Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,034
The first three days this week were mostly about gathering specific things I needed for a classroom type lecture / discussion I will be doing this Friday, but it gave me the opportunity to take some photos for my flora database. In looking through them, there seemed to be some pretty cool photos for doing a post on autumn situation awareness, some of the resources available now, and some of the risks involved with gathering them.
We really need some rain, but all in all it has been really nice out lately. The woods are taking on some nice colors in spite of the lack of rain, but it does seem like the fall colors may come and go rather quickly. For now though any way, it makes for some pleasant scenery on wanders.
We have a lot of hickory trees here. Some of them shed some of their nuts early during the dry summer.
But there are fully matured ones falling now. Much healthier looking.
The squirrels seem to be enjoying them. I think Hickory nuts have a great flavor, but they are difficult to process. It takes a lot of work. I guess that's why I have never seen hickory nuts for sale in any store. My father made a pie of them one Thanksgiving years ago. We worked on shelling them in the evenings for three days... Though in a primitive living type situation, gathering several and stashing them till later, and then strategically placing them in the right area, they would make good squirrel bait. After you have observed the squirrels eating them, and then cracked several yourself, you develop a whole new respect for the strength of squirrel jaws and the sharpness of their teeth.
Something creative
This is a spindle berry called bursting heart, I get it, but from what I have read it could just as easily be called busting gut if you eat them.
The persimmons, which are one of my favorites, are ripe now. So I continuously look for persimmon trees as I walk through the woods. Here in the forest, they seem to have a rather distinctive growth pattern. They grow tall to compete with the rest of the trees and most of the limbs are up high. The pixelated bark is rather distinctive as well.
The fruit is tannin rich until it goes through a bletting process, where upon on the outside of it looks like it is starting to decay, but on the inside is still bright orange and tasty.
When it's really ripe it won't survive a fall to hard ground intact, and the scent of the burst fruit draws the competition. Yellow Jackets tend to like persimmons too. What they don't really like to do is share. So as a practice, I leave the ones they are on alone, and they leave me alone
After that I headed back to where I was parked, had a snack and something to drink, and headed to a couple of open areas for some other things I needed. The Gaucho handled everything except the big briers in the fields.
One thing I needed was some dry Goldenrod seed tufts. Some of the plants are still in bloom. Things are usually pretty busy in the wildflower patches this time of the year. Lots of flying insects, and lots of flying insects with stingers. From the more docile ones like bumble bees, blueberry bees, honey bees, paper wasps, and bald faced hornets, to the more easily annoyed ones like red wasps and yellow jackets. I have yet to be stung while walking through the fields taking photos, but some do fly-byes now and then. Yet it could clearly be risky business for someone with a bee allergy.
But not everything in the fields that looks like a bee can sting. We have a lot of bee flies here that mimic bees as a form of passive defense. Their fly eyes give them away, but that may be hard for someone experiencing serious anxiety to notice. It could improve the overall quality of the situation if a less anxious friend could spot this detail and explain the situation. They also only have one set of wings like flies, rather than two sets like bees. But it's not always easy to tell that bees have two sets. The eyes are definitely the most easily identifiable feature.
Predatory spiders like to hang out in the foliage as well, and feed on the flying insects. Crab spiders like this one are usually harmless.
Yet yellow sac spiders, on the other hand, pack a mean punch for their weight. This is an older pic from the summer, but you can see how small it is compared to the onion seeds beside it. Their venom can be very painful and it can cause abscesses larger than an inch in diameter.
These are the dry Goldenrod seed tufts I was hunting.
Several of these guys still around.
Scotch thistle is another plant I was looking for. Some of it is still blooming, but a lot of it has already gone to seed.
The leaves of this plant are pretty poky, and it is frequented by predatory insects as well.
There are several Black Walnut trees around this area too. By the effects of the dry summer are obvious. The nuts this year are a good bit smaller than ones I collected last year from the same tree.
There are also crab apple trees, but I may have been a bit late in finding them
And a couple more persimmon trees.
...
We really need some rain, but all in all it has been really nice out lately. The woods are taking on some nice colors in spite of the lack of rain, but it does seem like the fall colors may come and go rather quickly. For now though any way, it makes for some pleasant scenery on wanders.
We have a lot of hickory trees here. Some of them shed some of their nuts early during the dry summer.
But there are fully matured ones falling now. Much healthier looking.
The squirrels seem to be enjoying them. I think Hickory nuts have a great flavor, but they are difficult to process. It takes a lot of work. I guess that's why I have never seen hickory nuts for sale in any store. My father made a pie of them one Thanksgiving years ago. We worked on shelling them in the evenings for three days... Though in a primitive living type situation, gathering several and stashing them till later, and then strategically placing them in the right area, they would make good squirrel bait. After you have observed the squirrels eating them, and then cracked several yourself, you develop a whole new respect for the strength of squirrel jaws and the sharpness of their teeth.
Something creative
This is a spindle berry called bursting heart, I get it, but from what I have read it could just as easily be called busting gut if you eat them.
The persimmons, which are one of my favorites, are ripe now. So I continuously look for persimmon trees as I walk through the woods. Here in the forest, they seem to have a rather distinctive growth pattern. They grow tall to compete with the rest of the trees and most of the limbs are up high. The pixelated bark is rather distinctive as well.
The fruit is tannin rich until it goes through a bletting process, where upon on the outside of it looks like it is starting to decay, but on the inside is still bright orange and tasty.
When it's really ripe it won't survive a fall to hard ground intact, and the scent of the burst fruit draws the competition. Yellow Jackets tend to like persimmons too. What they don't really like to do is share. So as a practice, I leave the ones they are on alone, and they leave me alone
After that I headed back to where I was parked, had a snack and something to drink, and headed to a couple of open areas for some other things I needed. The Gaucho handled everything except the big briers in the fields.
One thing I needed was some dry Goldenrod seed tufts. Some of the plants are still in bloom. Things are usually pretty busy in the wildflower patches this time of the year. Lots of flying insects, and lots of flying insects with stingers. From the more docile ones like bumble bees, blueberry bees, honey bees, paper wasps, and bald faced hornets, to the more easily annoyed ones like red wasps and yellow jackets. I have yet to be stung while walking through the fields taking photos, but some do fly-byes now and then. Yet it could clearly be risky business for someone with a bee allergy.
But not everything in the fields that looks like a bee can sting. We have a lot of bee flies here that mimic bees as a form of passive defense. Their fly eyes give them away, but that may be hard for someone experiencing serious anxiety to notice. It could improve the overall quality of the situation if a less anxious friend could spot this detail and explain the situation. They also only have one set of wings like flies, rather than two sets like bees. But it's not always easy to tell that bees have two sets. The eyes are definitely the most easily identifiable feature.
Predatory spiders like to hang out in the foliage as well, and feed on the flying insects. Crab spiders like this one are usually harmless.
Yet yellow sac spiders, on the other hand, pack a mean punch for their weight. This is an older pic from the summer, but you can see how small it is compared to the onion seeds beside it. Their venom can be very painful and it can cause abscesses larger than an inch in diameter.
These are the dry Goldenrod seed tufts I was hunting.
Several of these guys still around.
Scotch thistle is another plant I was looking for. Some of it is still blooming, but a lot of it has already gone to seed.
The leaves of this plant are pretty poky, and it is frequented by predatory insects as well.
There are several Black Walnut trees around this area too. By the effects of the dry summer are obvious. The nuts this year are a good bit smaller than ones I collected last year from the same tree.
There are also crab apple trees, but I may have been a bit late in finding them
And a couple more persimmon trees.
...
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