Garden of Lights

There's nothing quite as special during the Christmas holiday season as driving around looking at lights. We thought about driving down south of Denver to an arboretum to see a light display, but decided instead to check out a local display at the Gardens on Spring Creek here in Fort Collins. We were not disappointed! Trees, fences, and buildings were strung with brightly colored lights and multiple free-standing light sculptures filled in the gaps.There were stalks of corn, a patch of pumpkins, a row of grape vines, and gardens of flowers - all cleverly crafted and lit up with hundreds of lights.

Jiminy Cricket even made an appearance!

After walking around the garden, we went to a little shop for hot chocolate. As if the lights and cocoa weren't enough treats for one evening, Bryan reached into his back pocket and presented us with a flask of Yukon Jack! Great fun close to home.

Comfort Food

This morning while drinking coffee I noticed three acorn squash in the hanging basket. I asked Bryan, "What are you going to do with those squash?" After a short discussion we decided to make squash soup. Bryan prepared them for roasting and when they came out of the oven 45 minutes later it was my turn in the kitchen.
I scooped out all the flesh, sauteed onions, melted butter and put it all into the crock pot with veggie stock, pepper, and cinnamon. We let it slow cook all afternoon while we hit the streets in downtown Fort Collins for a little holiday shopping. When we got home, I added some cream cheese to the squash mixture and then put it through the food processor.

The final result was a lovely, creamy squash soup that we garnished with bacon crumbles. While we admitted the cream cheese and bacon didn't add any health value, we decided they were probably okay for us since the bulk of the meal was made up of vegetables.

Gold Hill, Colorado

The mailboxes, eleven of them, sat side by side, perched atop a crudely constructed frame. Several street corners had similar setups while others had no mailboxes at all, giving a cozy feel to this hamlet overlooking the front range. Gold Hill, a small town on a ridge above Left Hand Canyon, is home to just over 200 residents - 228 in 2007 to be exact. Though located only ten miles northwest of Boulder, Colorado and accessible by four routes (one each from the north, south, east, and west), Gold Hill seems remote and isolated. The steep grades and switchbacks connecting the mountaintop to the plains and valleys below are not for the faint of heart, and this may be part of the reason for the small population.

We reached Gold Hill from the north, driving up Lick Skillet Road, the steepest county road in the United States. There were several moments when, sliding and spinning on ice and snow pack, we considered putting the chains on the tires but a slow, steady pace and an experienced driver made the ascent successful and we breathed a sigh of relief when we reached Main Street and parked the vehicle. Our first stop was just a short walk away - the Gold Hill Store. Here we enjoyed hot beverages (I can personally vouch for the creamy chai) and shared a piece of moist and hearty carrot cake (honestly, I only had one bite) while perusing the eclectic displays of local handcrafts, books and calendars with historical photographs, and a collection of vintage model cars.
In spite of our being at 8,300' elevation, the warm sun and still air made for a pleasant walk around town. Earlier in the morning, we'd read that Gold Hill started as a gold mining town but when the gold business petered out, someone had the foresight to think the town could make it in the tourist business. Unlike other gold mining communities that became ghost towns, Gold Hill survived. Most of the small homes are original structures dating back to the 1800s, according to placards posted on fences in the front yards.

We departed Gold Hill by way of the Sunshine Canyon Road. Not far from town, we stopped at a roadside turnout where we could look northwestward toward the mountains. The moderately steep descent took many hairpin turns past charred trees, rebuilding sites, and stands of starkly barren, black snags - all the result of recent forest fires in that area. For stunning photographs of the fire scarred hillsides, check out Erin's blog site. The breathtaking contrasts between cozy community, mountain grandeur, and the destructive forces of nature are, like the steep roads and rough terrain, not for the faint of heart. They might be however, just about right for a few hardy souls who choose to set their mailbox with those of their neighbors on the street corner just down the road.

Horsetooth Mountain Open Space

Thursday arrived with blue skies and warm sunshine and, after doing errands with Bryan and the pups, we decided to spend the afternoon at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space hiking up to Horsetooth Rock, just a few miles from downtown Fort Collins. The trails were mostly snow covered, especially on north-facing slopes, with a few sun-drenched areas melted down to bare gravel.

Bryan packed chicken salad & gorgonzola wraps for lunch. There's not much that beats eating trailside in good company. The pups were happy to finish off the last few bites before we resumed our hike to the base of Horsetooth Rock.

