My Bit of Heaven - by Kristl Walek

[Paddy Tobin]

Kristi,

Many thanks. I shall get my friend to watch for seed for me. He is extremely keen on native plants, trees and shrubs in the main, and has good contacts around the states with whom he swaps.

Poutine - a certain recipe for cholesterol! (as well as looking disgusting!)

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Re: Poutine...... Lesley may wish she hadn't asked, but I am very pleased she did.....she just beat me to it in the first place! Yummy!!

[Joakim B]

Even though the name sounds French the dish seems to fit the British or at least the Scottish cooking.
I think I would have skipped the gravy or at least had less of it but I would try.

Kind regards
Joakim

[art600]

Maggi

Does Poutine surpass that famous Scottish dish 'Fried Mars bar' or come a close second?  Not sure my Statins could cope with either.

[Maggi Young]

Though our excellent local chip shop makes deepfried easter eggs at the appropriate season ( admittedly for the private order of a pair of doctors !!??!! ) I must confess I have never eaten that, or a deepfried Mars Bars, so I am not in a great position to comment......whenever I have heaeded  down to the chip shop with a mars bars to have it fried, I have always consumed it before I get there 

Knowing, however, of the joys of that fine British dish, chips and curry sauce.... I see no reason why the various types of poutine should not gain HUGE popularity throughout the UK and particulalrly in Scotland    I would like to try it with fresh buffalo mozzarella instead of the cheddar curds...

[Kristl Walek]

I will try to describe the scent tomorrow when I walk the area again---all I recall now is strong and sweet.


Aaron:
We have had a smell fest--if two noses qualifies as a fest.

I maintain my earlier "sweet"--although the fragrance was not "in the air" today---(rain again!!!!)
I tend to be rather sensitive to smells, especially strong, sweet ones---after about a week of the powerful Syringa reticulata, I start taking the long way around the tree to avoid it...but this scent I find quite lovely.

But Graham says "heady, heavy, smells like pollen and overall rather unpleasant."

Do you think it's a male-female thing?

[Lesley Cox]

Break out the Simvastatin.

johnw

I don't know what this is but anyway, for me it would have to be slimvastatin

[johnw]

Break out the Simvastatin.

johnw

I don't know what this is but anyway, for me it would have to be slimvastatin

It is used to control hypercholesterolemia. I once sat next to someone who ate Poutine and felt I should have had a tablet.

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

Like I put on weight when I walk past a cake shop.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

Yes, but it helps if you don't actually go in and buy!! 

Kristl,

Not necessarily a male-female thing, just a "different nose" thing.  I have a couple of the most wonderfully perfumed Galanthus elwesii, I can smell them a metre or two away, but my wife smells them as "green".  Of a couple of neighbours some can smell them and others can't, no relation to their gender in any way.  I'm glad I can smell them because they're beautiful.  If you've ever smelt Brown Boronia it is stunning, but apparently you either can or can't smell it.  Something in some noses just won't register the scent of it.  I can smell it from the other end of the nursery.  I walk in the door and just KNOW they've got it in, despite the fact it may be 20 or 30 metres away out the back of the building I am standing in.  I just LOVE it!! 

[Kristl Walek]

The seed collecting has been so intense recently that I have not even allowed myself the distraction of bringing the camera on any of my outings. Over 150 species have been collected, cleaned and tested thus far.

But today did not sound as strenuous, and I've missed sharing my times in the wild with you.

The first quick stop of the day was an exposed marble outcrop to collect Asplenium platyneuron, another of the choice, small ferns, which grows here in abundance. It's a short climb to the rocky top and the ferns were perfectly ready. The fronds are long and narrow.

Ostrya virginiana, grew high on the ridge as well, with its hop-like fruit already formed.

The beautiful Dryopteris marginalis was also present, although it's spores were not yet ripe. It gets its species name from the arrangement of the spore sack along the very margins of the frond underside.

[Kristl Walek]

Stop number two was a mixed deciduous/coniferous woods where the collecting goals were Prunus virginiana, Uvularia grandiflora and Trientalis borealis and to check on the status of a number of other species.

This is a woods notorious for swarms of deer fly at this time of the year, so the patches were put on the back of my hat, the long-sleeved shirt was buttoned up tight and as little skin as possible was left exposed. Then I just breathe deeply and go, knowing there is nothing else to be done, except to be efficient and get back to the vehicle as quickly as possible. (I can't work with the bug-mesh over my head...).

It's unfortunate because it's a lovely woods with diverse, interesting environments from dry to wet, acid to alkaline. And, as it turned out, I was not able to simply collect and go. But more about that later.

The Prunus virginiana, at the edge of the forest was quick and easy as the trees were loaded with long wands of fruit.

Trientalis borealis flowers translate into this small sky-blue seed ball filled with tiny seeds.

And Uvularia grandiflora pods were abundant this year. One likes to find them at the brown stage, just opening to light beige/brown hard seeds inside. However, this is near impossible, as they often split while barely to the whitish stage. So I pick those that have a white tinge, leaving the green pods. The more advanced pods will normally be further down the plant, hiding underneath the foliage, as those will have flowered first.

If you gather immature seed, it will rot when it contacts moisture.

Uvularia sessilifolia is not like this---it's pods stay intact until they are gathered, notwithstanding the advanced level of ripeness.

[Paul T]

Kristl,

So I take it that Deer Fly are pretty nasty then?

[Kristl Walek]

The acid woods part of this site has the normal drifts of Cypripedium acaule, and there were some unusually large specimens here. Some Monotropa and a few Spiranthes were also to be seen.

However, as I was checking the status of a Pyrola species here, I wandered a bit off-course, as my eye caught something in the distance. I found myself in an area that I had never explored in the many years I have been coming to these woods. And there I was astounded to find the largest colony of Chimaphila umbellata I have ever seen. It literally carpeted the floor for as far as the eye could see.

And I stopped hurrying and just let the deer fly bite!!!!!!

[johnw]

Paul - The deer flies are positively nasty. I think they take a chunk of skin with them when they bite. They are harassers and no matter which way you turn they are always directly over & behind your head.  It is only possible it seems to smack one out of ten when they finally land on the back of your head (if you know it's landed). Hair would be a wonderful deterrent.

An old gentleman once warned me never to take a hammer into the woods in deer fly season.

Kristl - Those Chimaphila shots are astounding.  Thanks so much and must get some of those deerfly sticky patches at CTC - ah the satisfaction.

johnw