Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.
The days recently have been absolutely yummy. Blue skies, low humidity – perfect for hiking during the day and wonderful for sleeping at night. It’s been a dream, being able to hike up my mountain and watch as the leaves change from their summer blue-greens to their autumn tones of chartreuse, lemon, lime, golds, mango, crimson and every color in between. The colors are changing much more rapidly than I ever expected. Of course, I’ve never in my life observed nature so closely as I have the past many months.
Sassafras, Going From Rich Deep Emerald To Lemon And Lime
Changes
Some things are slowing down. I’m not seeing nearly as many new flowers now. Goldenrod season seems to be coming to an end. Asters in shades of snow white, lavender and grape are still going full speed ahead but I don’t see many buds left on them, to open when I’m not looking. The next big floral display I’m awaiting, is the opening of the Witch Hazel. That will be a delight when it happens, and I’ll photograph the blossoms and share them with you. I expect that won’t happen for another several weeks though.
My Turn-Around Point
Ferns
I’m watching, each trip I take, out the gate and up the road, to see what happens. I’ve spotted many patches of beautiful ferns along my daily route. My turn-around point is marked by Maidenhair Fern on one side, and Sensitive Fern on the other. The Sensitive Fern has been given that name because it quickly withers and dies back when the temperatures get to be too cold. I’m watching to see at what point in the season that will happen. Fortunately the woods are also filled with many evergreen ferns, such as Christmas Fern, so I’ll be seeing that finery as I go about my observing during the winter. Another beautiful season to look forward to!
I grew up with apple pies. Lots of other pies too, but the standout memory is apple pies. My Mom is Pennsylvania Dutch, which, in my mind, means she is a terrific cook, but most of all a terrific pie baker. She tells me of falling asleep in her grandparent’s dining room, while all the adults sat around the table speaking German, a language she didn’t learn. Interesting to me — these family members had been in America for 300 years but still spoke their German.
The Pie Connection
Mom also tells me of her grandmother baking many, many pies at the end of each week, so that the hard working family would have pies to last throughout the coming week. They would be set aside in a pie safe. Years ago I found a pie safe at an antique shop in Leesburg, Virginia. I was told that the pie safe had come from York, Pennsylvania. My son now has that pie safe. We used to keep our stereo equipment in it. I don’t know what he stores in it now, but I doubt it is pies!
First Apple Pie, First Year At Wm & Mary
Carrying On The Tradition
Now both my son and I are pie bakers. I make crust from scratch all the time. I think he makes crust from scratch some of the time. But I think we both do a super job! Apple Pie? A must for me, is to use McIntosh apples. Their flavor just can’t be beat. Some say the apple, when cooked turns to mush. I say, “Who cares?!!” It just plain makes a scrumptious pie!
A New Ingredient
I learned to add a new ingredient, on my first visit with my husband’s grandmother, when we moved to New Mexico. She added a touch of salt to her apple pies. I’ve used that touch of salt ever since.
Mom’s Recipe With The Added New Mexico Ingredient
One unbaked 9 inch pie crust
6 medium sized apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 2 inch pieces (or the size that you prefer), place in pie crust
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cream together flour, sugar, butter, salt and cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of chopped apples. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn oven temperature down to 375 degrees, and continue baking for 45 more minutes. Let pie cool or serve warm topped with homemade vanilla ice cream.
The White-Tailed Deer Is Thriving In Large Part Because Of Human Activity In Both Suburban And Agricultural Areas
Oh Deer! What To Do?
There is nothing more heart warming than seeing a white-tailed deer in your yard. Unless of course you see too many deer, night after night, eating the vegetables in your garden. For those of us who do not have gardens and enjoy seeing the deer, we must remember that feeding deer puts them at risk of developing disease due to attracting larger numbers to a small area. These diseases include bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis and chronic wasting disease — AND feeding deer is illegal.
Female deer normally have their first fawn when they are just a bit over a year old. Sometimes though, if food is plentiful, they can have a fawn, when they are as young as six-months-old. Young does typically have one fawn, while older does have twins and occasionally triplets. With favorable circumstances, does can produce two or three fawns every year, and populations can increase quickly.
