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...

Unplugged

My day started out with a pre dawn hike with Charlie to the ridge. I guess it really was just a walk as we weren't in much of a hurry. Charlie sniffed around and I walked across the crop land hoping for a colorful and blazing sunrise.

Well that didn't happen, but listening to the birds and watching the deer run across the unplowed land was just fine.

We went by the little tree and just watched for quite a while.

I was pretty grumpy and felt ornery and tired so I thought a walk would do me good. I wanted to cancel my gym class but decided to do it anyway. I had to get groceries in town, so I may as well suffer through a class.

I left my phone at home and was surprised at how I didn't miss it at all. No little dings letting me know that there was news, or email, or whatever.

CF put me in a good mood as did the sunshine. Between CF class and Mobility, I took off on a jog/run. Last week we had a run/jog WOD which I enjoyed immensely. I hadn't jogged in two years and I found my rhythm as if it had never left.

After lunch Charlie and I went looking for leeks in the woods and we found some above the creek. Yum! Looks like forest food is coming up! I picked some newly emerged nettles for tea and greens for supper.

Before heading back to the house, I sat on a mossy log and listened to the creek. In the past two years, it has been so dry here that this part of the creek was nearly dry and silent. I watched water bugs and listened to the creek music. 

10 second video of creek sounds and a woodpecker marking his/her territory.

Things are still without color mostly in the woods, but with this warm weather the plants will get a jump start.

Late afternoon I found my phone and discovered texts and emails. One was from our grand daughter Ariel. She is coming to visit us on her own, was that okay?

Another was from Olive. She wanted me to meet the new addition to her family. Gertrude or Gerti. She had Monday and Tuesday off, could we get together?

Being unplugged is nice, except when you miss something! I took care of the messages and brought the skid steer out of the shed and parked it next to the house running...

I told hubby that he needed to clean up the gravel pile that Frank had left and fill in the dip in the driveway as his granddaughter was coming to see him for his birthday. 

Wow! He got out! 
I'll be washing his skid steer today and making him strawberry shortcake for his birthday. I need to run to town to get Almond Milk for Ariel with a couple of other foods for her special diet needs.

I hope we get to meet Gerti too! Olive texted that she thought Gerti and Charlie would get along just great. So I am assuming she has a new dog!

Guess I'll plug back in.

At least I got rid of the Grumpies....

People waved & other things

On Sunday morning I was at the grocery store just after 7am. Our town is not large. The town itself has a population of about 4 thousand.

We have a hospital and clinic, a main street, a Walmart, a regular grocery store, and a Food Co-op.

I thought I'd shop early and not have to deal with crowds. This store does have Senior Shopping. Two weeks ago I did this too and found that it is a perfect time to go. Sunday at 7am. Even better, if it is raining. No one likes to shop early or shop when it is raining.

There were about 3 other customers in the store. 2 wore masks. I wore the one I had done instantly with a bandanna and hair ties. I felt awkward at first and then I got down to business.
The store was well stocked and I got potatoes! And Sweet Potatoes! The lettuce looked as though it had been a bit abused, but I got some anyway.

I thought I'd grab a pizza for one of those nights, a quick supper after working all day cleaning up pasture.

Was I ever surprised!
I purchased two pizzas for 'emergency' suppers when I didn't want to cook.

I filled the back end of my Subaru.

That job was done. I got home and unloaded/washed the items, the car, hands, and did my due diligence in making sure I didn't bring home any nasties.

Then I had coffee with Rich. I looked up our hardware store to see if they had updated their shopping to online. They closed two weeks ago but people can call in and order for pick up. They supply feed and agricultural items too so they are essential in our area.
To my surprise, the site was up and running. So I ordered some Pasture Pro to help combat the invasion of Burdock, a garden fork [our old one broke and the cost of a new handle to fix it was the same as purchasing a new one...since I am not handy at repairs, I got a new fork], and some seed.

The site said that my order would be ready in 3 hrs and 10 minutes later I got a text to pick up. On my drive back into town I saw couples out walking hand in hand, or parents with their children, or people with their dogs, all walking on our sunny nice morning.
Suffice to say also, there was almost no traffic on the road.

