Outdoors
Troxler: Raw milk puts human health at risk
From childhood, we have learned that milk is a foundational food, growing strong bones and a healthy body. People likely remember the slogan “Milk, It Does a Body Good” and our meals being served with a glass of milk. Milk is a staple of childhood and a product families can confidently serve their kids.
The Joyful Botanist: Let this umbrella make you smile
Were you suddenly stuck on a north facing hillside in the Blue Ridge mountains during a Summer thunderstorm and were without jacket or hood, in theory you could pull off the leaf of one of my favorite wildflowers, flip it upside down and wear it on your head like one of those cheesy umbrella hats — that is, if you are near to where the umbrella leaf grows.
Up Moses Creek: Because it’s here
When April rains fall on Moses Creek and wake the dormant winter roots, and when the warm sun, following, fills the woods with wildflowers, bird songs and budding leaves, and suddenly the whole valley is on its way to spring’s green apogee, then travelers from North Carolina and other states fly to Kathmandu, Nepal, where, breathing oxygen from tanks on their backs, and with their minds partly crazed with cold, they try to climb Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, “Because it’s there.” For mountain climbers, our spring coincides with the best of Everest’s bad seasons to attempt its frozen summit.
The Joyful Botanist: Here grow pinkshells, far from the seashore
If you are driving or walking in the woods in the higher elevations of Western North Carolina at this time of year, you may be treated to the most beautiful explosion of deeply pink azalea flowers blooming in profusion all throughout the woods. And it’s not just any old azalea, but it’s a special and rare species that are often be taken for granted.
The Joyful Botanist: Robin’s Plantain
Among the earliest flowering members of the Aster Family (Asteraceae) is the robin’s plantain (Erigeron pulchellus). Around Cullowhee, the robin’s plantain begins blooming in early April at lower elevations and can be seen blooming at higher elevations into June.
Up Moses Creek: The Last Trail
When I told Becky on New Year’s Day that this was going to be my last trail, she laughed, “You said that three trails back.” She was thinking of the Spring Creek, Sourwood, Open Woods, Deer Point and other trails I’ve built over the years in the woods around our house. Becky likes walking the trails as much as I do.
The Joyful Botanist: Up Moses Creek
I really enjoy and am honored by the fact that I share this column space with Burt Kornegay who writes the fun and informative column. I like sharing this space because I enjoy reading his writing, and because he is a friend and a big influence on me and my work leading plant walks.
The Joyful Botanist: Something Spicy
Many of the first signs of springtime are subtle. There are little shifts in the breeze as the sun begins to feel a bit warmer and remains in the sky a little bit longer each day. Birdsong increases morning and evening, and other flying beings begin buzzing around looking to forage some pollen and nectar.
Up Moses Creek: ‘The sun is not so central as a man.’ — Henry Thoreau
Just as the morning sun shoots out beams that light up the mountains, so our eyes shoot out beams, too, rays of comprehension that light up what they fall on with human significance and warmth.