As the human population has increased, so too has the deer population. At the turn of the twentieth century the deer population was low due to over harvesting for food and hides, and loss of habitat. Over time, we have instituted hunting regulations, changed our agricultural practices and have begun to conserve woodland. These changes have allowed the deer population to increase.
Along with an increase in deer population there is a corresponding increase in human/deer conflicts. Those vegetables that are eaten by white-tailed deer in your garden are only a very small part of the problem. Deer can cause large economic losses for farmers. A USDA survey conducted in 1992 sites 40 percent of farmers reporting substantial deer damage.
Our forests suffer with an overabundance of deer. Many of us have seen deer browse lines, where everything is eaten within reach. This can create a forest in which only trees that deer dislike are surviving, with no understory of bushes, herbs, and tree seedlings. The result could be a forest that may not be able to replace itself naturally. Deer over-browsing also makes way for alien invasive plants to be more easily established. Deer prefer native species and will avoid alien plants such as kudzu, oriental bittersweet, Japanese honey suckle, mile-a-minute vine, garlic mustard and Japanese stilt grass, giving them an easy way to establishment.
With a forest understory having no native herbs, bushes and desirable tree seedlings, there is very little for other animals including birds, reptiles and insects to eat, and their ability to find shelter is challenged.
A larger deer population means more deer on area roads. Consequently that means more collisions with vehicles. These collisions can mean costly repairs, human injuries, and at times can even take human life.
As I mentioned earlier, a more dense deer population also threatens the health of the herd. Bovine tuberculosis, a bacterial disease that has the potential to infect other animals including humans, has recently been found in deer. Chronic wasting disease and brucellosis are also a concern. Another health risk for humans, white-tailed deer are a host for the tick that carries the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
Control of deer populations is a difficult social and political question. Aside from other aspects of the issue, they need our help regarding overcrowding, which means more serious, more quickly spreading disease. Overcrowding can also result in a shortage of food, leading to starvation. Of course with control, agriculture will benefit with less crop damage. Roads will be safer.
An already established method of control is hunting. There is great advantage to hunting for states’ economies. The value of license fees, meat, and purchases made by hunters, of equipment, food and transportation brings in hundreds of millions of dollars throughout our country.
This pastime is a highly valued tradition to a large portion of our population. Aside from just being a form of recreation, many of my neighbors use deer hunting as a way to put food on their tables. This is a tradition passed down from generation to generation. Hunting is a part of our heritage and those deer with their burgeoning population need our help.
My day was off to an excellent start. This spring, using pollen that had been collected from trees at the American Chestnut Foundation‘s research farm in Meadowview, Virginia, a tree that we call VA0333, The Rosebrook Tree, was for the third year in the row pollinated. This was at the height of a visit from Periodic Cicadas. The females Cicadas had done their work on The Rosebrook Tree. Slits were visible on some of the ends of branches, high up in the tree’s canopy, even on branches that had flowers. The pollen was applied in hopes that some of the flowers would live and develop burs containing seeds to be used for further research. This morning as the bucket truck went to the top of the tree, it became evident that there were some bursbut only a few. But I was prepared for the worst, so just a few was way better! Hooray!
American Chestnuts Harvested In Virginia
Virginia Harvest
The chestnuts in the photo above were harvested in 2010, the first year that I become involved with the Virginia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. Since that time I’ve come to appreciate more than ever the amazing things that are being done in the Foundation. We are making progress!
VA0333, The Rosebrook Tree
Here She Is!
This is The Rosebrook Tree. She’s fighting but won’t be around much longer. She’s got the blight, as all pure American Chestnut trees will get. No getting around that. I have 9 pure American Chestnut trees at the front of my cabin. They will get the blight. But The American Chestnut Foundation is cross-back breeding American Chestnuts with Chinese Chestnuts. The aimed for result is a chestnut tree that is American in its growth habit — a very tall and straight tree, with blight resistance.
