Neat Ferns

Behold! 
The Cinnamon Fern!

I get excited when I see these guys as they are large and really stand out in the spring. So far in the past 28 years I've only found 3 places on our land where they come up. They like to grow near a wet area. Last year was so dry that I don't recall them coming up near our creek bottom. Or I missed this plant?

I just love how a fern comes up in a tight curl.
 

Close up of the same fern curl as above.
I've heard of people who look for these in the forest and collect the not so hairy curls to eat. They call them Fiddleheads.

I have not tried it as I'm still in the learning stage about fern plants. Plus there are not enough of these in my forest to harvest and eat.

Close up of the leaves inside the curling head of the fern. Ferns fascinate me as they have such symmetry to their leaves!

More Cinnamon Ferns found at
Duck Egg County Park
on 4 24

I found these on a south facing hillside
high above the water
but in a moist area.

The brown 'stuff' is supposed to 
be spores according to 
information on these ferns.

Another fern that I am very familiar with is the Maidenhair Fern. They are my favorite fern in the forest.

This group emerging from the forest floor 
looks like they are literally

dancing.

Maidenhair Fern, come up red
and turn green.
They spread out like a beautiful spiral
after they mature.

A mature Maidenhair Fern:

There are other ferns, but I don't know enough about them 

--> Yet <-- 

to put a name to them. But I do enjoy finding their beautiful curls in the spring and admire them through out the year.

Even in winter they add a bit of interest to the forest
Photo from the winter of 2011:

Chores are done! Yard is mowed!
And it look like I can go out again today and explore.

Who knows what we will find?

Everything Everywhere and All At Once!

 

I think Spring gets me going just like Fall does. I feel like I am missing something out in the woods...except in the opposite direction.

I want to be digging in the flower garden and creating beauty when all sorts of activity is also happening out there...in the woods, in the pastures...

Everything Everywhere and All At Once!

I save part of a day to take a walk. I have to or I'd go crazy. After chores, I generally walk up to get yesterday's mail through the neighbor's woods.

These scrubby trees have reddish green leaves opening up. I have no idea what they are but with the morning light shining through the leaves...
well, it was beautiful and worth stopping to look at.

I'm afraid that we got distracted by the buds on the trees and took the long way around to the mailbox.
I noticed that the tiny fruit tree near the road was going to flower. There are two of these trees in one place. They have evil thorns that rip and tear. No wonder no creature has eaten them in the past 20 some years. 
They have never gotten large and I really have no idea what they are.

Dogwoods near the mailbox! We finally made it there! I riot of colors is coming quickly. Can I see it all at once?

Garlic mustard. It is now everywhere. However, it has good flavor so I picked some to use in my salad for supper.

After I made lunch and arranged for a friend to pick up our 4 wheeler and give it an oil change, I headed back out to the woods. Rumor had it that someone in our part of Wisconsin had found some grey morel mushrooms.
That is my go-to excuse to get out in the woods in the spring. 

Below is one of our patches of Wild Ramps. It is huge.

There is an issue with people now going out to find them and digging these plants up and selling them. It takes years for these plants to grow. I take a few each year to eat fresh and a few to dehydrate.

I leave the rest because they are so beautiful to see in the Spring. They do flower and spread seeds which take quite a while to grow into an edible Wild Ramp.
In the photo below, they are mixed in with Mayapples and Virginia Spring Beauties.

Spring is a wonderland after months of winter.

Carpets of Spring Beauties

Woodland Lilies --
Not Lily of the Valley

Ferns of all kinds poking up...

As Charlie and I were headed home from the back part of our property, a Barred Owl flew over us and landed in a tree.
I sat down and grabbed Charlie to stick him in my lap. I suppose he could be the right size for an Owl to think of as dinner for Owlets.

We watched the owl for quite a while.

It struck me then that I'd seen this owl [or maybe one just like it] in this area last year while hunting morel mushrooms. Charlie hadn't been with me then, but I did watch the owl for quite a while. The date was March 15th of last year.

