OK, but what if you lack enough experience for your brain to have organized woody plant morphology for you? During the growing season, leaves are often the easiest distinguishing features to use, but here in the UP the hardwood forests are leafless for more than half the year. Although bark can work for tree id, the textures and colors involved can be tricky, as these characteristics are quite variable and overlap among species.

Enter Sensuous Twigs. Well, you have to go out and find them, but twigs are worth going to for a couple of reasons if you're curious about trees' lives. The first is that twigs are where several distinctive structures, such as buds and leaf scars, occur (see twig diagram p. 16). These structures make twigs much more definitive than bark for tree id, and they tell you about the trees health by revealing twig growth rates. Twig parts are very small, however; so they only tell you who they are and how they are doing if you look them in the face real closely. The second reason to get close to twigs is simply to see their sensuous beauty. Here are a few examples to wonder about.

1 - Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) Dormant Twig. This twig shows one year of growth. The buds are opposite each other and have many overlapping scales (imbricate). The rings around the twig at the bottom are last year’s terminal bud scale scars.
Sugar Maple Dormant TwigThis sugar maple (Acer saccharum) twig shows one year of growth. The buds are opposite each other and have many overlapping scales (imbricate). The rings around the twig at the bottom are last year's terminal bud scale scars.

2 - Striped Maple (Acer pennsylvanicum) dormant twig. Striped maple buds have only two ‘valvate’ bud scales which meet like clam shells. Striped maples are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they can change their sex as they age.

Striped Maple TwigStriped maple (Acer pennsylvanicum) buds have only two 'valvate' bud scales which meet like clam shells. Striped maples are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they can change their sex as they age.

3 - Willow (Salix sp. - unknown species) Twig. Willow buds have single bud scales (actually two fused scales) that must split to open as shown here.
Willow TwigWillow (Salix spp.) buds have single bud scales (actually two fused scales) that must split to open as shown here.

4 - Pin Cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica) Twig. Pin cherries, like other trees with heavy fruits, bear their fruit on short, strong spur shoots.
Pin Cherry Flower BudsPin cherries (Prunus pennsylvanica), like other trees with heavy fruits, bear their fruit on short, strong spur shoots.

5 - Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) Catkins. Paper birch produces separate male & female flower buds (catkins) on the same tree.

Paper Birch CatkinsPaper birch (Betula papyrifera) produces separate male & female flower buds (catkins) on the same tree.

6 - Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) Twig. Black cherry has alternating (not opposite) lateral buds and true terminal buds. Like other cherries, the twigs have a ‘stinking almond’ smell when broken.

Black Cherry TwigBlack cherry (Prunus serotina) has alternating lateral buds and true terminal buds. Like other cherries, the twigs have a 'stinking almond' smell when broken.

7 - Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) Flower Buds.  The Elder Wand, made from the branch of an elder tree, plays a pivotal role in the final book of the Harry Potter series.
Red Elderberry Flower BudsRed elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) has a long history of medicinnal uses. The Elder Wand plays a pivotal role in the final book of the Harry Potter series.

8 - Common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) Leaf Buds. Lilac is in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows on rocky hills. Note how the bud scales are elongating.

Common Lilac Leaf BudsLilac (Syringa vulgaris) is in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows on rocky hills. Note how the bud scales are elongating.

9 - Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra) Leaves Emerging. All our ash species are threatened with near-extinction by the exotic Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).

Black Ash Leaves EmergingBlack Ash (Fraxinus nigra), like all our ash species are being threatened with near-extinction by the exotic Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).

10 - Red Maple (Acer rubrum) Flower Buds.  Red Maples can produce all male flowers, all female flowers, or some of both.
Red Maple Flower BudsRed maple trees (Acer rubrum) can produce all male flowers, all female flowers, or some of both.

11 - Bigtooth Aspen (Populus grandidenta) female catkins. Note the pointed leaf buds still tightly closed. Flowering before leaf-out helps aspens spread their pollen, which comes from male catkins on separate trees.

Bigtooth Aspen Female CatkinsBigtooth aspen (Populus grandidentata) flowers before leafout helping their pollen spread better in the wind. Male and female catkins occur on separate trees. Note the pointed leaf buds still tightly closed.

12 - Common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) Flower Buds Expanding. Lilacs are very hardy and excellent food plants for butterflies.
Common Lilac Flower BudsLilacs (Syringa vulgaris) are very hardy and are excellent food plants for butterflies.

1 - River Otter Slide No. 1 - There's no mistaking this river otter slide in deep snow. It's not unusual to see otter sign along Big Creek, but seeing otters  themselves is very rare - about 1% of walks along the creek.  This otter was sliding toward the bottom of the photo, and you can see where it had to thrust with its legs to keep sliding where the land leveled out.