An American Chestnut With Clearly Visible Blight
Here Is The Blight
This is a struggling American Chestnut sprout high up on my mountain. Do you see the splits on the bark and the orange fungus? This is the blight. The roots of the American Chestnut do not get the blight because they are not exposed to the air. The roots keep sending up sprouts which usually die back within a couple years. But with the research that’s been done and continues, there will be American Chestnut trees growing in the tree’s native range again — given time and much continued work.
Those of us who just came through the summer, with Brood II of the Periodical Cicadas, are still seeing flagged trees. Tomorrow I will find out the results of pollinating American Chestnuts this spring. A friend and I did the pollination at the height of the Cicada invasion. Slits in some of the branches we worked with were noticed, but the real damage, at that point, was not obvious. We had to pollinate what flowers there were, and keep our fingers crossed.
A Bucket Truck Is Needed To Get To The Top Of These Tall Trees
In The Morning
Keep your fingers crossed for me in the morning too! I’ll be meeting the bucket truck at 10:00 A.M., and I’m hoping that we will be able to come away with at least someseeds from this mother tree to represent this growing season.
American Chestnut, Castanea dentata
Turning Leaves
These are the leaves of an American Chestnut. On my mountan, right now, the leaves are still a bright green, but in a few weeks, they like many other leaves in the forest, will be turning to their autumnal tones. Oh how I love the seasons to change!
In mid-summer there is quite a draw at my wood’s edge. The Sumac is in bloom and pollinators are buzzing all over the flowers. I have two types of Sumac — Winged Sumac and Smooth Sumac, supplied by Mother Nature.
Fruit Of Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra
For The Birds
From blooms to fruit, pleasing different critters. The fruit of the Sumac attracts birds throughout the winter.
Common “Yellow-Shafted” Flicker, Colaptes auratus
Welcome Food During The Snowstorm!
With blinding snow coming down, this Yellow Shafted Flicker was able to find a meal at one of my many Sumacs. This picture was taken in February 2010. We had 72 inches of snow here on the mountain during that winter. It was wonderful!
Winged Sumac, Rhus copallina
And Now The Season Of Color
Sumacs turn brilliant shades in the fall. A little bit at a time. I’m enjoying taking pictures of just one branch or two, dressed in an outstanding scarlet set against the rich emeralds of its past summer finery.
Winged Sumac, Rhus copallina
Or . . .
Or tropical shades of limes and lemons, set against the warm colors of papayas.
Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra
More Color To Come
In the next two months Sumacs will be turning on more scarlet, making the wood’s edges sing. A song I look forward to!
Autumn started this afternoon! Yay! I love to experience the seasons — each and every one — all four, to their fullest potential! As always, autumn is starting slowly. Yes, we’ve had cooler weather, but the leaves are slow to respond and are waiting for the days to get shorter and shorter. I have to really look to see any leaves turning. The patch of Red Maple leaves, above, being true to their name are a beautiful scarlet, but I had to hunt for them. Most trees are still green.
Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida
An Exception
Dogwood is an exception to that rule. If you’re really observant, you’ll notice that the Flowering Dogwood begins, ever so subtly, to turn from green to red, in early July. I noticed this a few years ago and it sorta blew my mind, but every year since, I’ve noticed the same thing happening. Not every Flowering Dogwood tree goes by this pattern, but most that I see here on my mountain do.
Clasping Aster or Late Purple Aster, Symphyotrichum patens
Asters, Asters Everywhere!
On my daily hikes Asters are the most abundant flower. Snowy white asters with sunshine yellow centers that turn to warm burgundy as they mature. Lavender asters – small and even smaller ones. And my favorite – grape purple asters with the name Clasping Asters or Late Purple Asters. The flower of this species is a tiny bit larger than most of the Asters I’m seeing. It’s the smashing grape color that really gets my attention though. I’m really a sucker for a yummy, rich color.
Goldenrod, Species to be determined later!
Brilliant Yellow
I cannot leave out the Goldenrod that greets me each time I hike up the mountain. Beautiful yellow Goldenrod that is such a cheery sight. Oh dear! So many different species (over 50 in North America) that I have not begun to try to figure out which I’ve been running into. I think I’ll leave that to those long winter days when there are no flowers to identify as I hike!
