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Melana's Wild Measures
Yesterday found me happy as a clam on my island exploring new area and touching base with well known spots. See the island is cut right through the middle by a road and always I have spent my time on the north side poking around and having a ball and never the time to trot over to the south side to look around. With spring here (And yes there is still some snow on the ground) I thought it would be a perfect time to go over the road and see what there was to see on the south side. First thing I did was give a ground hog and myself a heart attack by walking almost two feet from the critter before he or myself realized I was there. He startled, I startled and we both cautiously back away from the other me grinning from ear to ear the whole time at how close I was and glad this one was fat and full enough to think eating my toes was to much work.
Turning down a path that led into the deep woods I discovered several wild catnip plants. I love the smell and plucked off a leaf and bruised it to release the heady odor. Good stuff and I mentally marked the spot for a return visit and harvest. Leading back into the wild areas I was greeted by second year raspberry canes. They clung to my arms and cloths as I pushed through but I politely told them I would return later for a longer chat and I made my way to a huge Linden tree. Beside it was a massive butternut tree and I giggled at the thought of me and the squirrels competing with each other this fall for the nuts.
A beaver trail led me to a small pond full of turtles lounging in the spring sun soaking up some rays. I watched them and a pair of mallard ducks for sometime while I tried to spot the beaver dam. Never did spot it from where I was but later found it by walking around the pond.
Motherwort grew along the shore and one small plant is now in my yard gardens. (Moonbat sent me a plant last year that promptly died but this young one ought to take off just fine.) Bloodroot is in full bloom and easy to spot on the forest floor as are the handful of trout lilies I found in bloom. Both are in abundance here and it was a delight to see so many of both. Trillium is also in quantity and about 6 inches tall in growth. Wont be long now and they also will be blooming like mad.
I walked around the pond and came across a gravel path leading down to the dry bedrock shore of the canal and took that path to see what was up and what would be up. I discovered the dried remains of tons of Saint John's Wort plants, Blue Vervain and Purple Loosestrife. Where Blue Vervain grows Boneset will grow and where Boneset will grow Joe Pye Weed is sure to be located too, so a mid summer harvest is defiantly planned.
All the poplar trees I have found thus far have been huge and collecting the buds would mean me climbing my plump ass-ets up the trunk. :-) This new exploration turned up a half dozen young trees with branches within easy reach so I was able to easily collect half a quart of the buds to play with. (don't ask me what I am doing with them I am still figuring that out myself!)
Heading back up the dry bed I found a few fossils and added them to my pack to go into my goodie basket. This is a huge basket I keep near the computer full of knotted pieces of wood, paper wasp nests, pine cones, stones and whatever struck my fancy in the wild and I thought I might like to keep near. I came across an area the electric company is clearing out for some odd reason and because I knew everything there would die I dug up bloodroot, trout lilies and collected a handful of jack-in-the-pulpit corms. Some I moved to a better spot and some came home to be added to the shade garden and some of the trout lilies are in my kitchen waiting to be cooked and eaten. Probably in a soup since I also managed to harvest a huge bag of wintercress greens for a soup.
I may try and get back to move more plants but this area is so abundant with life finding space is a real problem. Fiddlehead ferns are about a week away from harvest time. So you can imagine what I will be up to later this week!
Skunk cabbage is also in bloom and abundant, sumac stands promise an easy harvest later this year, and rough paths marked out by beaver and other wildlife produce a balance of natural and weedy harvests. This south side was only just touched upon in the 4 hours I was out sun burning my neck and filling my pack, but plans remain to know every square inch by fall and know the location of each plant by heart.
Yep this is already proving to be an amazing spring.
Melana Hiatt