2 - River Otter Tracks in Snow No. 1 - River otters, like all members of the weasel family (Mustelids), have five toes on both fore and hind feet, but only four toes show in some tracks.  In contrast, most other native mammals of similar size have only four toes.  If toes can't be counted, Mustelid tracks can generally be identified by their wedge shape (wider in front) and their 2-by-2 bounding gait (see Photo 3).  

3 - Fisher Tracks in Snow No. 1 - The 2-by-2 bounding gait and the size of these tracks suggest river otter, but the habitat (upland hardwoods) and the animal's behavior (going tree to tree) indicate it was a fisher, or possibly a marten.  Grey squirrels, which build dreys (twig and leaf nests) in this northern red oak stand, were the likely prey being sought.  

4 - Fisher Tracks in Snow No. 2 - Here are two of the fisher tracks from the trail shown in the previous photo. Actually, these are four tracks as the hind feet register over the front feet in the 2-by-2 bounding gait. The wedge-shaped prints are elongated where the feet dragged forward out of the deep snow.

5 - Mink Tracks in Snow No. 1 - More 2-by-2 tracks, a trail into the creek, and tail drags - another otter?  Good guess, but if you were there, you could tell the tracks are too small for an otter.  Must be a mink, or two (although mink are usually solitary). The identification is confirmed by the spread out toes, a common feature of mink tracks, especially on the front foot. 

6 - White-tailed Deer Tracks in Snow No. 1- White-tailed deer often drag the tips of their hooves when they walk, and this habit can help determine their direction of movement when tracks are obscured, as in this deep snow.  Can you tell which way this animal was moving?

7 - Snowshoe Hare Tracks in Snow No. 1 (Below Left) - Hares (Lagomorphs with precocial young) and rabbits (Lagomorphs with altricial young) are built for speed on the ground, and the track patterns of both show the distinctive triangular pattern of the hopping gait. This gait is known more precisely as the 'diagonal front feet hop' in contrast to the 'paired front feet hop' of tree-climbing species (see Photo 8). The snowshoe hare who made this track was hopping toward the top of photo on thin fresh snow over a supporting crust.  Why then are the large hind feet in front?  If that's confusing to you, ask a child to hop around like a bunny and examine their tracks. 

8 - Red Squirrel Tracks in Snow No. 1 (Below Right) - Tree squirrels and other arboreal mammals are, not surprisingly, built for holding on tightly in the way their feet are made and in how their limbs work in opposing pairs.  As these red squirrel tracks demonstrate, their body form results in a paired front feet hopping gait when they are on the ground.  Like the snowshoe hare, the squirrel's hind legs swing past the front legs when hopping, resulting in a track pattern with the hind feet in front. Try visualizing your track pattern as if you were playing leap frog.  I wonder if frogs do it the same way? 

9 - Deer Mouse Tacks in Snow No. 1 (Below Left) - This one's kind of chaotic, but it's another good example of a tree-climbing species with a paired front feet hopping gait. Deer mouse tracks look like tiny red squirrel tracks, but the tail slaps and tiny size give it away. The UP has three species of weasels that turn white in winter, and I think one of these made the larger tracks scattered about the scene while hunting deer mice. 

10 - Meadow Vole Tracks in Snow No. 1 (Below Right) - Unlike deer mice, which do indeed spend much of their time climbing shrubs and trees, meadow voles pretty much stay on (or under) the ground and get around with the walking gaits of crawling (3 feet always on the ground) or ambling (2 feet always on the ground). Such walking gaits result in two parallel rows of alternating prints, which make zipper-like patterns in snow of certain depths.

11 - Mouse Maze - I can't find 'plowing' listed as a mammalian gait, but here it is.  What was this deer mouse doing - foraging for tiny seeds, making a mouse version of a snow angel, scratching a belly itch, signaling aliens?  Perhaps it was just taking a break from the claustrophobia of the subnivean zone it lives in between the ground and the snow during much of the winter.

12 - Tracks in Snow Quiz No. 1 - Finally, take a crack at his one. How many species can you identify?  Which way were they going?  What were the snow conditions like?  Imagine if you could also smell the differences among tracks!

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 2Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

2 - Having grown up as a country boy exploring creeks in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, I always wanted to live by a creek (which we called brooks in the New England). 

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 3Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

3 - Fortunately, I reached my living-by-a-creek goal 30-some years ago when I moved to an old farm near Marquette through which Big Creek flows northward to Lake Superior via the Chocolay River. 

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 4Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

4 - Like many of the spring-fed "rivers of sand" that occur in the Upper Peninsula, Big Creek flows cold, clear, and strong throughout the year.
 

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 6Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

5 - Big Creek will sometimes overflow its banks and become turbid during spring runoff or after multiple summer storms, but it's never gotten low during my tenure here.

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 5Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

6 - Ironically, the "dead of winter" is when the creek come most alive to me.