Everyone I passed waved. I waved back. Their smiles were real and these were people out enjoying a morning stroll. No one was walking with their heads down staring at their smart phones. It was almost odd in a way.

~~~~~
I went for a hike in the afternoon. I took the .22 that Rich had with a scope to do some target practicing. I love the discipline it takes to shoot a distant target. I did joke about shooting squirrels for supper and we had a long conversation about that. Rich had to shoot squirrels to supplement his family's dinner table. I recall my mother saying the same thing.

See that orange blob? That is the target and it had a piece of black tape in the center. That was what I was aiming for. I settled in at the school desk and took my time. Two shots on the tape, three shots next to the tape on each side. I could do it. However the rifle is too large and heavy for me, even though I am accurate with it.
I took the time to clean and oil it before I put it back in its case. I got out Rich's father's bolt action squirrel rifle and cleaned and oiled that as well. It was something that Rich and I could do together. He directed me [I know how to clean a rifle...but it was important to get him interested in doing something!]
The rifle is a Mosseberg Model B .22.

I looked this model up and it was made from 1930-1932. Apparently these are worth something I guess but usually never found in very good shape. Not so with this little rifle. It is in excellent shape.
It is perfectly sized for a small person and it is open sited, which I like better for a few reasons.

Well.
Wasn't that exciting?

Lastly, I hiked up to the top of the ridge and stopped at the leek patch.

I dug up a bunch of the larger ones to take home and dehydrate.

I washed them in the creek before heading home.

One interesting thing I spotted in the woods!
A green stink bug!
I wished Allison could have been with me, but with Isolation and Social Distancing as the new normal, she and I haven't been able to go 'bugging' at all.

Be well.
Stay safe.

Foraging again in the rain

My Grandfather Fred used to say silly things like. "It's raining, let's have a picnic!"

As a kid I thought he was crazy. Who wanted to be out in the rain?
Right?

He'd follow up that comment with an explanation.
"You can't farm in the rain, you can't work in the garden in the rain, so what else is there to do? Why a picnic of course!"

It usually meant that we'd pack up in mom's station wagon and go visiting to other farms and relatives. It was always a mystery to me that we'd show up somewhere and the grown ups would gather around the kitchen table and talk while the kids went into another room to play.

However now that I am the grown up and I see rain coming down. I put on rain-gear and go for a walk.
My husband looks at me as though I've grown two heads and a third eye ball.
"Walk in the rain, are you nuts?"

Oh well. Not really.
"I can't dig in the garden, or do much else," I reply. "I may as well go looking for parsnips and leeks!"

And off I go into a very light rain.

I find parsnips at 'The Beach' easy to pull. I like keeping them out of a section of the neighbor's creek so that we don't have to deal with parsnip burns if the kids come down to wade and play in the creek later on in the year.
Besides, they are good to eat.

The leek patch needs a bit of thinning out so they have room to grow larger. Leeks come up, and after they wilt, disappear into the ground until next spring. They have a nice light onion flavor to them and go well with sauteed parsnips.

 Note the plastic bag over the camera. It is a plastic sleeve often used as a vet sleeve...
It covers the camera quite nicely and keeps it from getting wet.

I made my way back home and stopped to look admire the Mayflowers in the rain.

It may even have been fun to find an overhang of rocks to sit under and enjoy a picnic.

Don't you think?

Free Food!

The past several days have been rainy and gloomy, but this morning the sun came out!
So with some time on my hands, I'm going to go foraging for some free food.

The stinging nettles pictured above are helping themselves to my veggie garden spot. I've always battled these plants in the garden. But in early spring they are very tasty. Once steamed they have absolutely no sting. Nettle Tea is supposed to be very good for you.
I won't go into all the health benefits, most people will turn their noses up at Nettle Tea.

Nettles as fresh veggies are another great spring benefit. Once cooked or steamed you can eat them with a dab of butter. Don't think of them as nasty weeds, think of them as free food.

I like digging up leeks or wild ramps too. They are a wild onion. I'm going to dehydrate the extras this year to use in soups and stews this winter.

And today I'm going to wander around in the creek bottom and search for wild parsnips.

These are those nasty plants that cause burns when they are flowering.

Of course there is another free food that will come with the nice spring weather but Morel Mushrooms won't be out for at least a month or so yet.

Lamb's Quarters will show up around my birthday and I can't wait for a taste of those either.

Foraging is a lot of fun and if you know what you are doing, you can get grab some free food along with your exercise!

Spring has arrived

Well at least it has on the calendar.

I finished getting the sheets hung out on the line and thought about my Still Life project that I'd been working on.  

The house was put in order, supper was already partially prepared and the chores had been done.

It was a toss up.  I could groom a muddy mule, or I could go hiking.  Morris knew what my choice was immediately.  He began to do his circling thing and then poke me with his nose.  
With all the rain we'd had the poor old guy hadn't been out much.  And a Jack Russell needs to burn off energy.

