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Found Chestnuts!
Hiking Again After two weeks with only one hike, I was finally out hitting the trail! Yesterday the sun was out in a beautiful, brilliant way, cheering all the mountains and me! Today, mostly clouds blued the atmosphere but not my mood. Hiking two days in a row. So much like things should be! American…
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Berries – For The Birds
Open Season For Dogwood Berries Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, is perhaps at its high point in popularity at this time of year. As I watch out my kitchen window this rainy afternoon, in just a matter of perhaps five minutes, I see three tufted titmice, a pair of cardinals and a sprightly squirrel all gobbling down their…
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Thinking About Maples And Syrup
Sweet Memories Vermont and a telescope making conference, Stellafane, used to draw me to the land of black and white cows, Ben and Jerry’s, Sugar Maples, and maple syrup. I went up there for Stellafane for nearly 20 years straight. It was an education. An education in telescope making and astronomy in general, an education in…
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Sap Wells
Dots Dots Dots Ever notice lines in the tree bark? Lines of little dots, little holes, made in thoughtfully placed rows? A Message? These rows of dots, look to me like someone is trying to tell me something. Or that someone has a brand new drill and has to try it out, decorate something with…
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Treasures In The Woods
A Special Corner This is a special bend in the road on my hike up the mountain. Here I find fun mushrooms and cool little lichens that could be the center of an elf village. But the real treasure for me, is the sprouts of American Chestnuts that are just up the slope at this…
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Nothing But Blue Skies
Perfection! The days recently have been absolutely yummy. Blue skies, low humidity – perfect for hiking during the day and wonderful for sleeping at night. It’s been a dream, being able to hike up my mountain and watch as the leaves change from their summer blue-greens to their autumn tones of chartreuse, lemon, lime, golds,…
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Oh Deer
Oh Deer! What To Do? There is nothing more heart warming than seeing a white-tailed deer in your yard. Unless of course you see too many deer, night after night, eating the vegetables in your garden. For those of us who do not have gardens and enjoy seeing the deer, we must remember that feeding…
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Chestnuts And Success
A Harvest Better Than Expected My day was off to an excellent start. This spring, using pollen that had been collected from trees at the American Chestnut Foundation‘s research farm in Meadowview, Virginia, a tree that we call VA0333, The Rosebrook Tree, was for the third year in the row pollinated. This was at the…
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Cicadas And American Chestnuts
We Won’t Soon Forget Those of us who just came through the summer, with Brood II of the Periodical Cicadas, are still seeing flagged trees. Tomorrow I will find out the results of pollinating American Chestnuts this spring. A friend and I did the pollination at the height of the Cicada invasion. Slits in some…
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Welcome Autumn!
Let The Season Begin! Autumn started this afternoon! Yay! I love to experience the seasons — each and every one — all four, to their fullest potential! As always, autumn is starting slowly. Yes, we’ve had cooler weather, but the leaves are slow to respond and are waiting for the days to get shorter and…