Locust Borer, Megacyllene robiniae, Blending Right In With Goldenrod
Brilliant Yellow In Insects Too
A frequent sight on the Goldenrod — the adult Locust Borer enjoys the pollen of the Goldenrod. The species gets its name from the larvae that bore into Black Locust Trees.
Silverrod, Solidago bicolor
Bold Identification
One plant in the Solidago (Goldenrod) genus that I feel confident identifying is Silverrod. I just saw it for the first time a few days ago and it fascinates me, looking like a Goldenrod but it is white with just the smallest hint of yellow. Nice to have something with no question of what it is!
Colors To Come!
As the days get shorter, the leaves will respond, shutting down their production of chlorophyll, which will bring about the change in colors that I’m waiting for. I’ll keep you posted!
Yellow is such a happy color! I had a dear friend, Pat Gallagher, whose favorite color was yellow, I think for that very reason. She was a truly happy person. She made a point of doing watercolor paintings, and making quilts with the warm color in it, even in the day when yellow was not favored.
Yellow But Not A Sunflower
The flower below, with its gorgeous curvy stamens is not a Sunflower, but a Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia). I see it along roadsides at the foot of the mountain where I live. I’ve got one plant of it in the front of my cabin, due to my curiosity about it, and my seed collecting habit. Nice to have it added to the many yellows provided by Woodland Sunflower and Goldenrod!
A Favorite Flower
My Dad’s favorite flower is the sunflower. Whenever I order a bouquet for Mom and Dad, I try to have the florist include sunflowers in the bunch to make both Mom and Dad smile. Yellow and sunflowers, they just work together so well.
Not Yellow
This ladybug is not yellow, but I think she’s pretty happy wandering about in her yellow flowered world. Yellow has a way of attracting birds and insects.
Speaking of bees, do you see the face created by the bees in the picture below? Happy bees!
Fading
Even fading yellow appeals to me. These sunflowers, in the two pictures below, well beyond their peak, are beautiful!
New Yellow
And a most comforting sight, a bud of a sunflower, just thinking of opening, starting a new life, providing sustenance for birds, and bees.
I suppose some would say I enjoy playing with my food! I love to set up still lifes with all the colors that come out of the garden. As summer is drawing to a close, the garden provides so many objects for me to arrange in still lifes for me to make into art!
Garden Just Outside The Kitchen
Red, yellow, burgundy, large, small, striped, solid. Tomatoes in so many shades of lusciousness! Green, red, yellow, orange bell peppers. Jalepeño, poblano, Anaheim, ancho, habanero, all destined for the picante salsa that comes out of the canner. Another ART!
Farmer’s Market
A feast for the eyes, the farmer’s market fills the gaps. Things that aren’t grown in the garden just outside the kitchen. Surprises. Vegetables I’ve never seen before. Fruits I’ve never heard of.
Chilly Days Ahead
Though autumn is ahead of us, and temperatures are dropping we’ll stay warm with our ART from the garden!
Today was a busy day here at the cabin. It was my Mr. Wonderful’s birthday, so I didn’t get out on a hike. But yesterday I found some fun critters in a large clump of Goldenrod in a power line right-of-way, up by the waterfall. Maybe right now I should be calling that a water-trickle, rather than a waterfall though. There is not much water flowing over those rocks. I was looking through my photographs yesterday and noticed some picts of the waterfall from back in June. My, what a difference! There sure was water flowing then!
A Pair of Mating Locust Borers, Megacyllene robiniae
So Much Activity
What a busy place it was up there at about 2400 feet. There were several pairs of Locust Borers busy taking care of perpetuating the species. I guess they find those black and yellow stripes irresistible!
Soldier Beetle, Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus
More Critters
There were also Soldier Beetles busy up there, feeding on the pollen of the Goldenrod. Many Soldier Beetles. Both the Soldier Beetle and the Locust Borer particularly enjoy Goldenrod pollen.
Soldier Beetle, Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus
What Will Tomorrow Find
Looking forward to my hike tomorrow morning. What beautiful colors, intriguing insects, new trees will I discover?
