Highlights

September 2022 - More Springs and Seeps

ACTIVITY ALERT - Past Saturday's September Walk to Springs and Seeps and October's Walk

Another beautiful morning walk in the forest. On this walk we covered just over 5 miles and it appears that the summer's drought has been broken since the recent rain had both Blossom Brook and King Philip Brook flowing and we noticed mushrooms had popped up all along the trails we were following.

At King Philip's Spring we discussed the beginnings of what has come to be known as King Philip's war and discussed the story of Mary Rowlandson who was captured by the Indians in February of 1676, eventually ransomed back and who wrote a book of her ordeal, published in 1682, entitled, "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Mary was the first woman in America to have a book published and it became a best seller in colonial America.

If you would like to read Mary's story, here it is: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/851/851-h/851-h.htm

To the observant hiker there is always some bird, mammal, amphibian, insect or other critter waiting to be seen, out and about, also enjoying the forest. Here is a fluffy-fuzzy hickory tussock moth caterpillar out walking too.

Photos by Liz.

Next walk will be in early October. It may be a mushroom walk. If the weather is too dry, maybe not. Watch for more info the last week in September about the next walk.

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INFO ALERT - You were meant to be wild! Return to the forest, your ancestral home - Part 3

Besides hiking and all those other forest activities that we covered in parts 1 and 2, here's another wild and fun thing to do in the forest.

Meet the fungus among us!

October is a great month to spend outdoors in New England. The air is dry, clean and crisp; colorful mushrooms and changing leaves brighten the landscape. At this time of year …sunny fall days, cool rainy nights …mushrooms appear almost magically in New England woodlands.

Mushrooms come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes. They are an ideal subject for nature photography or any other art discipline since, unlike other denizens of the forest, they do not run and hide when a human comes walking along. If you just want to study them, then you are a mycologist, one who studies fungi.

Or, maybe you want to eat them! If so, you are a mycophagist. Picking a mushroom does not hurt the living organism, called the mycelium which is hidden below ground, in a tree, etc. The mushroom is like a fruit. An apple is a fruit of the apple tree. Picking and eating the apple does not harm the organism, the apple tree.

Since not all mushrooms are delicious and some are poisonous, those interested in gathering edible mushrooms must know what they are doing. Cross check your finds with a few different field guides. Today, there are dozens of books on mushroom identification and mushroom identification sites on the Internet. The quickest way to learn is to join a local mushroom club. Here, in our neck of the woods, that would be the Boston Mycological Club (BMC). Would you like to know more? Here they are: https://bostonmyco.org/about/

Some local autumn mushrooms :