One of the interesting immediate variations from the snow observed a week ago is the much more significant influence of wind. Wavy patterns of wind erosion and shaping were everywhere in the open areas where wind had an effect. The northern sides of the “spoils pile” photographed a week before were virtually bare on the windward side, while piles of snow drifted up to 3’ deep where the combination of topography and vegetation at the margins of areas that had grown up create places where wind is slowed or where an eddy occurs below the direct line of sight to the north. The wind appears to be strong enough to expose all the tiny rocks on the surface of newly graded subsoil. It is obvious that wind will be a problem for new vegetation which may be seeded into the area and anything we attempt to plant on this bare ground.
When I began collecting “weed samples” the action of wind on the seed of plants which still had seed was very obvious. When I picked a lone wand of a “mullen” which apparently contained thousands of tiny black seeds, it looked as though someone had ground pepper over the surface of the snow. The seed heads which had little fluffy “sails” dropped seeds onto the snow which scooted along downwind almost immediately, rolling along the surface of the snow which had crusted up slightly under the combination of wind and morning sun. A picture of the seed head follows:
Photo 1
“Mullen” stalk
In the same place where I had noticed rabbit tracks a week before, new tracks had been created and then mostly filled in by drifting powder. On the trail near where I had seen a “black flash” across the trail a week earlier, I spotted tiny fresh mouse or vole tracks, indicating an animal probably less than 3” long which had been running across the crust of the snow, keeping in the shadows of downed sticks and branches when they were near the ground.
Out in the “old meadow” I became very aware of the number of wild rose bushes which had invaded the pasture grass which makes up the base of a fairly stable environment there. The number of rose plants has increased over the past three years. I had become aware of the possibility of “galls” on various weeds in my reading and looked for them. I spotted only one small round “crabapple” shaped gall on a short plant near the trail. There were several of them grouped fairly close to each other all on the same type of plant. I took a sample, but by the time I got my collection of weeds home to photograph them, it had gotten lost.
In an area where people from the church had constructed a fire circle in a grassy clearing, I noted what I think were fresh deer tracks. They came up through some fairly thick underbrush into the clearing and browsed around the plants on the uphill side of the clearing where they would have been warmed by the morning sun. Little evidence of damage to the vegetation was evident. From the tracks, the animal had “sniffed around” and left. It is surprising how low to the ground this animal seems to be. It had come through a thicket which would be almost impossible for me to navigate standing up. If the animal was 2’ or 3’ tall or pushed through using a lowered head spreading the vegetation with its back without disturbing much and was less than 4’ tall, it would have been comfortable moving along the trail it chose. The small hoof prints were characteristic deer tracks in the foot deep snow.
I walked down a frequently used trail which parallels a couple of old fences. The two parallel each other about 16’ apart. I am puzzled why the farmers of 15-35 years ago would have built two fences so close together. Maybe the area between them was a “pen” for young, or a place where one animal could be isolated. Maybe the area between them was used as a “road” to drive cattle up the hill from a pasture. There are the remains of an old board gate at the top end of this pair of parallel fence lines. Between the two fences, so much underbrush has grown up that I would be very uncomfortable trying to push my way up the hill between the fences. Traffic along the downhill side of one of the fences has kept an open passage which is heavily shaded in the summer by the young trees which have grown up south of the path. I spent some time looking closely at the bark of one of the larger ones. It looks like cherry bark but more like the domestic varieties I remember from childhood than the heavy black bark of the black cherry which grows in the more wooded areas of the property to the south and east. I’ll have to come back in the spring and see if it is possibly a variety of cherry somebody might have planted there.
Down at the foot of the trail, I stopped and sat absolutely still in the sun for five minutes. At first, a “cheep” “cheep” bird call had attracted my attention. I wanted to see if I could spot it. No luck. I noticed a crackling sound which came and went. Eventually I figured out that wind was rubbing bare branches together in the trees overhead. I started counting and trying to identify distinct bird sounds. No birds were visible during my pause. I recognized the call of a robin, and counted six distinctly different calls.
As I stood up, I took a close look at the trees around me. From previous trips to the area, I was aware of the Emerald Ash Borer infestation and observed a white ash trunk which had a distinct 10’ wide band of bark which was chipping off as the tree swayed in the wind. Below the band were signs of new growth, but above it, the tree is probably dead. The ash borer damage is an item I plan to photograph on another trip through the area.
Along the access road to the septic field is an area where the congregational “stewardship group” had held a “work party” to attempt a reduction in the spread of garlic mustard which had invaded the forest edge created by the reopening of the road used to build and expand our septic field. I was unable to identify the weed stalks which might have been remaining garlic mustard stems left in an area I knew we didn’t pull. I pulled bare stems and chewed the seed head hoping to taste a garlic related flavor, but what I got felt and tasted more like dry straw with no distinct flavor.
On my way back up the hill, I noted a stack of “tree rounds” which had been prepared for use in the creation of a “council ring” where people could sit at the top of one of our newly created “spoils pile” mounds.
After I got home, I took my weed samples out in the yard and stuck them into the snow so I could photograph each one separately. I found the task of identifying plants from photographs of a single sample somewhat daunting. First I’ll include the ones I’m fairly sure I’ve identified. The last pictures are of items I really have been unable to identify.
This first picture is commonly called “Queen Anne’s Lace.” It is a weed which does well in pasture land and abandoned fields. In the summer it has a flower head consisting of a large number of white smaller flowers in a lace pattern.
Photo 2
Queen Anne’s Lace
I have tentatively identified the following as goldenrod.
Photo 3
Goldenrod
This next plant is a variety of thistle.
Photo 4
Thistle
What follows is a mystery plant to me. Our open areas have a lot of thistles and teasel plants. It has thorns and may be another variety of thistle.
Photo 5
Second Thistle Variety?
The seed heads of this weed are similar in many respects to those of the ornamental plant called “Seedum” which has a spongy thick leaf and a seed head which stands as a decoration in a lot of flower gardens, but I do not believe the two are the same. My plant book says it might be Yarrow.
Photo 6
Seedum type weed (Yarrow?)
This flowering weed has “puff ball” seeds similar in some respects to milkweed. Initially I had considered it might be an aster, but I’m not so sure.
Photo 7
Possibly Aster?
This next plant may be the aster I was looking for or a relative. It too has fluffy seed heads, but the stem structure is different.
Photo 8
Another type of Aster?
These last two weeds remain unidentified. This one has no visible seed heads and the upward stalks are actually its leaves in summer.
Photo 9
Unknown Weed 1 (Mustard?)
This last unidentified weed seems to have lost its leaves and the stems, while remaining standing, are obviously not coming back to life next year.
Photo 10
Unknown dry sticks