Walking at Ward Hills

 



Today was just too perfect. This afternoon, Maggie and I headed out to do a loop hike that I like. It involves a couple of sand roads, but that's ok. I like it because it takes in the site of the former Ward Hills Fire Tower. If you look carefully, you can see the foundations for two of the legs on the left side of the picture. The tower was taken down long ago. To walk this loop, I park on a sand road called Fox Trail, walk north to 3rd St (sounds fancy, but it's a sand road, too). Turn right and walk till I get to the Fire Tower Road, and turn left. The road climbs and ends where the tower would have been.



The trees have grown up, and there's not really a good view from up there any more. When the leaves come down you can see a line of low hills to the west. Those hills are tree-covered dunes, like the ones I show you when I walk at Nordhouse Dunes. But I can't identify any particular places in this picture.



The color season is going to be over very soon. The leaves are quickly falling off the trees. Many, today, were already bare. But these leaves, on a black oak tree, are still bright.

From the tower hill, to make this loop, I bushwhack to the east for just a short ways. I know just which saddle between the hills to cross, and then I find myself at the North Country Trail. I turn south on it. The trail drops back down to the level of 3rd St. and crosses that. Then there are some gentle ups and downs.

One of my favorite places is a red pine plantation that is down in a hollow to the right of the trail. I think I've taken pictures here every single time I've hiked through here (OK, maybe not quite), but have never gotten the picture I really wanted with the sun through the pines. But this one is close. What do you think?

Just a little farther, and I reach an abandoned woods road, which takes me back out to Fox Trail, and my car. Total length? About 3.5 miles.



Oh, the answer to yesterday's question- How do you find an orange dog? You throw a stick, and then you can see her move! She looks quite vicious here. But I don't think you need to worry unless you are a stick.

Color in "My Kingdom"

This post isn't profound, it's just what brought me the most joy today. I thought it wasn't going to be a very good color year. I've decided that the yellows aren't so good, but the reds and oranges are quite lovely. The picture above is trees across the railroad tracks with morning sun highlighting them.



As I walk over the hill toward the cemetery, this mulberry is one of the few trees on the hill that isn't a white pine.


Once I get to the cemetery, the colors are always stunning. I don't know if someone purposely chose which trees to plant 100 years ago, or if it's just chance, but there is always a variety of color- reds, oranges, gold.


This is my favorite. Doesn't it look peaceful?


OK, just for fun... how do you find an orange dog in the orange leaves?

Peanut Butter Fun

 


Sometimes the planets align, and things come together. One of the kitchen tools that I grew up with is a hand grinder, and I don't think I could cook without it. But sometimes, we never really look at familiar things. I'd never, ever, paid any attention to this particular choice of cutter wheel. See what it says?

Well, I also still had about a half pound of raw peanuts. These were the last of a larger bag that SIL, Loretta, brought to us at Christmas. They were getting stale, and so I decided to bring those two entities together.



So, I began. Wow! I'm not a weakling, but I sure learned that if I were going to make my own peanut butter on a regular basis, I'd gain a muscle or two. Nevertheless, I soon had a dish full of little maggoty-looking peanut shreds. It didn't appear to have enough oil, so I went right to the internet.



Yup, you have to add extra oil. I didn't have any peanut oil, so I just used Canola. It seems fine, but it took more oil than I expected to make it spreadable.

I also ground up some salted peanuts to add to the raw ones. It ended up with a pretty good taste. But I like crunchy peanut butter. So I changed cutter wheels, and ground up one more little pile of peanuts.

Overall the background texture is much grainier than store peanut butter, and the peanuts that were a little stale make... stale-tasting butter. That's not exactly a surprise. But I'll eat it. I was surprised at how much butter I ended up with from what didn't look like a very big pile of peanuts.

Would I do this again? Maybe. I'll tell you after I eat up this batch.

Edible or Poisonous?

 

I spent a lot more time than I thought I would to create a post for today. But, one thing led to another, and here is where it ended up. This is sort of a game. I've got pictures of three plants to show you. Take a guess whether the plant you are shown is edible. You can also guess what it is, if you don't know. Then you can scroll down just a little to see the answer. The reason it took so long is that I went hunting for real info, not just "stuff people say."



This is just an asparagus plant Asparagus officinalis, gone to seed. Of course we all eat asparagus- in the spring, that is. The fresh spears that break through the soil are SO yummy. But it's not a good idea to eat the berries. They will give you a severe stomach ache, and possibly a skin rash, or even blisters. I couldn't find a really "strong" source for this information.



This is the shaggy mane mushroom Coprinus comatus. It is reputed to be a choice edible, but I've never tried it. I have a friend who has. I'm considering being brave. There aren't any in its family that are poisonous. However, you need to get it quickly, because, like so many plants, timing is everything. If you wait even a day too long the shaggy mane begins a process of self-digestion, and you don't want to eat it then. The patch of these I found today didn't have any in the really weird stage. Maybe I can find one tomorrow. While they are self-digesting, they look like they are dripping ink. But the picture below is one that is pretty well done "eating itself."





Here's a really attractive plant. It's pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. This was the hardest of all to find scientific evidence concerning it's toxicity. For sure, the roots and mature leaves are toxic. Many people eat the early spring shoots before they turn red, by boiling three times, pouring off the water between boilings. The friend mentioned above eats them by the tubfull in the spring. But how about the berries? You can read everything from "deadly poisonous," to "adult humans can eat up to 10 berries with no effect," to "the seeds are poisonous, but extracted juice with discarded seeds is fine."

I found one scientific study which tested the toxicity. They extracted berry juice and tried to kill mice with it. The mice's stomachs were not big enough to hold a lethal dose. After force feeding the mice three stomachs full with an hour between feedings, a few of the mice died. Not exactly definitive. This, extrapolated to an adult human of about 150 pounds, would be a possibly lethal dose at 45 pounds of berries (45 pounds of many things we eat would kill us!). And yet, there are anecdotal stories of children dying from eating a few of these berries. Other reports say that in Europe they add pokeberry juice to some wines.

See Studies on the Toxicity of Poke Berries Oklahoma Academy of Science, 1962 See Can You Eat Asparagus Berries?

Views While Biking in Holland

 



Yup, it was more than a bike ride, it was a gorgeous fall color tour. There were even people out driving around with their cameras and stopping to take pictures of some of the trees.




This tree was getting a particular amount of attention from passers-by. A couple even recognized us in the restaurant as the bikers who were taking its picture while they were snapping it from their van.




I love things like old water towers. Here's one of the design that was the standard in the first half of the 20th century. The graffiti even looks like it's celebrating the season.




We were surprised to find these morning glories in full bloom in mid-afternoon. But they sure were an amazing contrast to all the warm colors.




While we were ogling the blueness, someone started scolding loudly across the street. I don't know what she was so unhappy about, but I managed to catch her picture!

And that's all... it was a great day!