Are those bugs? Understanding the Tick Trefoil
Have you looked down at your pants after a hike and wondered what all those little, flat green things are? Where do they come from? I’d...
top of page
- Sep 12
- 2 min
Spicebush - A Cooking Lesson
This blog is a cooking lesson. I enjoy foraging for wild foods. A sure sign of the upcoming autumn in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest...
15 views0 comments
- Sep 4
- 2 min
What is Bird's Nest Fungus?
Late summer is the time I see a very special fungus growing along the trail in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. You have to look very...
34 views0 comments
- Aug 21
- 2 min
White Baneberry or Doll's Eyes?
As you walk along the upper loop of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest Loop trail in August, you will notice a plant with strikingly odd...
30 views0 comments
- Aug 21
- 2 min
The Indian Cucumber
Indian Cucumber (Medeola virginiana) is a plant that can be found anywhere along the double loop trail in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial...
24 views0 comments
- Aug 7
- 2 min
American Spikenard: A Ginseng Relative
Most of us are familiar with “Ginseng”, the plant that is an adaptogen and grows native in our country. There are five plants in the...
28 views0 comments
- Jul 31
- 2 min
Cleavers: A most useful forest dweller
Cleavers is an easily missed plant which can be found almost all year round except in the coldest month of the winter. Many view it as a...
20 views0 comments
- Jul 15
- 2 min
Black Cohosh - Nature's Natural Bug Repellent
Black Cohosh is one of the most beautiful plants that bloom in July through early September. However, it is the strong odor of the...
14 views0 comments
- Jul 10
- 3 min
Exploring the world of Chanterelle Mushrooms
July is the time to find the glorious, apricot-scented, Chanterelle mushrooms, allegedly one the most popular mushrooms in the United...
22 views0 comments
- Jul 3
- 3 min
Where have all the Hemlocks gone?
I am often asked about what caused the death of the glorious Eastern Hemlocks in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. The tiny insect is...
26 views0 comments
- Jun 19
- 3 min
Mother Nature Monday: In the (White) Pines
The sunlight reaches the ground level of the lower loop of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest loop trail more easily than it did twenty...
22 views0 comments
- Jun 13
- 3 min
Indian Pipe, Ice Plant, or Ghost Flower . . . What is it?
Indian Pipe is one of the more unusual plants to be found in the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness. It goes by several other names;...
34 views0 comments
- Jun 5
- 2 min
Mother Nature Monday: Dance Flies, Balloon Flies, or Fairies?
The world is filled with such wondrous things. I’m often astounded by what I stumble upon while I’m in the woods. The other day, along...
27 views0 comments
- May 30
- 3 min
The Wild Grape: Friend of Foe?
You will notice when you hike along the double loop trail in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest that you don’t see much wild grape. You...
20 views0 comments
- May 23
- 3 min
What does this Old Man's Beard have to do with the forest?
What is that grey, stringy stuff on the sides of the trees in the forest? It looks almost like light green hair. Also known as Old...
16 views0 comments
- May 16
- 3 min
What in the world is Bear Corn?
A strange looking living thing emerges from the soil around the bases of oak trees in the spring. It is a member of the Broomrake family...
17 views0 comments
- May 8
- 3 min
Mother Nature Monday: The Mushroom of Immortality
Have you ever heard of “The Mushroom of Immortality”? Called Reishi in Japan and Ling Chi in China, its species name is Ganoderma...
31 views0 comments
- May 1
- 3 min
Mother Nature Monday: Jack-In-The-Pulpit
The Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Bog Onion or Indian Turnip was one of the first native plants I was taught to recognize when I was a child. It...
42 views0 comments
- Apr 24
- 3 min
Mother Nature Monday: The Ladyslipper
Over the years, I’ve noticed that there is always one flower that someone asks about on every wildflower hike I lead. The Ladyslipper. ...
66 views0 comments
- Apr 17
- 3 min
Mother Nature Monday: The Elderberry
These days there is a particular focus on plants that are well know as immunity boosters and anti-viral. The Elderberry (Sambucus) is...
18 views0 comments
bottom of page