Great Island - October 2010

We sit, resting on the beach of Great Island, after walking slowly and quietly through the dune woodlands of oak and pine. The sandy forest floor holds a blend of lichens, moss and uva ursi, cushioned with gold-brown pine needles and fallen dry oak leaves. We feel autumn’s dryness underfoot as we wander, several yards apart, seeking edible mushrooms, hoping to find King Bolete aka Boletus edulis. Noted as “Choice” in our mushroom handbook, we remember last year’s harvest when we discovered this mushroom to be delicious, sweet and tasting of earth, sand and pine.

So many other species of mushrooms dot the ground, some pushing up bunches of pine needles, still others melting into the soil. Though the number of tree species is few, basically oaks and pines, there is a richness here, a diversity of easily recognized plants and fungi along with a few shy plants, including spotted wintergreen and round leaf pyrola. We recognize beds of reindeer lichen, a lone bayberry shrub and wee pink flowers on slender stalks that I cannot name.

The sunlight plays on the branches and under our feet; it fills the space around the trunks, branches and needles of the pines. It shifts and highlights, glows and caresses each plant and tree. As we wander I feel surrounded by the light, immersed in its clarity and its dreamy quality.

The sounds of wind in the trees, the waves beyond the dunes, and busy nuthatches short, quick cranking tones blend with the crunch of pine needles and dried lichen underfoot. Our senses are caressed, filled, heightened, and we feel one with this place. We do find three King Boletes, marveling over each one- noting the similarities and the differences in color, size and overall appearance- delighted to find these edible treasures. We will soon be savoring the fragrance as they cook, the flavor rich as we taste each morsel, taking in the wildness of the land, the light and sounds, all the richness of the woodlands~ knowing we are in the land and the land is in us…

The rains that fall, the morning dew and evening fog…the onshore wind, the clear light, the acid, sandy soil, the calls of seagulls…the elements woven into seashore magic!

Autumn Blessings,

Kate

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