Bryan took the day off from work, but the wonders of technology allowed him to check his email and receive a few calls from his office. Years ago it would be impossible to hike up into the mountains and be connected to the rest of the world. I have to admit that given the choice of having him at work or hiking with me, I'd opt for this very acceptable compromise. Erin wasn't as fortunate and had to work all day - we missed her!

Oscar's feet got cold so he got a short ride through the icy, shadowed areas ...

... and Anna got tired so she got her turn at seeing the world from a higher vantage point ..
We had a great day together.

Mt. Abraham

The expansive view from the summit of Mt. Abraham in western Maine was breathtaking, and well worth the climb. From the trailhead, the first part of the hike entailed a pleasant hike up moderate slopes through mixed forest canopy, but the last section got tougher. The grade became steeper as the trail passed through spruce woodlands, open granite faces, patches of krummholz, and finally a talus peak! When I reached the talus field, both calves seized in cramps which made the climb all the more interesting. Standing atop the piles of rock, I turned around and the strain and pain was forgotten, replaced by awe and wonder.

The purpose of the climb was to access areas off-trail and record botanical species in different natural communities - the canopy and understory trees, shrubs, and plants in the herbaceous layer - as well as terrain features, soil conditions, and any signs of human disturbance. This was one of my first experiences as a conservation aide in the summer of 2011, and one against which subsequent hikes were compared... "Was it as strenuous or take as long as Mt. Abraham?"

White Wake Up Call

Last weekend, while it was still officially October, we were treated to a heavy, wet blanket of fresh snow. In preparation, and not knowing how long the first dumping of white stuff might last, I raked the yard with furious intention so that, in case the snow never melted again until spring, the yard would at least be tidy and easier to deal with in April. Note in the photo above that the oaks STILL HAD A LOT OF LEAVES!
Under no false assumptions that my labors wouldn't need repeating, I simply enjoyed the task - even as more leaves drifted downward on gentle breezes, even as the cleared green lawn became sprinkled with gold and russet, even as the snow clouds and dark of night approached. It took all of Friday afternoon and the entire day on Saturday but I managed to rake the entire lawn. And then it snowed.

And the oaks continued to drop their leaves onto the fresh snow. I have to admit this occurs to me like Mother Nature's had a great big party with leaf-confetti while I slumber away the night-time hours. It took a few days for the snow to start melting, but it finally did, leaving the lawn beautifully decorated and in need of another rake-up. Over the past few days I've gathered my rake and gloves, wheelbarrow and basket, and either a morning cup of coffee or an afternoon gin-n-tonic.

With the bulk of the leaves already removed, these rakings have been even more enjoyable: gentle winds dry out the leaves, making them fluffy and light and easily swept toward their respective dumping areas; a little more time is spent in the perennial bed where the leaves get hand-picked from stiff, dense thickets of stems and stalks; standing in warm sunshine while cool air brushes my cheeks provides momentary refreshment before continuing the task.

The October snowstorm was a wake-up call to get the outdoor chores completed - and raking the leaves wasn't the only thing on the list here. Richard cleaned the chimneys , the brought in the rest of the firewood , turned off the outside faucets to prevent freeze damage, and readied the snowblowers and shovels for what lies ahead. I've taken out the winter & holiday CD collection for the next snowstorm!

Carrot cake anyone?

Carrots! We still have quite a few carrots in the garden and, even though the deer have eaten off the lacy green tops, the veggies are storing themselves nicely beneath the soil so we just go pick them fresh whenever we want them. We've enjoyed them in chicken stew, coq au vin, and beef pot roast - and occasionally just on their own with a little bit of brown sugar and butter. Yesterday I got my mind (and taste buds) wrapped around the idea of fresh carrot cake. I found a recipe in my dog-eared food-stained much-loved-and used Fannie Farmer cookbook, but I didn't have exactly the called-for ingredients so, as I often do, I improvised. Oh, what a carrot cake!
The cake is very moist thanks to a good basic recipe, and to adding applesauce. I put the carrots through the food processor instead of grating them by hand which was a) much easier and b) created small chunks of orange to highlight the key ingredient. More color and texture was achieved by adding some dried cranberries, coconut, and finely chopped walnuts. Then, instead of topping the cake with a typical cream cheese frosting, the recipe suggested glazing the top of the warm loaf with honeyed butter - I definitely recommend this because the flavor and texture of the cake itself really shone through without the distraction of creamy sweetness. I know I'll be making this recipe again and again... if I can only remember how much of each "extra" ingredient I added!