 
Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 7Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

7 - Riparian zones are always corridors for wildlife movements, but winter is especially interesting as everybody writes their name in the snow as they pass, and some leave other signs as well (more on this in a future blog post). 

CDBurnett_2013-01-07_17032_M1S_2x3

8 - Aside from the visibility of wildlife activity, I'm most drawn to the creek valley by the dynamic and ephemeral snow and ice formations sculpted by the creek and the storms.

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 9Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

9 - To be most creative, the creek needs very cold weather as the relatively warm creek water tends to melt snow and ice that it touches.

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 10Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

10 - The creek's sculptures are dynamic shape-shifters, constantly growing and withdrawing with the shifting balance between freezing at the air-water interface. 

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 12Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

11 - Winter is also an excellent time to explore creeks as there are no pesky bugs about, and frozen ground makes it easier to traverse areas of mucky soil, although reading the ground is still needed to avoid sinking into the muck of perennial seeps. 

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 11Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

12 - As a boy, going to a brook was mostly about fishing, or catching salamanders, or pole-vaulting across without getting wet.

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 13Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

13 - As an adult, going to the creek is for me still about fish and fishing, sometimes. More often, it is about the creek itself, especially it's songlike voice.
 

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 14Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

14 - As with many human songs, the creek's individual words are hard to understand, but the song as a whole conveys its meaning, however inexplicably, if you quiet the noises in your head and listen openly.

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 1 VideoBig Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

15 - Let's enjoy February for what it is!  As my old friend Elmer Hill said, "February is one of the best months because it is too late to put up the storm windows and too early to put up the screens".

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 15Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

For my final blog of 2021, I am posting 15 favorite photos taken this fall.  Given our location in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, it's not surprising that the majority are "fall color" shots. In these parts, red maple produces the first fall color many people notice, usually in wetlands. In upland areas, staghorn sumac turns early and is hard to miss with its incredibly saturated warm and hot colors. Making fall sumac leaves "pop" is seldom a problem for photographers. In fact, reducing saturation is sometimes needed for a realistic look. 

Staghorn Sumac with Bluebird HouseTransplanted here about 20 years ago, these staghorn sumacs appear to be stunted, perhaps by the black cherry they are under.

Sumac SymmetryDid you know that sumac is in the Anacardiaceae, the cashew family?

Fallen leaves make excellent subjects for close-ups. They are easy to get to, they are not blowing around (much), and they get decorated with frost and dew.

Leaf Lenses: Red Maple No. 1Dew drops creating magnifying lenses on red maple leaves Leaf Lenses: Sugar Maple No. 1Dew drops creating magnifying lenses on sugar maple leaves Leaf Lenses: Sugar Maple No. 2Close-up of sugar maple leaf veins with magnifying dew drops

One of my favorite plants to photograph is borage, especially when it's dewy. It's very beneficial for bees, but I plant it just to look at and photograph.
 

Dewy Borage Flower No. 1The many hairs on borage plsants attract dew drops

When I moved to the UP 30+ years ago, peak color at Big Creek Homestead was in mid-September. Now it's more like mid-October! I like having more time to get ready for winter, but such rapid climate change can't happen without problems.

Golden PathMulti-purpose access path in sugar maple dominated northern hardwoods

Chocolay Pastoral #2Cattle grazing on ice-contact formation with fall color woodland

As I watch the ground for interesting leaves, I can't help but notice moss everywhere - on rocks, on trees, on soil, and looking up, on asphalt rooves. Big patches of one species, little mounds with two species, tree trunks with lots of species, complex communities of mosses intermingled with several lichen species. 

Moss Community No. 1Two species of moss closely intermingled

Moss on a Stump No. 1Carpet-forming moss initiating a wood recycling project

After leaf-fall, one is more likely to notice the conifers and the roles they play in the forest. Their dominance in the riparian zones along lakes and streams becomes more obvious, as does their ability to catch snow and reduce snow depths.

Upsweeping PineEastern white pine showing off its upsweeping nature

The lunar eclipse on 19 November 2021 was the longest partial lunar eclipse since February 18, 1440, and the longest until February 8, 2669. Night photography is not a strong interest of mine, but I did wake up at 5 AM and got a decent shot of the eclipse between the clouds. 

Lunar Eclipse No. 1A partial lunar eclipse occurred on 19 November 2021. This was the longest partial lunar eclipse since February 18, 1440, and the longest until February 8, 2669

And now the snow has come, the ski trails have been groomed, and the landscape appears to be simplified. The last apple has fallen, but we are busy studying the characteristics of cold-hardy apple and pear varieties in preparation for filling some of the gaps in our ancient orchard come spring.

