{Garden}

Web 2.0

9.22.11
photos by gluttonforlife and george billard

It’s raining again, which probably means there are more mushrooms in our future. I say our future because I can’t help but share with you all my mycological finds. Cry uncle if it’s too much. In the meantime, recent walks have revealed a frenzy of weaving going on. It’s almost as if the spiders are busy luring as many insects as possible so they can chow down and put on some winter weight. Everybody’s getting ready for the cold. Their magnificent webs, beaded with dew, glitter in the early morning sunlight. Some creations remind me of those delicate Victorian chain-mail purses; others, more dense and cottony, are like hammocks for fairies, strung between two plant stalks. And if you’re lucky enough to find a spider at work, stop and watch. Their skill and dexterity is truly inspiring.

 

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{Garden}

Creature Feature: Flying Colors

7.21.11
photos by gluttonforlife

The garden is literally teeming with life. This is the time of year when I must be diligent about going out every few hours to pick the Japanese beetles off the plants. One year they decimated the yellow dogwood in what seemed like one day. Now I watch for them as soon as true summer hits, and I am ruthless in my pursuit of these shiny winged creatures. They’re not the only ones cluttering up our airspace. The bees can’t seem to get enough of the honeysuckle that lines our front path, and they also love the wild raspberry flowers and the bee balm, naturally. So distracted is everyone by the intoxicating pollens and nectars around, that I was able to get close enough to snap a few portraits. (If you’re a subscriber and got a weird “Test Post” email today, my apologies. We’re trying to fix a few glitches on here and it’s a little frustrating. Bear with me!)

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{Garden}

Creature Feature: Snap To It

6.9.11
photos by george billard

It’s been quite a while since I’ve shared anything about the great outdoors. And that’s a shame because so much is going on. The delicate pink tree peonies are in bloom, as are my gorgeous bearded irises worthy of Van Gogh. The hay-scented ferns are up, the butterflies are back and the herb garden is already bursting with thyme and chives. The angelica, now protected behind a fence is big and bushy, sending up tall shoots topped with lovely, frothy blooms. I’m spread so thin, I’ve barely been out other than to take a cursory glance and do some much-needed weeding. Thankfully, G is able to get up on his crutches for long enough to do the daily watering required in this heat, and he goes around on his butt planting new acquisitions. Yesterday, from inside the house he heard a noise or somehow sensed a strange presence in the yard, and hobbled out to find this fellow propped up against the garden fence. An enormous, prehistoric-looking snapping turtle, all fierce and armored.

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{Eating, Garden, Health}

Deer Hunter

4.28.11
iphotos by gluttonforlife

In my quest for wild edibles, I dredged up a distant memory of my friend Julia telling me about a morel she had once found at her weekend place nearby. So I headed over there, still dreaming of a big score. Her house has been closed up all winter long and as I drove up a big, fat groundhog scurried across the lawn. She has a beautiful piece of land that slopes down to a brook, now swollen from all the rains. Plenty of skunk cabbage along the bank, a favorite snack for bears. No sign of morels, sadly, though I did find a nice patch of stinging nettles. They must be picked and handled with care—heavy gloves do the trick—as the stems and undersides of the lovely, heart-shaped leaves are covered with fine spines that release irritating formic acid upon contact (like the sting you get from fire ants and bees). Nettles are surprisingly high in protein and deliver lots of calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium, among other vitamins and minerals. For millennia, they have been prized for their anti-inflammatory properties. Their delightful green color and spinach-y flavor makes a wonderful spring soup.

 

And the skull pictured above? Stay tuned for an episode of CSI: Sullivan County.

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{Garden}

Spring’s Awakening

4.14.11
photos by george billard

The marshy area in the woods behind our house is bursting with the sounds (and occasional sights) of new life. The rains and melting snow have united in large vernal pools that are the breeding ground for frogs and salamanders. You can hear their trilling and chuckling, great crowds of them creating a cacophany that we once took for an enormous flock of geese. When you draw near, they all go silent of course, so a stealthy approach is essential. We did scare a couple of ducks who took off, leaving behind a lavish breakfast buffet of bugs and water creatures. Here’s a quick visual tour of some of the natural wonders we came across yesterday morning.