Field Notes

This is how I spent a good portion of the past five-month internship as a MNAP conservation aide: hiking into natural areas and recording things like plant species, soil conditions, terrain and topography, and any signs of animal use of the habitat. It was an amazing hands-on experience. There's another component to assessing natural areas, though - somehow it all has to be documented in some useful manner. So that's how I spent the rest of my work time - filling out field forms, creating maps with GIS, updating databases, and reviewing photographs. Once home at the end of the day, my backpack got emptied and the plant specimens pressed (most of them anyway), photos downloaded onto the computer, and GPS points transferred from the Garmin.
The internship is over now and I'm searching for the next great job, one that will pay enough to keep up with the school loan payments, purchase some fuel to see the grandkids & kids, buy a plane ticket to Colorado, and contribute to our regular household expenses. Just as important, a job that will challenge and further build my botany skills.
The job search began a month or so ago. Relatively few postitions and limited experience seems to be the biggest obstacles to finding an entry level job as a botanist, naturalist, or ecologist. Hopefully I'll hear back soon about one of the many applications I've submitted. Until then, I have a stack of dried pressed plants and a computer file of photographs on my desk and there are still a lot of trails and natural areas to explore!

Great Waas Island

It's been a great summer working as a conservation aide - from the St. John River to coastal saltmarshes, from downeast wetlands to the western Maine mountains. The field season has come to a close and the internship over, but there are lots of places I still haven't seen. Great Waas Island was one of those places until last weekend when Richard and I devoted an entire day to getting there including a 3 1/2 hour drive each way and another 3 1/2 hours to walk the 5.5 miles of trails maintained by the Nature Conservancy. The jack pine woodland, views of the heath, boardwalks through wet woodlands, and the rugged ledges along the shore were all the more beautiful under the pure blue sky of a lovely late October day.

Palmetto Bug Stomp

Not Palmetto bugs, I know, but lovely insects collected from our forest floor nonetheless. I'm taking an Entomology class this fall after much contemplation - not about the schedule or the work load (I've had this professor before and I'm prepared for the demands of field work and report writing). I'm more concerned about my somewhat natural dread of handling insects. Eeew!
This club-antennaed spider, above, is fascinating to look at, especially knowing that I haven't had to touch it once. The pit-traps set about our forest floor in hopes of catching Spotted Salamanders have proven useful for collecting a host of interesting insects instead, like this one. While I don't know the genus/species, I think it's a warrior of some kind evidenced by its lack of one leg.

This one is a carrion beetle - Nicrophorus species- which group and encircle a dead creature on the ground, digging underneath it to eventually bury it. Eggs are laid in the flesh of the dead and larvae soon emerge, so I understand. Pretty sure I don't want to witness that, but the adults are quite strikingly beautiful.

In spite of not loving insects, I have a hard time inflicting pain and death upon them and have thus been less than enthusiastic or successful at serious collecting. The kill-jar technique seems to leave the insects sweaty and the scratching heard as they paw at zip-lock bags creeps me out. Also, it's easy enough to get good photos of crawlers like those above, but fliers are going to be a problem. The reality is, there's this class that requires collecting, identifying, and storing of insects. Somewhere I read about using vials so I looked online and found these, ordered them, and am anxiously awaiting their arrival.

And the Entomology professor sustained an injury to his eardrum while diving and has canceled class for today - a brief reprieve during which I can bolster my confidence and numb my fears of insects so I don't go stomping them to oblivion for the next few months!

Palmetto Bug Stomp is a tune from the Reckless Reel.

The Birches

White Birch limbs and branches are dropping as the trees grow weary from warm weather. The white color of the bark helps reflect heat much the way light-colored clothing helps us humans manage temperatures while the lenticels, small dark horizontal slits, act to ventilate the inner tree. But there's only so much temperature control possible in a tree, and the White Birches are beginning to show the stress by dropping branches and dying from decay.

White Birch has historically been used for birch bark canoes made by Native Americans, but the white man has depicted the waterproof craft inside out. The tawny inner bark is the part that has a waxy coating that keeps water from seeping through - the loose outer white bark has no such quality and is more easily water-logged which is an important consideration if anyone decides to build such a canoe.

Greener Pastures

Earlier in the summer I participated in a landscape ecology retreat at Medomak Camps - "Reading the Landscape" led by Antioch College's Tom Wessels who has also authored several books including "Reading the Forested Landscape", "The Granite Landscape", and "The Myth of Progress" which are informational and interesting reads for anyone interested in historical evolution of natural landscapes. As I walked through our woods checking pit traps for Spotted Salamanders, I took time to look around and note physical elements that help interpret changes to our own back yard.

