Site Discussions

Hi Susan - great article and photos.

While the focus of your article is on wildlife food, as you know, many of the “mast” species you included in your article are also edible by people:

Hawthorn
Beaked Hazelnut
Eastern Red Cedar (sparingly)
Highbush Cranberry (but see comment below)
Staghorn Sumac
Black Elderberry
Nannyberry
Black Cherry
Choke Cherry
Common Juniper (sparingly)

I mention this because I think the “you can eat it too” factor provides a significant incentive for people to plant the above species beyond the pure ecological argument (although admittedly your photos also show that many mast plants are nice to look at too).

Here, in case it might interest you and/or others you know, is a link to a list I prepared on the edible native species of the Northeast:
http://ecolandscaping.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Edible-Native-Plants-of-Mass.-Northeast-U.S.-and-E.-Canada-March-18-2013.pdf

BTW - according to the (IMO) great website GoBotany, created/maintained by the New England Wild Flower Society, a very closely-related species, Squashberry (Viburnum edule) grows in Northern New England - see https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/viburnum/edule/?key=dichotomous.  I believe this plant produces tastier (albeit still quite sour) berries than V. tilobum - I have made a sauce from V edule that is more or less identical to a seedless bog cranberry sauce.

Thanks for this article.  I look forward to trying the recipe.

For those of you seeking more info about Black Walnut trees, including a big section on processing and eating the nuts (contributed by yours truly), including two recipes,you might want to check out the September 2014 edition of the Mass. Citizen Forester newsletter.

Here’s the link: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/stewardship/forestry/urban/citizen-forester/cf2014-sept.pdf

The Black Walnut article begins on p.3.

It gives me chills to read about the ages of some of the world’s oldest trees.  We had a 200 year old maple succumb to the ice storm last December. It was on its way out, but the last large surviving branch got broken off. The trunk is almost hollow, the Pileated and other woodpeckers work. It was like a member of the family; now we mourn its death. Oh, to see the trees when we first stepped foot on America’s soil. Giants.
Thanks for this story

“Turning on the propane” ...
reminded me of hooking up the propane at a deer camp some 40 years ago. I was in the back sleeping room igniting the gas lights while my friend was lighting the pilot on the cook stove.
It was not so much a bang as it was a very loud “fooop!”. Just as I was about to claw a new rear entrance to the camp, he shouted, “found it!”,and deer season began once again.

Beware, gardening different types of peppers is fun, but the oils in the plants themselves can cause reactions. Late this summer, I came in to contact with a pepper plant, it brushed up against my leg. It was a hot pepper plant branch that had been cut and had been in the sun. I picked it up because there was still a long red pepper on the plant and I wanted to use it to spice up a dish I was preparing.  Little did I know the sap from this plant, just brushing up against the skin can cause blisters and burning itch type rash.

The blisters appeared days later, were itchy, burst, then the itchy rash spread where the fluid went. Ouch, so itchy.
Calamine, hydrocorstisone, aloe lotion, basically treat as a wound, wash, apply ointment, cover with bandage, repeat.

It’s two weeks now and it’s barely starting to fade, but the itching subsided -  thankfully.

Back in the late 90’s, a buddy of mine dropped me off at my house. When he was going down the driveway he said a large cat crossed in front of him. I told him it was probably a Bobcat, but he said there was no way it was a Bobcat -  the tail was just as long as the body on the cat.

About six months later I was down at my neighbors doing some maintenance on his heavy equipment. We started talking about it my neighbor said it triggered on his motion lights; he saw the same cat.

I think the State is reluctant to acknowledge them because the fact that they would have to be protected.

In my 34 years, having grown up in Maine, hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, I have only seen two bears. The fact is, I am far more afraid of the drug addicts that roam this state than I am of any old bear…people are much more of a realistic threat.

I don’t feel that population control is a valid excuse for some of the torture these bears go through. Had this bill been worded a bit differently I am sure it would’ve passed. Most hunters that I know feel the same.

Wondering what to do with the 25 tadpoles I brought in from our water feature in the backyard when it started getting very cold here.

Knowing that the limited water in the fountain would freeze solid eventually, I hated to think of the little tadpoles in there doing the same thing. I scooped up enough water from the fountain in which they had hatched and poured it—and the tadpoles -  into a large plastic container that is now sitting in my kitchen. I live in Atlanta, and although we are currently getting freezing nights, our little pond in the nearby park never freezes over.

