A Farewell to Kings

Yesterday I took Penny for a walk to Sandogardy Pond. It was a fairly warm day.

Chair in the Woods

This chair has been in this spot in the woods for at least as long as we have lived here. When I saw it yesterday, I thought I would take a picture, as it reminded me of the album cover for “A Farewell to Kings.” All it lacks is a puppet king sitting on it.

While we were out, I could see where I had walked with my snowshoes a few weeks ago. The snow around the tracks has mostly melted, but the tear-shaped tracks are still there:

Snowshoe Tracks

When we got to the creek I saw something green. Upon closer inspection, I was able to recognize it as Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata).

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

This is a wild edible plant, but if you wait too long, the flavor becomes way too strong. It tastes very much like garlic. I ate a couple of these, and then picked all the rest.

It’s not usually a good idea to wipe out a stand of a wild edible plant, but in this case, it is actually a great idea. Garlic Mustard is an invasive alien, and if it were to gain a foothold in these woods, pretty soon it would establish a monoculture. Then these woods would no longer support any of the native herbs that grow there: wintergreen, jack-in-the-pulpit, several ferns, etc. All we would have would be garlic mustard.

I bagged it up and stuffed it in my pocket.

After school I was scheduled to take two of my Pathfinders on a field trip. We drove around Concord to assess the needs of the community. We were on the lookout for homeless people, unmaintained property, etc. While I had them in the car, I offered them some Garlic Mustard. They all tried it, but one kid liked it quite a lot. He asked if he could have some, so I told him to take as much as he wanted. He took half. When he got home, he fed it to his parents – neither of whom liked it. But he liked it OK, so maybe he can eat it out of existence wherever he finds it.

This stuff is probably best when added to soup or some other recipe. On its own, it is very potent, even when picked this early in the year.

 

Alien Invasion

Today at lunch I had to go to the bank. So I took my camera along and took the long way back to the office. Here’s what I found.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

This is garlic mustard. It’s an invasive alien, but it is also a tasty invasive alien. I ate some of this one after it posed for me. That was not nice!

Honeysuckle

This is some sort of honeysuckle. I have no idea what kind. That’s another genus of plants that I have not studied too much because of the overwhelming number of species. According to Wikipedia, there are 180 of them. This particular one is very possibly another invasive alien. It was growing along the railroad tracks, so if it’s not an alien, it could be a hobo instead.

Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)

Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) is for sure an invasive alien though. If all of these flowers turn into berries, I will have plenty of fruit for jam making this fall. I made a batch last year, and I’m down to my last jar now. I should have made more!

After work I went grocery shopping for the Camporee this weekend. Then I picked up Jonathan and he helped me unload the groceries at the church. Tomorrow I will take off work at lunchtime, load the groceries into the trailer (along with the cardboard kayak and a hundred other items). One of the other staff members will take the canoe on top of his car. It’s supposed to rain, so I bought another sheet of plastic to cover the canoe in. After all, we wouldn’t want it to get wet before the race. I suppose that’s a real vote of confidence!

Then as soon as school is out, we will set out for Camp Lawroweld in Maine. If I’m not too wiped out, I will post again when I return Sunday.