I did too as I chose the hiking over the riding.  I was fairly surprised at how dry it actually was in the woods.  I thought I'd encounter mud slick trails.  
I'm not sure that is a good thing.  March should be a bit soggier than this.

Morris and I hiked the 'high' trial which takes us around just below the ridge.  It is sort of like walking on the edge of a bowl.  The valley was below us and the ridge above us.

We crossed dry runs and downed trees.  At times we lost the deer trail, but would find another one. 

By mid summer these woods will be hard to get through. The undergrowth will be thick and nearly impossible to navigate.
There is a 4 wheeler trail that relatives drive on when they come to camp on the land.  But other than that, the woods and the valleys are slowly getting choked with willows and prickly ash.


When Mike had cattle on the land, it was a pleasure to hike the cow trails and wander under the large canopies.  Since he died and his brothers took it over, it has gone to the wayside.

Fences have fallen and in order to bring it back to pasture condition, it would take quite a bit of work and money.
I still maintain a few deer/hiking trails that I can also ride on.  It is hard work though keeping it clear in the warm months.
Maybe this is why I like fall and winter so much.

We looked but didn't find any antler sheds nor any intriguing mushrooms growing yet.  However the moss was quite lovely in spots where it grew on rock formations.

More climbing...dog on a log.

We saw some deer and heard a red tail hawk.  The chickadees were singing as were the cardinals.

I could see buds on the the briers and other plants with sharp pointy ends.  How is that for a technical term?  Okay, the barberries, multi flora rose, black berries, gooseberries, and probably some other pointy sharp plant that I am forgetting, ...are all getting buds.

I keep hand nippers in my pocket for times I want to get through a rough patch and have no other choice but to chop my way to where I want to go.

We eventually left the area where the rock outcroppings were and dropped down into the valley.
Morris took off running up the creek.  
After 11 years of hiking with me he is pretty good at also telling when we are heading home.

He and I took the creek bed which is by far the easiest for walking.

We eventually get to our portion of the creek where it is dry.  
Water runs on both ends of this dry bed, so I imagine it goes somewhere underneath us.

We stopped at the odd little pond.  And it was very peaceful.  

I wanted to sit and relax a while near it, but then remembered that I still intended to rake rocks out of the yard and back onto the driveway.

I quickly climbed the bank to take a peek in case the wild leeks were poking up through...
and....

...there they were!

That means I should be able to find Blood Roots soon!  

I do love this time of Spring when things begin to appear on the floor of the forest.

Foraging for Fresh Veggies

I wondered how long it would take me to find enough fresh food in the woods.  I had some Wild Parsnips in mind.  I wanted to stir fry them up with some Ramps ... also known as Leeks.

So Morris and I took off with a shovel and a couple of plastic bags.

Morris was very pleased to be able to get out and run.  He'd suffered too many days of staying in the house.  In fact one of those days he simply acted as if he were very depressed.

It was good to see him run happily around!

When things begin to get hectic around here, Morris will be going on vacation at a couple of different places.  He will go stay with my ex boss and his wife for a bit.  That means he'll be able to hang out at the Chiropractic Office and greet patients as he used to when he was younger.

Other arrangements include visiting with his beloved 'kids'.

Anyway, off we went in a hurry.  We were going to go pick up our new ride later in LaCrosse so I wanted to hustle and get some very fresh natural wild ... food!

I laid a 'picked' parsnip next to one that was still in the ground.  Doesn't look like much does it?  
Well when the Wild Parsnip which is an invasive species is in full bloom, they are nasty wicked plants.
In the spring, they are tasty wild morsels when cooked up right!

After gathering enough for a meal, rinsed the dirt off from them and broke off the tops.  I stuffed them in a bag and headed off to the patch of Leeks.

I took a quick glance around the creek bottom area.  There were a lot of deer tracks in the mud mixed in with some raccoon.  I saw no sign of coyotes.

I was pretty warm by the time I climbed into the Leek Patch.  
A few weeks ago they were just emerging.

Now it was a full fledged patch.

I climbed up the steep bank using the shovel as a walking stick.  Then I set to work.

I stuffed those in a bag and checked my watch.  I had to get home and walk up hubby from his nap so we could get a move on.

Of course, I did get sidetracked by the 'Pinks'.  I think the proper name is Spring Beauties or perhaps 'Virginia Pinks' which is their official name.

These are incredibly small and hard to notice if you really aren't looking for them.  But once you find a patch, it is incredible and awe inspiring.

I made it home with some time to spare.

I'd found fresh wild vegetables in the woods, rejoiced at finding Virginia Pinks, and delighted in finding several patches of Mayflowers coming up.

I didn't have time to seek out the trillium I'd found the other day to see if it was going to open or not.

That would have to wait at least two more days.

We'll be travelling for appointments today and tomorrow I'm busy with deliveries and my own doctor checkup.

But spring is here finally.
Which means I will go Morel hunting soon.

Even if I don't find them, it is fun to look.