This old stump, one of several on this knoll now covered with a thick copse of Red Maple, decayed from the outside, leaving the inner heartwood standing in the middle which indicates it was probably a coniferous tree and very likely a White Pine since there are so many standing on the property today. Unlike pine, hemlock bark has a lot of tannin which makes it rot resistant so it's inside rots first to leave a hollow tube-like structure.

The forest floor is gently lumpy, if that makes any visual sense in your mind, and there are numerous narrow-width stone walls constructed of large rocks. These two features, combined, possibly indicate pasture usage many years ago. As tracts of land were cleared to host sheep and later cattle, large rocks were hauled to the perimeter and built into stone walls to keep the animals in their enclosure or out of nearby crop-fields. Stone walls around crop fields would be built wider and often, as the field got plowed year after year, the smaller rocks that popped up as the result of freeze-thaw cycles would be gathered and tossed on top of or into the middle of the wide perimeter fence. Our stone walls are single course with no small "crop" stones. Natural forests develop characteristic pillows and cradles where trees topple in the wind or fall from decay to leave mounds of organic matter and depressions where stumps pull out of the soil. Pastured woodlands even out over time as the soil is continually tamped by hooves much like the forest around our house.

It's hard to imagine green pastures where the mature mixed forest covers a thick brown mat of leaf litter and woody debris that along with gentle slopes and loose soil provide hospitable habitat for Spotted Salamanders. Though the salamanders use our forested pools to breed in the spring, none have found their way into the pit traps this summer but I keep checking, every morning, to see what insects or other creatures have dropped by to visit - and I look up and around every now and then to enjoy the natural history that surrounds us and our little house in the woods.

Greener Pastures is a tune from the "Reckless Reel" book of tunes by Larry Unger.

Seasons

August has merrily rolled itself along until I realize it's past the half-way mark toward September and another school year. As a gentle reminder, I found this maple leaf lying in the middle of our dirt road a week or so ago - letting me know it's time to finish up summer projects and make room on my desk for serious work that lies ahead. I'm sure it's no coincidence nature's warning colors are the same as those chosen by man.

A Healthy Kind Lunch

I love food - I love eating it for the taste and texture, and for the nourishment - I love cooking it and serving it for the endless flavor and color combinations. I like dressing the table and making a big deal of food. While in Colorado, I watched "Our Daily Bread" and read the beginning of Erin's cookbook about the Kind diet... inspiration to eat healthy and at the same time be kind to animals and to the planet.
Then I got on the plane and ate a micro-waved cheeseburger and iceberg lettuce salad... and got home and snacked on Cheese-Its and ate hamburger... and had the grandkids over and made them french fries (in olive oil, but still...). Today I had a better start - yoghurt, granola, and fruit for breakfast - this lovely salad and homemade pesto pasta for lunch - lots of water. Much healthier and I think I can feel peace and kindness working its way through my soul :)

Summer-time, summer-time, sum-sum-summer-time...

Official start of my summer vacation ... a trip to Colorado was the perfect segue from spring semester classes and finals to a couple months of open schedule and few responsibilities. Here's a photo of me and Bryan stopping for a break along the river in Wild Basin.

Got the lawn mowed and my desk cleaned off in time for a nice visit from Jen, Avery, and Paige. Here are the kids watching the Wood Frog tadpoles - we're still waiting for them to morph into little frogs.

My SUMMER PLAN is to sketch and take photos, and write about some things. This is a good start!

Celery

I've heard that if we all start unplugging our cell phone chargers and other similarly low-electrical use devices we could, as a group, make a difference in the world's eco-future. I'm all for energy conservation and reducing my carbon footprint wherever it makes sense, and I like to think I model some strategies that others can use. As far as saving the world by keeping cell phone chargers unplugged, I think it's like trying to gain weight by eating celery.
I used a Kill-A-Watt meter on a bunch of devices and small appliances one weekend - including the cell phone charger, my Sonicare toothbrush charger, and a recharging flashlight charger. None of these things registered any electrical use. I plugged the cell phone charger AND the Sonicare charger into a power strip and put that into the Kill-A-Watt meter and left it on for over 2 hours... still no registered use.
I know that these things use electricity - I mean, they have to be plugged in to operate. But the amount of electricity is so small, changing my behavior in relation to them doesn't seem to be worth the effort. It would be like trying to gain weight by eating celery... lots and lots of celery. I could eat celery every day for weeks and not gain an appreciable amount of weight.
I guess what I'm thinking is, there are bigger fish to fry in the ecological future of the world and trying to get people on board with taking their chargers out of the sockets doesn't seem like it's going to make much of a difference. Some things that can make a pretty big difference with a minimal investment include:
Leave a vehicle parked for a day or two each week by coordinating trips
Hang laundry on a clothesline or use an indoor clothes rack instead of using the dryer
Turn off the coffee maker after it's done brewing and use an insulated carafe
We have a long ways to go in our house to really be more efficient and get our carbon footprint smaller. To be honest, I don't leave the cell phone charger and other things plugged in simply because I don't like all the clutter, not because of the less than zero amount of electricity they use.

