything looked like it had been dusted in gold. All of a sudden, I caught the scent of honeysuckle—sharp, sweet, unmistakable. And suddenly, I wasn’t in Minnesota anymore.
For a moment, I was back in Kansas, maybe eight or nine years old, visiting family. It was one of those dusky summer evenings when the air hums with crickets and time feels suspended. That single scent—half-wild, half-familiar—brought it all rushing back. I just stood there, completely still, wrapped in that memory. It wasn’t quite joy or sadness. Just… a pause. A kind of nostalgic paralysis. And then, the moment passed, and I kept walking.
A Campus and Community Resource
What I love most about the Arb is that it’s open to everyone. Students use it for classes, research, and outdoor workouts, but it’s also a public resource—neighbors walk their dogs here, local birders come with binoculars in hand, and you’re just as likely to pass a stroller as a student on a trail run. The Arb feels like a meeting point between campus and the wider Northfield community, rooted in shared appreciation.
A Good Place to Begin
The Arb has reminded me that the day doesn’t have to begin with urgency. It can begin with intention.
