Nuts About Christmas
Spending more time indoors during recent cold and snowy weather, I’ve had a chance to do some Christmas baking. Sorting through my collection of nuts and spices, I started thinking about how all of these things have their origin in nature. We tend to take it for granted, but really, it is amazing how these exotic foods have made their way into our kitchen cupboards. Continue reading »
Snowberries for Winter
Several trees and shrubs have fruits that persist through the winter, adorning bare branches like miniature Christmas ornaments. Common snowberry, a native plant, is dotted with tumbling clusters of white berries that are very eye-catching during the fall and winter months. These white fruits add a touch of brightness to the green, grey landscape of a coastal winter. Continue reading »
Amazing Sea Anemones
Sea Anemones are beautiful creatures, whose delicate tentacles in shades of green, pink, red, orange or white resemble strange underwater flowers. Though they appear innocently flower-like, these beauties are predatory and carnivorous, and consume small fishes, crustaceans, and other prey. Touch the tentacles of the sea anemone, and you will feel the sticky grip that grabs and paralyzes unwary prey. Fortunately, humans aren’t usually affected by the toxic sting of the tentacles, so tentacle touching is a fairly safe game. Continue reading »
Fabulous Ferns
Maidenhair Fern
In the forest, clumps of sword ferns with green, arching fronds seem to leap up from the forest floor. As the fall leaves scatter to the ground, it is heartening to know that the ferns will stay green all winter. In the spring, the new fronds, coiled up as fiddleheads, unfurl in bright new shades of lime-green. The old fronds gradually decay back to the earth, making a rich layer of humus. Continue reading »
Filed under Nature Writing | Comment (0)The Beauty of Mt. Becher
Slopes of Mt. Becher
Last Sunday, on one of those gloriously sunny fall days, we made a spur of the moment decision to climb Mt. Becher. The trailhead, at the end of Forbidden Plateau Rd, is a short drive from Courtenay. The trail begins with a slog up the old ski hill, alternately known as Wood Mountain.
Things seem frozen in time here, and orange chairlifts dangle motionless in the air. Outbuildings with collapsed roofs, and other rusting equipment are evidence of the abandoned ski operation. All that remains of the lodge, which burned to the ground in 2002, is the cement foundation. Despite these remnants, there are stunning views of the Comox Valley, Georgia Strait and the Coast Mountains. Continue reading »
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