- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
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Well it's Thanksgiving today, here in Canada and unlike kgd, I didn't fix up any old gear (although I probably should have). Actually, quite often I'm canoeing on Thanksgiving weekend, but not this year, unfortunately. Instead I took Mrs. DOC-CANADA for a traditional Mr. Sub Thanksgiving supper and a short late afternoon/evening hike.
The contrasting colours were beautiful which were not captured very well by the novice photographer (me) and the disappearing sunlight didn't help any. But here's a few to give you a sense of it.
And I ran into a couple of wild foods that I don't see very often:
The first one is Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)(sorry about the poor picture - didn't bother to use tripod - should have).
The next 2 are Barberry (Berberis sp.) - I didn't ID them as to species - didn't have a field guide with me, but I think they are B. vulgaris or Common Barberry. Here in Ontario, they have tried to eradicate Common Barberry, because it is an intermediate host for wheat rust or some such, but haven't been entirely successful in their efforts.
And the last two are Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis). It's an edible plant, although I haven't tried it yet, but it is also my favourite natural cordage material - nice long fibres, easy to process. You might notice some of the little prickles on the stalk. They sting similar to Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) (even when the plant is dead). This is the time of year, I normally harvest it. It usually coincides with the local Salmon run.
And to finish it off, a nice full moon to help us see our way out in the dark.
Fall is here, and soon the first frost, so I will be getting out more (good riddance to d**n mosquitoes) and I'll be able to bore you even more with a proliferation of unpronounceable Latin names, such as Apocynum androsaemifolium, - an excellent cordage fibre plant, by the way, and other minutiae.
Also, I think there's a couple of people, around here, that want to learn friction fire and some other survival techniques, so if they have no objection, I'll be posting that, as well.
Doc
(had to remove smilies as they count as part of 10 picture limit per post
The contrasting colours were beautiful which were not captured very well by the novice photographer (me) and the disappearing sunlight didn't help any. But here's a few to give you a sense of it.
And I ran into a couple of wild foods that I don't see very often:
The first one is Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)(sorry about the poor picture - didn't bother to use tripod - should have).
The next 2 are Barberry (Berberis sp.) - I didn't ID them as to species - didn't have a field guide with me, but I think they are B. vulgaris or Common Barberry. Here in Ontario, they have tried to eradicate Common Barberry, because it is an intermediate host for wheat rust or some such, but haven't been entirely successful in their efforts.
And the last two are Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis). It's an edible plant, although I haven't tried it yet, but it is also my favourite natural cordage material - nice long fibres, easy to process. You might notice some of the little prickles on the stalk. They sting similar to Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) (even when the plant is dead). This is the time of year, I normally harvest it. It usually coincides with the local Salmon run.
And to finish it off, a nice full moon to help us see our way out in the dark.
Fall is here, and soon the first frost, so I will be getting out more (good riddance to d**n mosquitoes) and I'll be able to bore you even more with a proliferation of unpronounceable Latin names, such as Apocynum androsaemifolium, - an excellent cordage fibre plant, by the way, and other minutiae.
Also, I think there's a couple of people, around here, that want to learn friction fire and some other survival techniques, so if they have no objection, I'll be posting that, as well.
Doc
(had to remove smilies as they count as part of 10 picture limit per post
:thumbup:
