WriterByNature.com

February 26, 2009 4:58 pm

I met former COMA president, Morrs Palmer in New York’s Chinatown yesterday. He brought a fellow mycologist Dennis Aita along. I was not expecting to find mushrooms for another two months, so the discovery of the fresh king oyster (Pleurotis eryngi) and fresh shitake (Lentinula edodes) was a treat.

The king oyster has the long stem an shallow head. The shitake is round with an incurved cap. (more…)

February 20, 2009 11:15 am

What a difference a few hours makes. Yesterday afternoon was sunny and warm, but as the sun set, the wind kicked up an icy tantrum.

The applications for this year’s CSA are in. I was looking forward to watching sun rise over the garden. Apparently nature has other ideas.

Mushroom U classes have begun. Why is lactarius a separate genus from russula? I have no idea. All I know so far is that lactarius, when bruised, exudes latex, while russula does not.

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February 7, 2009 7:31 pm

I’m not sure what to make of this encounter.

I was so busy focusing on the hawk, I don’t know what the squirrel did next, but the hawk sat there for another minute or so -  long enough for me to get a few shots like this:

The hawk flew off in the direction of the squirrel. I didn’t hear or see anything. I haven’t found any tracks that suggest the two did more than surprise each other.

Later on, I got in touch with Bird Lady and learned this  immature Cooper’s Hawk, prefers to eat birds. But how did the squirrel know that?

February 6, 2009 8:21 am

The Basic Essentials of Knots for the Outdoors by Cliff Jacobson is a book worth owning. Make sure to get the 1990 edition. There’s a later version I haven’t seen.

What makes this book stand out is that the diagrams are shown for both left-handed and right-handed orientation.  It rates with science books written by Margery Facklam . In both cases, the author is writing for school-aged readers, but the presentation is so clear, any reader new to the subject learns basic essential information.

Why is this such a big deal? I’ve been working on ways to spend time in nature, but with less disturbance to the area than constructing and breaking-down a debris hut or quinzee.  Knot-tying is essential to my next step into shelter. (more…)