Vernal Pool Survey

Ice Cream Fridae

I spent the best part of the day on Friday hanging out with Jen, Avery, & Paige. We had talked about going to the beach or doing something special but decided to stay inside (good beach day for ducks, not people). It was a good decision. We read books, played games, and watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (yes, I sang along). I brought Miss Paige a doll stroller that she instantly fell in love with, and Avery & I read a book about Babe Ruth- and both learned a lot about this baseball legend. After lunch, we declared it an ice-cream-party day (I brought lots of fixins) and each assembled the sundae of our choice. It was a wonderful day. If I were a really good gramma I would have taken photos instead of borrowing this one from agape-cafe.net, instead I spent all my time soaking in smiles, words, Avery-isms, and Paige-xpressions. I'll try to do better on the photos next time!

The Newest Addition...

Meet one of the newest additions to the Green gardens - one of 70 or so Latham raspberry plants donated by my mom & dad. We spent a good part of a recent weekend pulling rocks and stumps, tilling the soil to reveal more rocks and roots to pull, and tilling again with the little Mantis to find yet more rocks and roots. The result is a nice plot for a berry garden.
My dad had postponed tilling the path between his raspberries until we got over there to pull up the new shoots (thank you dad). Saturday morning we dug enough to fill a large bucket, and spent the afternoon setting them into the soil (pulling, yes, more rocks and roots). We'll be adding posts and wire supports next.
Thankfully, we are receiving a good amount of rain that is soaking into the soil. It looks like all the plants have recovered from the shock of moving... just a few wilty leaves on a few plants. So, we have two double rows of plants which will have posts and wire supports set soon. And there is still room in the new garden - we'll try transplanting a few wild blackberries, wild blueberries, and wild strawberries, attempting to cultivate them somewhat. These will quite likely never produce giant fruit like the nursery grown varieties, but they will hopefully produce some very delicious berries that have a wilder sweetness.

Japanese Beetles

'Tis the season for Japanese beetles. I'd been planning on picking up a fresh bag and new bait for the trap, but haven't made the trip to the store yet. Earlier in the week I picked some irises, lilies, and yarrow from the garden for a table bouquet, after carefully checking for beetles and finding none. This morning, as I walked by the garden, I realized they were here. I'm not sure if I could smell the beetles, or if it was the sweet smell of the irises, but my senses were alerted. It didn't take more than a glance to see the invaders. I'd even made some pepper water last night, thinking I'd probably need it soon- good timing! I sprayed the flowers, and started picking off the infested blooms until I realized there were SO MANY. What to do?

I came inside, poured another cup of coffee, and got online. I read nothing about red pepper water (my own concoction that I've used with success in the vegetable garden) but I did find out that soap water can be an effective deterrent. I also found out that the traps are controversial. They do trap the beetles, but the pheromones actually attract beetles to the area so you might get more than just the resident beetles. I also read that the beetles are pretty much around all the time at different stages of their life cycle.

The adults come out early to mid-June around here and have particular preferences of flowers and plants. Females will leave the blooms and make their way down to the soil where they lay their eggs before returning to the blossoms and leaves where they munch away, skeletonizing the leaves, leaving only the veins. They repeat this through the summer and sometimes lay as many as 60 eggs or so. When the eggs hatch, they go through several instars (cycles), including a little white grub worm stage. These become more evident late summer and you can dig up small patches of sod to see if they're there. They stay in the soil all year, sometimes taking two years to complete their full life cycle depending on the climate conditions.

So, my garden has been soaped because I decided against getting the traps set up. There is a bacteria that is effective, but it is costly and takes 3-5 years to completely manage the Japanese beetle population- you never really get rid of them, only manage them. Their northern range runs through central Maine, so right now they aren't as bad as they are in other areas. A close inspection of my mom's irises this morning revealed none and she's just 5 miles from us. Diligent attention to the garden might keep them under some level of control this year, we hope.

In other news, we put in over 70 raspberry plants in the new berry garden! It's nice to have some time to spend around the yard this summer.