Last FruitBig Creek Homestead orchard with the last Wolf River apple

A side benefit of photographing bees gathering pollen close up is discovering the interesting and weird structures on the plants they are visiting. Luckily, getting up close and personal with pollinating bees is quite safe as they are busy with their task and don't seem to mind the attention. One of the strangest native plants in our dry meadows and roadsides is Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata), a.k.a. Horsemint with its whitish, purple-tinged, leaf-like bracts and dragon-mouth flowers. Like it's close relative, the more widely known Bee Balm or Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Spotted Beebalm is an important food plant for bees. Both species also contain a wide variety of aromatic compounds with culinary and medicinal uses. Because it is often called bergamot, I used to think that Monarda fistuloa is what's used to flavor Earl Grey tea, which is flavored with bergamot essential oil. However, when my kids recently brought Earl Grey ice cream for the holidays (it's really good!), I learned that the bergamot oil used for the tea properly comes from the rind of bergamot oranges, not Bee Balm.

The next photo shows the developing grains of Proso Millet, also called common, or broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) commonly used in birdseed mixtures (from which this plant grew beneath our bird feeder). It is also used as a livestock feed and eaten as a cereal food in Asia, eastern Europe, and our kitchen.

The one photography project I intentionally pursued a bit this season was "forest interiors". When it's sunny, the extremely high contrast lighting that  occurs in forest interiors makes getting a good exposure a real challenge. When it's overcast, the uniform lighting often results in photos that lack vitality (oumph or pizzaz).  For the two forest interior photos shown here, I think I caught the lighting conditions just about right, somewhere between too contrasty and too uniform.
 

Bumblebee with Cannabis PollenThe cannabis plant is mostly wind pollinated and therefore has not evolved to attract bees. It does not produce a smell that would attract bees, nor is it colorful and finally, and most importantly, it is unable to provide a reward in the form of floral nectar. However, our male Cannabis plants are highly attractive to bumblebees who collect the pollen for food.

Bumblebee Pollen SacsThe cannabis plant is mostly wind pollinated and therefore has not evolved to attract bees. It does not produce a smell that would attract bees, nor is it colorful and finally, and most importantly, it is unable to provide a reward in the form of floral nectar. However, our male Cannabis plants are highly attractive to bumblebees who collect the pollen for food.

Bumblebee Collecting Borage Nectar

Tri-colored Bumblebeeon Spotted Bee Balm

Bumblebees on Spotted BeebalmTwo species of bumblebees. The one with orange is probably the tri-colored bumblee (Bombus ternarius).

Bumblebee on Goldenrod

Spotted Beebalm Symmetry Spotted Beebalm Flower BudsSpotted beebalm has many flower buds that open over 2-3 months in late summer & early fall.

Birdseed Millet RipeningProso millet—also called common, or broomcorn, millet (Panicum miliaceum)—ripens within 60–80 days after sowing and is commonly used in birdseed mixtures. It is also eaten as a cereal food in Asia and eastern Europe and is used as a livestock feed elsewhere.

May the Forest Cool You No. 2Northern red oak dominates this forest stand

Woodland Path Inward No. 4Sugar maple dominates this northern hardwoods forest.

My late summer and early fall was consumed building our new garden shed/outhouse/greenhouse/solar shower. The shed's multiple functions will make working around the homestead easier, and it's construction gave us the chance to salvage some blown-down timber and put some piles of leftover lumber to good use. I've built a few timber frames before with traditional joinery, but this one uses a new system of aluminum connectors and associated tools that simplify the use of large timbers and reduce the hand labor. See the CONNEXT system at https://www.ctpostandbeam.com/. The basic structure is complete, but all the details are on hold until spring. We'll then have time to use the building for a while before deciding exactly how to use the space and finish it. This flexibility is one of the great benefits of timber frames and other post and beam buildings. Because the structural integrity of such buildings depends only on their largely open frames, walls and rooms can be added or changed very freely. The single rectangle of our shed will have an out house on the east end, for easy acces, and a solar shower of the west end, for the late-day sun. The south side will be largely open and have a greenhouse extension of some sort connecting to the garden. The north wall will be closed against the weather but will have windows and maybe a door. 

In the bigger picture, the garden shed joins the six other buildings of Big Creek Homestead's infrastructure (house, garage/workshop/sauna, summer kitchen/sugar shack, sawmill, machine shed, and horse barn). All were built or rebuilt largely with lumber milled here from trees grown here. When you rely on the land for significant aamounts of food and fuel and fiber and fun, a carefully thought out infrastructure is one of the main keys to success. Having removed the remains of several buildings built by the former owners, I sometimes wonder what they would think of what we have done here. It's too bad there is so much starting over. How much more I could have done, if I hadn't spent all that time re-building the infrastructure of the homestead. I am pretty sure this "garden shed" will be around for the next generation.  Maybe converted to an artist's studio? 

Cedar SalvageNorthern white cedar taken down by heavy snow was salvaged for the garden shed.

