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Blueberry Pie
Special occasions call for special things to happen in the kitchen. That’s why there’s blueberry pie just out of the oven. For dessert after dinner tonight. I make my crust from scratch. I think I could make the crust in my sleep. It’s very simple, very easy. For me anyway. Here’s the recipe. Pie Crust…
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Indigo Bunting
Knock your socks off COLOR. That’s what I think of when an image of a male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) comes to mind. With the female, if you look carefully you might be able to catch a hint of the vivid azure that the male wears so magnificently. But I wouldn’t know a male Indigo…
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Gray Dogwood
Just like the Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) that we see most often, Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa) has opposite leaves and those leaves look quite similar to Flowering Dogwood. The flowers of Gray Dogwood arrive on dome shaped panicles, or branched clusters, in late May and June here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The…
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2021 Hummingbird Arrival
Today it happened! A favorite day of the year when the first hummingbird arrives. As is the custom of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) the male leaves first, from his winter home, to arrive here at my cabin in the wood, mid-April. Females will arrive a week to ten days later. I’m looking forward to their…
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Christmas Fern
A tough fern often spotted on the trails up here in the mountains. Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), one of the most common ferns in eastern North America which is its native range. These are called crosiers, or more commonly, fiddleheads. In them I see movement, dance, music. Certainly grace and beauty. I love it in…
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Virginia Springbeauty
I’ve got itty-bitty buds on my Virginia Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica). Buds that look very much like really teeny tiny jalapeño peppers. What looks to me like those jalapeño peppers are sepals. Sepals are leaf-like structures surrounding and protecting the maturing bud. The number of sepals varies in difference species of flower. In Virginia Springbeauty there…
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Sassafras Trees Are Dioecious
Seems winter has given up. Spring has won the battle of the seasons and is stepping through the woods. Right now, mid-April, Sassafras Trees (Sassafras albidum) are in bloom throughout the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. Creating a soft watercolor wash of pale yellow. Sassafras is a dioecious tree, meaning any…
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American Toad
What a nice surprise to have a little visitor in the vegetable garden. A visitor that I don’t often get to see. An American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus). It seemed to prefer the “sit very very still and you won’t be seen” stance. But the little creature was seen throughout the day. I was pleased each…
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Flowering Dogwood
The Flowering Dogwood trees (Cornus florida) here in my neck of the woods are just beginning to open as the Eastern Redbud blooms (Cercis canadensis) are on their way into decline. That’s the pattern every year. A slight overlapping of their big show. Like homemade vanilla ice cream with home grown strawberries on top. In…
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Our Native Violets, Host Plants to Fritillaries
Something important to think about. Our native violets are the most important host plant for caterpillars of many Fritillary Butterflies. And for a good number of them these violets are their only host plant. Fritillary Butterflies fall into one of two genuses. Either Greater or Lesser. And as you might expect the larger of the…