Shot from last year....

I guess I should have remembered. Charlie seems to have a good sense of when to stay close. When he hears large hawks or the twitter of an eagle, he usually scoots right between my feet.

Spring is coming on hard. We'll have warmer temps and some nice rain to get things moving along.

Meanwhile, I'm outta here to watch the forest come alive...

Finding Spring Wildflowers

Oh how I love searching for the very elusive Blood Root! In the surrounding woods they are sometimes very few and far between.
On my way to town yesterday I took a back road and a wee detour to Tainter Hollow where Tainter Creek runs through Public Hunting and Fishing Land.

When I pulled in I didn't see much to look at. I decided to get out and take a good look around.
There they were dozens and dozens of Blood Roots covering a fairly nice sized area.

I danced a little jig and got down on the ground.

The Blue Bells were just emerging in different areas and not flowering yet. Cowslip dotted the area as well.

Wild White Anemones were scattered and soon would also cover the area with their bright white little flowers.

These little flowers are smaller than a pencil eraser. If one didn't look hard for them, they would be missed.

I saw the leaves of Trout Lilies dotting the undergrowth too. I made a mental check to go back today to see if they have flowered.

The ferns are beginning to emerge also in certain parts of the forest. I hiked along the top of the hillside near the house yesterday and didn't find anything popping up until I got midway down the hill.

I don't know all of my ferns, but these were coming up. Morris and I walked around them and several mayflower plants that were just poking their tips up.

I even found a spot where Trillium leaves were coming up.

The bright green leaves belong to the Trillium plant, the other leaves in the photo are Virginia Waterleaf.

Even though the fern is not really a flower, I love finding them too.
This one is a Maidenhair Fern, I know this because in the spring time they have dark red stems.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the conventional spring garden flowers. I have daffodils and tulips beginning to flower in the yard and hostas emerging along with irises and other flowers.
But finding the wild ones seems to be my favorite thing to do.

It is always some sort of adventure finding them.

Trying to keep it together part two

Ariel and I sat in the ravine for a while enjoying the cooler air.  

Amazingly the day had really turned quite warm.  She mentioned that she was glad we started our hike so early.
It had been rather cool in the morning shadows along the creek itself but now we were in a steep rocky area and not a lot of air was moving.

Morris ran up and down the rocks and the hillside.  He'd stop every once in a while and look around the woods.

Morris stands above the rocky ravine and peers over his 'domain'.

He enjoys being out with us and even seems more overjoyed by having Ariel around.  He just loves kids.  Of course when a turkey hunter let loose with a shotgun it turned Morris into a Sticky Glue Dog.  He didn't wander very far.  Most of the time he was nearly underfoot.

The hillside was dry and proved to be quite the challenge in more than one way.  I am used to steep hill climbs.  I live in this hilly area and have done this particular hillside more than once.  It is actually a bit scarier going down than up.  

It had so many interesting distractions.  Like Hepatica.

This is mother nature's short lived little flowers, along with the Blood Root which we also found.

I was surprised that I hadn't found more, usually these are the first flowers to find in the woods.  But it had been awfully dry so far and perhaps the roots were awaiting some rain.

The walk home was fairly uneventful and we just enjoyed each others company while we walked.

After the grand kids left I felt like I'd lost my adventure 'buddy'.  It sure had been fun.

I'd promised to take care of our neighbor's dog Dexter, or as they call him 'Dex'.  Perhaps not to confuse him with the show Dexter.

We took an evening walk together to watch the sunset.  Monday was going to be busy perhaps. 

The excavator was supposed to show up along with some more folks to begin the Little House Remodel. And I had a night shift. 

But, it was nice to take some quiet time and enjoy the evening colors.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the whole remodel, dig a basement, add on .. thing.  Oh but wait, that is a whole different blog!

So many things going on at once.

I think I'll go sit with Dex and watch the woods.