Wood for Cordwood WallsNorthern white cedar rounds drying in 8" lengths for the cordwood walls. Northen White Cedar LumberThe larger cedar logs were sawn into boards for the interior walls of the outhouse. Northern Red Oak TimbersOak timbers left over from timber frames built decades ago were used for the posts. Resawing Oak TimbersThe dry oak timbers were sized and trued using a specially hardened blade on our 1987 Wood-Mizer.

Cutting Timbers to LengthThe timbers were cut to length with a cordless chainsaw mounted on a jig from Connext Post and Beam.

Fitting the ConnectorsConnectors of structural aluminum from Connext Post and Beam were fitted into the bottoms of the oak posts.

Posts Ready to RaiseThe posts were pre-fitted with the connectors and shouldered for the top girts. Connext Post and Beam ConnectorsConnectors of 6061 structural aluminum from Connext Post and Beam were used to attach the posts to the piers.

Attaching the ConnectorsDrilling the concrete piers for attaching the connectors was the hardest task. Pinning the PostsOak posts were secured to the connectors with aluminum pins. Raising DayTop girts are 2x8 aspen left over from previous projects. Vision Realized!At the end of Raising Day, the posts, girts and trusses came togehter to realize our vision. Knee BracesWith the basic frame constructed, oak 4x4's left over from previous projects were cut into knee braces for stabilizing the building. Roofing the Garden ShedThe roofing is composed of conventional metal panels with some transparent polycarbonate sections on the South side. Temporary WallsWith winter approaching too fast, we enclosed the shed with 1/4" OSB until spring. Imagine a greenhouse extension to the South (right).

Ghost Pipes with Leaf LitterMonotropa uniflora is reported to be edible & medicinal, but it contains several glycosides and is possibly toxic.
Speaking of fungi, I’ve discovered a healthy population of dead man’s fingers (sounds like an oxymoron) digesting a pile of rotting slab wood near the homestead’s sawmill.  There are many of species of dead man’s fingers (Xylaria spp.), and specialized knowledge and equipment (that I do not possess) are needed to be sure of specific identification.

Ghost FingersXylaria cornu-damae; same genus as Dead Man's Fingers, Xylaria polymorpha
Speaking of rotting wood, many interesting creatures can be found by rooting around in and under decomposing wood debris. Salamanders are my favorites, but they are seldom found here due to our dry, sandy soils. Luckily, I recently found a cooperative red eft (Notophthalmus viridescens) while collecting firewood. Red efts are known to travel great distances (for salamanders) to reach aquatic habitats that are required for the adult phase of their lives as Eastern red-spotted newts. This one was about a third of a mile from the nearest open water.

Red Eft in Leaf LitterJuvenile (subadult) stage of red-spotted newt.
Collecting firewood is an ongoing part of life at Big Creek Homestead whenever conditions and time allow. Efficient combustion requires low-moisture wood, so cutting wood a year or two before it’s burned is needed to allow time for drying. Efficient wood processing is also critical if heating with wood is to be more than a recreational activity. Without a good system, the number of times a piece of wood gets handled can get ridiculous. My latest innovation in this regard is to roll logs from the trailer directly onto a sawbuck. This saves using the tractor to unload the logs and puts them at a good height for bucking. The wood then gets stacked right next to where it’s bucked, ready for splitting. Also note the light-weight, battery-powered chainsaw, a great energy saver for the sawyer and the planet (especially if charged with solar power, as mine is).

Trailer to SawbuckUnloading firewwod logs by hand directly to a sawbuck saves tractor fuel & energy for the sawyer.
Whereas most woodland flowers bloom early in the growing season when they can get enough light before the canopy closes, openland flowers generally bloom in the longer daylight hours of  summer. As herbal medicines have become more popular, many people have learned that St. John'swort (Hypericum perforatum) has legitimate medicinal uses, but I suspect few know that it is a common weed in many areas, including the Upper Peninsula. If you’re tempted to experiment with it, please know that it contains many biologically active compounds, including some dangerous ones, so do the necessary research. 

Perforate St. John's WortSt. John's wort has a long history of herbal use. It fell out of favour in the nineteenth century but recent research has brought it back to prominence. The plant contains many biologically active compounds, so caution is recommended.

Another plant with healing properties that’s getting  more attention from the medical community is groundcherry (Physalis spp.).  Physalis is a member of the nightshade or tomato family (Solanaceae) which contains many toxic, as well as edible and medicinal, compounds. At Big Creek Homestead, clammy groundcherry (Physalis heterophylla) is a common weed of disturbed soil (e.g., compost piles, flower beds).  Its ripe fruits, which are like tiny tomatoes inside a Japanese lantern, have a weirdly ambivalent flavor, alternating between tomato and strawberry. Under Clammy GroundcherryLooking up from under Physalis heterophylla Clammy Groundcherry FruitA native perennial, clammy ground-cherry fruits are edible when ripe, but the rest of the plant is toxic. Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields.

