August 16

It’s a sunny, warm and humid morning as Riley and me, accompanied by swarms of mosquitoes, hike the trails in Alma’s Conservation Park. Starting out on a paved path while listening to a Red Eyed Vireo, we first stop at one of the decks overlooking the Pine River.  Nearby, a Mountain Ash tree with clusters of orange berries catches my attention. The berries are tasty when cooked or dried but very bitter when eaten fresh.  However, birds love them fresh, serving as a great cold-season food as they hang on the tree, long into the winter. Heading south, I spot some white blossoms from different sources that look similar. The larger, flatter ones are from the familiar Queen Anne’s Lace, while the clustered ones are from the not-so-familiar, Boneset. Next, we pass by the native prairie, displaying blooming warm season grasses and wildflowers and then stop at the Eyer Learning Circle to check out the kiosk displays. Proceeding on a paved road, I spot a White Vervain plant with its tiny flowers. This plant is very popular in European folklore. People wore necklaces of the flowers as charms to cure headaches, prevent snake bites and bring general good luck. Turning south toward the Girl Scout Cabin, I notice some blossoms of Spanish Bluebells and Virginia Knotweed. Hiking along the south boundary, listening to a chorus of Orthopterans (Crickets, Grasshoppers, Katydids), I came upon an abandoned nest of webworms on a Walnut tree. This species is frequently confused with another web-building caterpillar. Unlike this dirty loosely-woven web, the web of the Eastern tent caterpillar appears in the spring as thickly constructed in the forks and crotches of trees (stock photo). Turning back toward the car, I pass by several patches of Pokeweed. The entire plant is poisonous to humans causing a variety of symptoms, including death in rare cases. The berries, which are especially poisonous to humans, are an important food for mockingbirds, northern cardinals and mourning doves. During the Civil War, soldiers wrote letters using the ink from pokeweed berries and the pigment is still used occasionally to dye fabrics. Pokeweed has also been a favorite staple of country cuisine since colonial times, when tender young shoots were boiled and eaten as “poke salad”. Resembling canned spinach, “Poke salad” or “Poke sallet” was once available commercially and still inspires “Poke” festivals across portions of the east coast and the Deep South. 

 

Time is now

Place is here

My dog and I

Nature is near

No chain saws

Or smoggy air

No houses in sight

Or horns that blare

A forest trail

Points the way

Nothing disturbs

But calls of a Jay

 

D. DeGraaf