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{Travel}

Natural Beauty

4.7.11
photo by gluttonforlife

I awoke to this the view from my window today. I have traveled to Sandpoint, Idaho, this week and am staying in the northern Idaho Panhandle at The Lodge on Lake Pend Oreille. A French-Canadian fur trader allegedly gave the lake its name, which is French for an ear-hanging or pendant, the likes of which were characteristic of the local Kalispell Indian tribe. When viewed from above, the lake is also shaped much like a human ear. If I weren’t here for work, I would be trekking into the breathtaking wilderness, hoping to catch a glimpse of the abundant wildlife: whitetail deer, elk, moose, grey wolves, black and grizzly bears, bobcats, bald eagles, osprey and lots of other beautiful birds. Still a big logging area, local trees include ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, poplar, quaking aspen, birch and Western larch. And, yes, Idaho has the good potatoes. I had the best hash browns ever for breakfast!

 

an early photo of Kalispell Indians on Lake Pend Oreille
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{Garden}

Melting Down

3.8.11
photos by gluttonforlife

It’s day 7 of my juice fast. The simple act of taking food out of the equation can be hugely transformative. Our relationship to eating tends to be very complex, because it provides not only nourishment but comfort, sensual pleasure and perhaps a buffer to shield us from some of our deepest feelings. One thing I grapple with is the herpes virus that I have carried in my body since 1985. During that time it has been more and less active, but seems to have migrated now to reside in my sacrum, a very vulnerable spot indeed. Os sacrum is Latin for “the seat of the soul.” This area seems to have become very congested for me, and I sense that lower back pain, writing blocks and deep fears are all lodged here. On day 3 of my fast, after a couple of dull headaches, including one that woke me in the night, and a surge of the virus in my system, I began to feel like all my defenses and resources were falling away. I slipped back into a pattern of self-doubt and recrimination, where I relive the life-long pain of feeling like a disappointment to my parents. I also felt very isolated and out of my element. This was probably exacerbated by the fact that our week-long bathroom renovation is now in its frustrating and enraging fourth week, and we are still availing ourselves of the incredible hospitality of our dear friend who has lent us his house at Beaver Dam. Read the rest of this entry »

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{Garden}

Happy Trails

10.11.10
photos by george billard

Such gorgeous weather this weekend, perfect for a walk in the woods. The wild turkey and deer abound; half a dozen turtles are sunning themselves on an old log in the lake; and the musical cackle of migrating geese fills the air. Even if you don’t live in the country, I hope these photos inspire you to drive to a nearby forest or visit your local park to take in a few of the sights and sounds of this glorious season.


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{Eating, Garden, Health, Home, Travel}

Fall In Love

9.22.10

illustrations by janice richter

It’s here again: fall, the season of transition. It bridges the vast chasm between sultry summer and winter’s austerity. Nature’s gorgeous swan song, fall reaches a grand crescendo before its blazing colors are finally extinguished. The leaves have begun to turn, with bursts of ochre and russet punctuating the drive from country to city. I have always found this time of year especially poignant, for we are witnessing the demise of all that we saw come to life these past months. It is the natural order of things, and it is bittersweet. My dear friend, the talented illustrator and creative director Jan Richter, captures the intensity of fall’s colors in these gorgeous illustrations of the season’s glories. Read the rest of this entry »

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{Garden}

Fielding Questions

7.22.10


roger tory peterson and a young osprey    photo by alfred eisenstaedt


I had my first guest-post on a kindred spirit’s blog this week. The visionary Peter Buchanan-Smith honored me with a feature on his fascinating blog, Best Made Projects. We share an interest in the natural world, so when he asked me to review a field guide, I chose one by the naturalist and early environmentalist Roger Tory Peterson (seen above holding a movie camera mounted on a gun stock). Peter has kindly allowed me to re-post my review in its entirety here.


FIELDING QUESTIONS: A Review of Roger Tory Peterson Field Guides – Eastern Forests


Returning home to Sullivan County from the stinky summer streets of New York City brings a surge of relief and gratitude: the cool night air filled with the rustle of leaves and the throbbing drone of cicadas is a tonic. The woods I now call home are not the same as those I grew up with in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. Fog-shrouded sequoias and wild surf are here replaced with blazing summers and snowy winters among the hawthorn, hickory, maple and pine. The Steller’s jay of my youth is now the equally brazen blue jay of my mid-life. The fence around our small property does little to keep out all the critters that also live here, and long rambles on our kind neighbor’s thousand acres have led to countless discoveries, animal, mineral and botanical.


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