Part of our land management program at Big Creek is the introduction of prairie plants native to the Upper Peninsula as an adaptive strategy for the warming climate. Yellow coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) is one of the showy species that is starting to “take-off” here. The flowering “cone” is covered in hundreds of tiny brown disk flowers that bloom from the bottom of the cone upward. 

Yellow Coneflowerprairie coneflower, pinnate prairie coneflower, Ratibida pinnata, grey-headed coneflower
Although we dabble in prairie plants and domestic ornamentals, most of our plant propagation efforts go into the vegetables, mushrooms, and apples. Over the years, we’ve learned to concentrate on species and varieties that do well in our sandy soil, such as carrots. I our experience, the key to success with carrots is using pelleted seeds, so spacing can be readily controlled, and keeping the soil moist until the seedling are well established.

  Carrot CultureThe key to success with carrots is using pelleted seeds.

Mid-Summer HarvestCarrots, peas, onions, mustrad greens
If you like flowers that take care of themselves, day lilies are a good bet. They tend to spread a bit, which can be good or bad, but they are easy enough to control if they go to far. Different varieties can be used to extend the flowering period. This shot goes in my erotic flowers collection.

Day Lily StamensThe orange or tawny daylily (Hemerocallis fulva), common along roadsides in much of North America, is native to Asia. Along with the lemon lily (Hemerocallis flava), it is the foundational species for most modern cultivars.
The main animal ingredients of our mid-summer this year have been horses and butterflies.  In our ongoing quest for a second suitable trail riding horse, we sold our moody, cart-trained, Haflinger mare, Meadow, and bought Roy, an older gentleman gelding with a great resume. He’s 7/8 Polish Arabian with very tall withers, so fitting a saddle to him & me is now the challenge. Roy had been poorly cared for over the last year, but he’s gaining weight and has had his hooves trimmed by our new farrier, a 19-year-old who’s been a farrier since she was eleven!

Roy the Arabian21-year old gelding; 7/8 Polish Arabian, 1/8 quarterhorse

Trimming Roy's HoovesNineteen year old farrier has been trimming hooves since she was eleven.
Finally, a close-up shot of a great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele), which seems to be the most common butterfly here this season, followed by monarchs.

Window Bracket PhotographyVehicles of most kinds make good blinds for observing & photographing wildlife. Window brackets can sometimes help.

After thinking more about “road photography”, I have realized that Sunday mornings are the ideal time for this as very few people are out and about on country roads disturbing wildlife or staring at that guy parked on the side of the road spying on things. Thus, I have a new tradition of driving around back roads on early Sunday mornings with my camera ready to mount on the window.  Of the 100 or so shots to took on my first Sunday morning car-shoot, here are the four most worth looking at.     Beak Full of NeedlesFemale Eastern Bluebird with a beak full of Eastern White Pine needle bundles. Roadside TurkeyI could hear the chicks of this alert Wild Turkey hen peeping in the roadside vegetation.

Golden Hour DoeWhite-tailed deer posing in morning golden hour light. Fawn Wagging TailTo photograph this whitetail fawn in early morning golden light, I used my car as a blind on the side of a country road.

In the invertebrate realm, our milkweed patches continue spreading, and monarch larvae are abundant. Yesterday, I photographed (and videoed) a stink bug sucking the last life out of a monarch larva.  Hopefully, these bugs are not abundant! However, one website reports that only 5% of monarch larvae survive to pupate.  Although our homestead isn’t a great place for finding spider webs, perhaps due to its poor sandy soil, sheet webs are not too hard to find on dewy mornings.  Sheet webs are like deadly hammocks. They consist of a dense mass of threads with a maze of crisscrossing trip threads strung above the sheet. An insect flies into a thread and is knocked off course into the net below.  Spiral orb webs provide classic compositions for photographers, but finding ones with good backgrounds and no wind is a real challenge.

For the vegetables of the stew, I threw in pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys) and some skunk currant berries (Ribes glandulosum). Sounds tasty! Like its more familiar “cousin” (congener), Indian pipes (Monotropa uniflora), skunk currant is an achlorophyllous mycoheterotroph, meaning it has no chlorophyll and gets its nutrients from fungi associated with its roots. Skunk currant gets its name from the disagreeable odor given off by the ripe fruits. Flowers, peduncles (fruit stalks) and fruits are all covered with glandular hairs, from which it gets its specific epithet (glandulosum). Although the dark red berries begin to smell bad as they age, they are quite tasty when ripe. However, cultivation of this shrub is not recommended, as it carries white pine blister rust, which can kill pine trees.  A complexly flavored stew indeed!

Chickaree's SaladJuvenile chickaree (red squirrel) trying out some quack grass. Please eat it all! Unwary BunnyThis young cottontail was apparently the only survivor of its litter & it seemed to be too trusting.

