EPHEMERAL ETHEREAL - the beauties of spring

On Sunday past I had the pleasure of being one of a hiking duo in Neale Woods. Actually, my daughter was the "hiking" and I was the "huffing" part of the duo! I love both the ravines and the ridges of the woods - but on some days an escalator would be a nice advantage! Every hike reveals some special ordinary event and this did not disappoint. Upon close inspection, the ridge of Hilltop Trail merging into Maidenhair Trail was awash in Sanguinaria canadensis - aka - red puccoon - tetterwort - Bloodroot! Latin from sanguinarius - which means "bleeding."

The red-juiced herb cloaked in leaf as its tiny white blossom emerges - ever so cautiously unfolding to merge its yellow tuft with the woodland sunlight. It is one of the earliest spring bloomers and is oft familiar with a spring snow.

The flowers typically have 8 petals - alternating narrow and wide - exhibiting a square shaped visual.

bloodroot with waterleaf

Other than sumptuous deer food - it has been known to release a fine red dye when boiling the roots. The roots also contain the medical alkaloid sanguinarine. Decoctions were used for external treatment of skin disorders - and occasionally in small amounts internally for snakebites.

Melvin Gilmore interestingly noted its use as a love charm,

"For a love charm a bachelor of the Ponca, after rubbing some of the root on his palm, would contrive to shake hands with a girl he desired; if successful in this, after five or six days, she would be found willing to marry him. From this use comes the Omaha-Ponca name of the plant - Minigathe maka wau, 'woman-seeking medicine.' It was said to be used sometimes also as a decorative skin stain." Gilmore, Melvin R., "Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region," University of Nebraska Press, 1977.

I personally think the most successful - and possibly safest - use would be as a dye for cloth materials.

Also encountered a colony of Erythronium - fawn lilies - carpeting the woodland floor - camouflaged by their brown mottling of the leaves. These small bulbs are a favourite of small mammals - and of the human liking also. Gilmore said he was informed "by Winnebago that children ate them raw with avidity when freshly dug in springtime."

Other ephemeral encounters of the early spring hike include the miniature spring beauty, Claytonia virginica, and the distinctive baggy pants of the Dutchman's breeches, Dicentra cucullaria.

The Beauties were found in abundant patches across the steep hill slopes - unfortunately along with an abundance of garlic mustard as seen in the photo.

The spud-like flavour of the Spring beauties are a particular delicacy among the woodland Fairies, the best to harvest in the latest of March thru the earliest of June. Often the massive disappearance of the beauty spuds is attributed to deer preferences...hah!

On Dutchman's, it is the crouch of the breeches that attaches to the flower stalk - and the legs are filled with the luscious nectar. Noted by Ratzlaff and Barth in Field Guide to Wildflowers (FFNC and NWNC),

"The 'waist' is opened by early bumblebees. Their proboscises are long enough to reach the nectar in the spurs (legs), and to pollinate the flowers. Some bees, whose proboscises are too short, have learned to cut holes through the spurs to get to the nectar, then denying pollination of those plants."  I guess they need to more vigilant about who gets in their pants!!!

Others along the trail on a brisk Sunday...

The Trail less taken...

GNOMES RULES or The Rules of Gnomes
Rule 1 - Gnomes Rule
Rule 2 - Always follow Rule #1

SNIPPETS - Yard Yarns and Ordinary Days

Ordinary days are made up of snippets of ordinary time. And when you measure ordinary time individually, you find a subtle mosaic of chaos and order that reflects the balance of life - and of a day.

The yard at the farm offers wonderful opportunities to eyeball the community of residential fauna and avifauna. This past winter a quail honoured us with a snowy stay for a while...

And the resident skunk, with den hole beneath the pile of branches at the perimeter of the yard, appreciates the bounty under the bird feeders...

watch the tail...

the chickadee - caught in a stalled moment of usually cheeky effervescence...

chickadee splitting a seed in a heavy wind 













the deconstruction of the barn even spurred the Hawk to help...

the ritual emptying of the Sherman traps holding misplaced raptor delicacies...

but Spring is upon all and the "blue heads" are trotting...

and the red-wings are flocking...

 

the finches are golding...their gatherings look like swarms of lemon drops with wings...

and the bird bath becomes the "water cooler" of the yard with random robin gatherings...and apparently with one Angry Bird...

nuthatches are daily attendees - flying in near the top of the tree - and spiraling their way down the tree head first toward the feeder...I love the black and grey...

woodpecker watching - this Downy woodpecker flew to the pillar and then just sat there - not moving at all for about ten minutes - I think he was napping - he then jumped up to the water for a quick sip and then away...

and these Downy 'peckers are pairing - the Downy on the right kept dogging the other - following up and down branches and tree to tree - and he kept chattering at her...

wonderful pattern of the American Tree Sparrows...

and blending camouflage of the Flicker...

daily bark investigations...these by red bellied woodpecker and downy 'pecker...notice balancing with feathers...

and a few days past brings a recent arrival of the wood thrush...

for some reason he cocked his head to pick up seeds - look like the junco in the corner finds this curious behaviour also...

a couple "here's looking at you" birds...red-bellied and female robin...

Ordinary - defined as "with no special or distinctive features" - I take deliberate issue with that definition!  Take full measure...of the ordinary!


AN EXPERIMENT OF PICKY EATERS:

I found a pomegranate in the bottom of my back pack.  Having been there an unknown amount of time, the tough outer skin was now exceptional tough. So I decided to "plant" it in the hill garden of the farm yard. The next day something/one had dug it up and left it next to the hole, apparently not being able to bite through the tough skin or just not wanting to. So I "replanted" it in the same hole only this time piercing the skin with the edge of my spade. The next day again something/one had dug it up...this time though having relished the gelatinous fleshy seeds.

 
I then decided to venture into other fruits and "planted" a very ripe avocado...this was devoured by licking out the flesh around the seed without removing it from the planting hole...

I then "planted" a ripe mango...this was the limit...it was dug up and "thrown" into the yard without being eaten.  A few bite marks showed a tasting but not an eating. So mango must be the limit.

The "night of the avocado" we set up the wildlife camera and watched a raccoon and skunk come back and forth to the appetizer hole over the course of several hours.  The next day when I pulled in to the farm a group of turkey vultures were feasting on something in the south pasture.  My approach forced them to the air and nearby tree.

  Going over to investigate...

I found a skunk! Now one has to ask the question...was the combination of pomegranate one night followed by avocado the next too much for the skunk...causing him to stagger into the pasture and keel over? Or is this just the food chain of how turkey vultures get to pomegranates and avocados?


HOW ABOUT A NUMBERS GAME:
1-pick a number between 1 and 10
2-double it
3-add 10
4-divide in half
5-subtract the original number
6-the answer is 5

PONDER THIS:
It takes approximately 10,000 hours to perfect a skill.

LASTLY
Gnomes Rule and they will ALWAYS Rule