WriterByNature.com

May 26, 2009 5:18 am

Everyone I know is facing some sort of quality of life crisis and I’m no exception. I find it helpful to sort out my thoughts when I can go for a long hike.

The issues I have to resolve have kept me from spending more time in the woods, but most of the nice weather is still ahead of me. So much of what happens is how you deal with things.

I just made a series of decisions that I would have made differently if I had chosen to spend more time hiking. We all lose perspective from time to time. (more…)

May 18, 2009 3:36 pm

I’m delighted that one of my fellow CSA members at Harmony Farm has joined me in eating the rhizomes and roots of the thistles we are weeding to make room for the cultivated vegetables.

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May 10, 2009 2:53 pm

When I hear a Wood Thrush sing for the first time each season, it’s a moment of pure joy. This has been a remarkable year. I not only got to hear a few stanzas, I got more than a glimpse.  I’d love to have gotten closer, but I’ll take what I can get:

This was on a hike in the woods.

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May 5, 2009 6:30 pm

It’s one thing to have enough morels for a meal or two – it’s quite another to have more than you can consume in a day or two.

The options are cook them and freeze them or dry them. I have not tried dusting them with flour and freezing them, but I heard it has been tried.

Here is how I dry my morels:

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May 3, 2009 6:54 pm

These choice edibles are delicious. I’ve seen rational people go into a frenzy at the mere sight of them.

I was truly blessed today.

On the East Coast it is rare to find them in abundance. It’s usually one here and one there.

I am grateful. What more can I say?

May 1, 2009 9:16 pm

It’s very odd to be wandering through an urban park, like New York’s Central Park and see more wildlife in a few minutes than I typically see on my usual Hudson Valley hikes.

I first thought this was a cat stalking the migrating birds, but a closer look revealed a raccoon on the way home from a night’s foraging:

As I worked on identifying migrating warblers, I was totally surprised to find that not only squirrels, but cardinals, robins, and even house sparrows would approach anyone with binoculars, expecting seeds.

You just don’t see that in a typical wilderness situation. (more…)