Tree Swallow BrakingMale tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) coming in for a landing.

Sheet Web No. 1Sheet webs are like deadly hammocks. They consist of a dense mass of threads with a maze of crisscrossing trip threads strung above the sheet. An insect flies into a thread and is knocked off course into the net below.

Pinesap No. 3Pinesap (Monotrpa hypopithys), also called Dutchman's pipe, false beech-drops, and yellow bird's-nest, is an achlorophyllous mycoheterotroph, meaning it has no chlorophyl and gets its nutrients from fungi associated with its roots.

Skunk Currant BerriesSkunk currant gets its name from the disagreeable odor given off by the ripe fruits. Flowers, peduncles and fruits are all covered with glandular hairs, from which it gets its specific epithet (glandulosum). Although the dark red berries begin to smell bad as they age, they are quite tasty when ripe. Calico Spider WebDewy orb web reflecting morning light.

On returning to the developed part of the homestead, I couldn’t resist photographing “Margaret’s Iris” (from my sister’s garden) and a cluster of golden oyster mushrooms we inoculated a few years ago in aspen logs.  I had almost given up on these logs fruiting again, but decided to soak them one more time before sending them back to the soil.  Happy I did!  

Clover MowerEastern cottontail juvenile eating clover. Log HopperJuvenile red squirrel ready to hop.

Dewy Eastern Tent CaterpillarTent caterpillars, like many other species of social caterpillars, vigorously thrash the anterior part of their bodies when they detect predators and parasitoids. Such bouts of thrashing, which may be initiated by a single caterpillar, radiate rapidly through the colony and may result in group displays involving dozens of caterpillars.

Versatile SongsterChipping sparrow song types include contact calls, used for general communication during various activities such as flight, alarm calls, threat calls, fighting calls, and courtship/copulation calls. Aggressive BeautyEuropean swamp thistle (Cirsium palustre) Frog's Reading LampMoneses uniflora, the one-flowered wintergreen, single delight, wax-flower, shy maiden, star of Bethlehem, St. Olaf's candlestick, wood nymph, or frog's reading lamp, is a plant of the family of Ericaceae, that is indigenous to moist coniferous forests in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere from Spain to Japan and across North America. It is the sole member of genus Moneses. Golden Oysters on AspenGolden oyster (Pleurotus cornucopiae). The generic name Pleurotus is Latin for ‘side ear’ and refers to the lateral attachment of the stem; cornocopiae means horns of plenty, and indeed these hunting-horn-shaped mushrooms invariably occur in gregarious hordes.

Thirteen-liners require short-grass habitats. Originally confined to the prairie, they have extended their range northward and eastward over the past two centuries as land has been cleared. They’re most noticeable, and photographable, in May when the grass is still short and I’m about the homestead with orchard pruning, firewood processing, and garden preparations.  They’re fun to watch and fairly tolerant of humans, unless they eat too many strawberries or kohlrabis, and I have to live-trap and relocate a few.  Who they need to worry about are the red-tailed hawks and badgers. They are an important prey base for small predators, such as weasels, raptors, and snakes, and help to recycle soil nutrients through their burrowing activities.

Thirteen-liners have excellent senses of vision, hearing, and smell. They use alarm calls and other sounds, as well as using special scented secretions, to communicate with other squirrels. They rub glands around their mouth on objects to leave scent marks. They also greet one another by touching noses and lips.

The long scientific name for thirteen-liners is one of my favorite Latin binomials, Spermophilus tridecemlineatus, meaning seed-lover with thirteen lines.  They do love seeds but are actually omnivorous like many other small rodents (and humans). 

Standing TallThirteen-line ground squirrels have a habit of holding there long skinny bodies straight up as they survey the landscape by sight, sound & smell. TridecemlineatusTridecemlineatus (13 lines, in Latin), what a great species name! About half of the 13 lines show here.

Thirteen-liner CallingThey use alarm calls and other sounds, as well as using special scented secretions, to communicate with other squirrels. They rub glands around their mouth on objects to leave scent marks. Badger RototillingImagine my surprise when I awoke one morning to discover a badger had "rototilled" my lawn digging for grubs and ground squirrels.

Thirteen-liner with AcornI watched this thirteen-liner consume a whole red oak acorn as it stood tall & kept an eye on me. Red-tail LaunchingI saw this red-tailed hawk land in a tree at the edge of the woods - probably hunting ground squirrels. I went & got my camera & walked closer than I thought it would let me before it launched.

Thirteen-liner Sow & KitFemale squirrels are called sows and the young are called kits.

Foggy Orchard DuskBig Creek Homestead Orchard in September

Pruning PlatformFront-end loader makes a handy platform for pruning tall apple trees.





Pruning LaddersA selection of ladders, including a tripod-like orchard ladder is needed for managing old, standard-size, apple trees.