Should I just transport the tads there and let nature take its course? They’ve been inside for about two weeks & although they’re getting larger, they do not seem to be developing further. And, I think they are likely bullfrogs, which I have read can take two to three years to metamorphosis! Any advice?

Sitting in Camp as I read this. Hunting is such an important part of my life, I would not miss it for anything.

Thank you for making people aware of such trees.  The Earth Tenders group at WildMetro has begun working to try and save as many such trees as we can.  In the oak savanna parts of America people call the thinning of younger trees around such field grown trees “day lighting”.  In England they use the lovely term “Haloing”.  Both terms recognize the need for more light to keep the form of these special trees.  Anyone who wants to help with this project can email wildmetro"at"gmail.com. 

I’m 27 and have been helping dad split wood for quite some time and he has always used a maul. Back in high school my friend would chop wood for his dad and he used an axe, which was quite difficult and always got stuck in the piece he was trying to split. In my opinion the maul is where it is at. I’ve never seen a massive knot-ridden piece of wood explode like it does when dad hits it with a maul.

The maul is heavier and although it may seem counter intuitive, is easier to use. Just put it up there and basically guide it down as it drops. It will destroy what your splitting. If it’s a bigger or knotty piece a little more effort need be applied. We have a maul and an ax and if I’m doing any splitting at all, I pick up the maul every time.

“Excess doves”? What about excess humans? Should we shoot them? The reasons these hunters invent to justify their infantile urge to shoot something never ceases to depress me.

I could never have enough doves, or any other bird—they’re all becoming too scarce. I have never seen a bobcat, either, and yet hunters are out there trapping and killing them for “sport.” Absolutely disgusting.

Thank you for an interesting article.

As ever, when publicizing the joys of wild foods, please educate us readers as to the relative abundance of this species, risks and effects of over-harvesting, and so forth.

That’s not always the case, Richard. Some foresters work on a percentage basis, but others charge a per-hour rate. Some mix and match depending on the type of work they’re doing.

I have used a Wood Doctor Brand Outdoor furnace for 7 heating seasons. We are beginning our 8th with this unit. I live in a remote location at about 1600 feet in elevation. I am in the mountains so the wind is pretty much constant. I have seen many smoking units but mine is not one of them. My unit will puff when the fan turns on for a few minutes and then it has clear exhaust and no smoke. This is only after a fuel load. once the fuel load has been fired subsequent firings are cleaner quicker. After the fan shuts down the only thing you see is a little steam that doesn’t get more then 10 feet from the chimney top. This also reduces as the fuel load is consumed. Late in the fuel load consumption there is almost no visible exhaust.  I burn a mixture of seasoned wood and some green. My greenest wood has been cut and split for at least 6 months. Its stacked covered.  This unit has more then paid for its self in fuel savings over propane or Fuel oil. My neighbors dont even know I have one. I would urge caution in outlawing this economical way of heating. Not every unit/operator is the same. I would hate to be barred from saving money and doing no harm just because a few people are irresponsible. We dont outlaw cars because some segment of the population drives drunk.

Consulting forester gets 15% or more of total value of timber harvested. Keep that in mind if your thinking of going that route.

A lot of timber buyers have different markets. In some cases a lot of different markets for logs - whether selling by the cord for pulp, or veneer, grade logs, ties,pallet, Grade/Yield, or by the board foot.

Thanks for writing this article.  It is very interesting and the photos are great. Do you happen to know where the tanneries procured the large amounts of animal hides needed for the larger operations in the early 19th century?  Were they contracting with large scale cattle operations or could they have been contacting large numbers of small farmers to fill the demand? 

Thanks!

Should not have read this while eating lunch.

At the end you refer to the creator as her and the glory his.  Was wondering what you meant.

Great article!

Andrew

Aaron, they may move out soon on their own as they prepare for winter and move to hibernacula. However, some species will spend the winter in attics. These tend not to be the same species that are highly afflicted by white-nose syndrome. So if you ethical dilemma is a result of not wanting to harm a population that is already decimated by WNS, then you probably do not have to worry, as the bats in your neighbors attic are probably a species that is largely unaffected by WNS. Do you have reason to believe that your neighbor’s daughter would come in contact with the bats in the attic? Bats certainly can pose risks of disease (rabies, histoplasmosis), but they serve such huge ecosystem services at the same time (reduce populations of insects that spread other diseases). My opinion would be to leave them be unless you have reason to believe that someone will actually come in close contact with the bats.