Wild Crafting Season

It is the beginning of our wild crafting season. The roots of the spring tonic plants are ready. We have been digging nettle roots to tincture, wild sarsaparilla root to dig. Birds fill the forest with the music of courtship. I spend a lot of time in wild places gathering the many herbs we use in our products and I also gather some other quiet things. The experience of the forest is an opening to the many expressions of nature found in small discovery. Each new plant or animal stirs an emotional response in our inner selves. These emotions act like fuel for our spirit to keep on seeking new moments in the flow of life. I have had my most healing by being captured by simple creation happening all around me. Moments of this  quiet kind of witnessing  are the reason I have chosen the path of the naturalist.  It is now summer in the parklands and much is happening out in those woods. The elusive orchids of the park are now starting to bloom. I have found three new species in a fen we visit from time to time. Grass pink, large white fringed orchid and small white fringed orchid as pictured . The orchids have a quiet and profound presence in the forests and wetlands. Some like the pink butterfly orchid exude an  almost tropical fragrance. {pictured}. The search for orchids is always a challenge because most of the Adirondack orchids live in deep forest or remote bog and wetland settings. I have spent many hours in bogs moving slowly before seeing what was right in front of me. Today I will go searching my own local bogs to see who is around.

Take good care Don

May Woodlands

I hope tonight will be our last frost. The endless job of covering our new garden plants will soon be over. The forest is still open with the beginning of leaves on the trees. Kate and I took our son Sean to hike into the Ferris wild forest [ about 200 square miles ] on the 10th. The wild flowers slowed us down as we made our way to Good Luck Mt. This small mountain has class-12 cliffs, good for climbing and great for witnessing the stone of the earth. The cliffs are over 100 feet tall with a boulder field at the base. Where a boulder field exists, the environment for unusual plants is very good. Goldthread [ Coptis groenlandica ], both Painted Trillium and Purple Trillium, Dutchman's Breeches and Dwarf Ginseng are plentiful and in full bloom. Giant glacial boulders have small gardens of prickly gooseberry and Polypody ferns. The landscape has a feeling that giants created a woodland rock garden. The Yellow Birch trees dominate the forest with Mountain Ash, Mountain Maple, Striped Maple and White Spruce. A pair of Ravens live on the cliff face and gave us warning to give their nesting site plenty of room. The walk in this rare space gave all of us a feeling of discovery and peace both inside our own being and as a group that has walked these woods together for many years. The more time we can spend in the wild forest quietly seeking the large and the small wonders of nature, the greater our appreciation of life. Go out and enjoy.
From the Adirondacks Don

Deep Winter

The sun has risen to a clear cold sky after many days of snowy weather. Cold enough last night to freeze the snowpack so the conditions are good for chaga gathering. My son and I will be going out today on a mountain side north of us to begin the winter harvest. The deep forest of the summer opens up in the winter with the lack of foliage. The sun can shine in and the open forest reveals it’s secrets. The tracks of the forest animals will be a wonderful gift as we wonder the hillsides. Coyotes, mink, snowshoe hare, white footed mice, bobcat and porcupine will be some of the tracks we may see. It is time to pack up our woven Adirondack packs with maps, water, food and most important - a good compass. January has arrived with deep snow and some 20 below zero temperatures. This is our time for winter meditations about last year and what will come in the new year.

The new arrivals of Rose Breasted nuthatches, gold and purple finches, morning doves and a Barred owl have given our solitude a small winter family to enjoy. Coyotes and Bobcats are hunting our woods for snowshoe hares leaving their tracks to read. As the snow is falling on this Sunday afternoon I thank all that makes this life so rich and meaningful.

Don January 18 2009

Adirondack October

The middle of October and we have our first artic air moving in. The wind is sharp and it is in the single numbers at night. The deer that are 10 generations with us visit the garden nightly. Any greens will be a welcome addition to their diet. Soon we put corn out for the turkeys and grouse, jays also enjoy sweet cracked corn. Today the clouds were high, moving fast and so cold with the distant sound of geese flying south. It took me a few minutes to locate the flock, see their white wings, hear the calls and enjoy snow geese from Hudson Bay. The call of the snow geese is slightly higher in pitch but a mellow sound to my ears. Winter looks early this year in the Adirondacks.