Burning Orchard PruningsApple prunings are burned to sanitize the oorchard against pests and diseases.
Orchard Cleansing BurnPeriodically burning the ground litter & vegetation in orchards is another form of rejuvenation.
 

Fresh Cut Shiitake LogsNorthern red oak logs felled when dormant to improve growth of trees left & bucked just before inoculation. Spent Shiitake Logs DetailAfter shiitake logs lose their bark, mushroom production stops or is very low.

Spent Shiitake BedlogsThese shiitake logs are being used for erosion control after 8-10 years of producing mushrooms. Robust Flush of ShiitakeBig flat shiitake lkie these are great for grilling.
 

Stinging NettlesUrtica dioica at the eating statge Snow-covered Stinging Nettles

Harvested Stinging Nettles

Checking a few websites, I have found that sugar makers have differing opinions about what to do about the ice that forms in sap buckets. Some say throw the ice out because it's just frozen water and the remaining liquid has a greater concentration of sugar and will require less fuel to boil down to syrup. Others say that too much sugar gets lost by dumping the ice and they collect it to get every last drop of syrup possible. Either way, the discs of ice that form can get pretty interesting with hollows, and channels, and crystals. If you look closely at the sap being poured from buckets with ice, you can often see threadlike networks caused by differential refraction of light in sap with varying concentrations of sugar. 

Another controversial topic amongst maple sugar makers is what to do about the foam that forms during boiling. The foam consists of organic compounds and results from a chemical reaction that occurs as the sap heats. Boiling also causes minerals in the sap to precipitate as solids. This precipitate is commonly called niter or sugar sand. It is harmless but gritty and not pleasant to eat. Skimming the foam reduces the amount of niter in the end product as the minerals stick to the organic compounds that make up the foam. Some argue that foam slows evaporation while others theorize via a lot of physics that foam actually increases evaporation.  On a small scale skimming the foam is easy.  On a large scale it can be a big deal and many kinds of defoaming agents are used. In any case, sugar sand can be mostly removed by filtering the syrup as it is bottled.    
 
Maple Sap Bucket IceIce in sap buckets is just frozen water, but some sugar can get trapped in it. Maple Sap Refraction LinesStreams of maple sap with varying concentrations of sugar, from freezing action, create threadlike patterns due to differential refraction of light.

 

Maple Sap Foam & SkimmerDuring boiling, foam develops after fresh sap is added. The foam is the product of a chemical reaction that occurs as the sap heats. The cooking also causes minerals in the sap to precipitate as solids. This precipitate is commonly called niter or maple sand. It is harmless but gritty and not pleasant to eat. The minerals stick to organic compounds that make up foam. Skimming foam reduces niter in the end product. I use an extra sap bucket to rinse the foam from the skimmer. Skimming the FoamMaple syrup makers have diverse ideas about what to do about foam. I skim it off.

Getting the sap from the sugar bush to the sugar house can be tricky with rapidly changing snow conditions. Over the years, we've used snowmobiles, ATV's, toboggans, and a tractor.  Maybe our Amish-trained, Haflinger mare, Meadow, could pull a sled. Sugaring coordinates well with orcharding. Pruning apple trees between rounds of hauling sap and tending the evaporator fire allow one to be productive all day. Warming up in the sugar house is very welcome after cooling off up a ladder in the orchard.  I also like sap season for the chances it provides to see the first migrating song birds returning and to hear the first cranes and geese overhead. 

Maple Sap Spigot Drippinga slow drip Maple Sap Evaporator

 

Hauling Maple Sap by Snowmobile Filtering Maple Sap Galvanized Maple Sap Bucket Hauling Maple Sap by ATV
 

The Old EvaporatorOld maple sap evaporator and smokehouse at Big Creek Homestead New Evaporator

Gold & AmberTwo grades of maple syrup from the same trees but earlier (gold) and later (amber) in the season

Rowan Plowing Snow in ColorMini-horse Rowan's last run at Big Creek (in color & monochrome)

Rowan Plowing Snow in MonochromeMini-horse Rowan's last run at Big Creek (in monochrome)

Here’s a recent personal example. Winter is an especially challenging time of year to photograph Nature in the UP. Cold fingers are my usual nemesis.  But, the colder the better for some subjects, particularly running water. Old Man Winter's artistry with snow and ice motivates me to explore creeks and rivers more often in winter than in other seasons. The ever-changing sculptures get me to strap on my snowshoes, and the tracks of otter, mink, and the others I discover remind me that riparian zones are prime wildlife corridors that need to be valued and protected.

Big Creek Ice Sculpture No. 2Big Creek is a tributary of the Chocolay River, Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula Otter Slide in Snow No. 1Otter slide indeep snow along Big Creek in Chocolay Twp., Marquette Co., Michigan