Nature Literature discussion

Nature Literature's Cafe -- come have a seat at our table.

What did you see today? Nature news you'd like to share? Share a nature poem or some highlights from a recent hike. Ask a question. As our most popular thread I've decided to expand it a bit beyond what you observed in nature today to include more topics. We'll see how this new format works for 2022.

Everyone is welcome to join our table and enjoy a bit of conversation-- and perhaps a hot or iced latte, a cup of iced or hot tea, or...

What is your favorite drink?

I'll start us off - my favorite drink is super black strong tea with cream or plain almond milk with two shots espresso hot!

On a milestone note-- announcing the passing of Edward O Wilson- the father of biodiversity and the ant man. His work and thoughts have impacted my life over the years.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...

Edward O. Wilson: Biophilia / The Diversity of Life / Naturalist

The Naturalist

Some of Wilson's writings and also his autobiography, which a group of us read the year before last and very much enjoyed. Revealing in so many ways.

My favorite beverage is many! ☕️ I start the day with two cups of black coffee. Throughout the day I drink water 💦 and teas. 🫖 If it’s a sunny day, I’ll have herbal tea. If it’s cloudy, I usually need black tea with Earl Grey being my favorite. I love the touch of bergamot in it. On weekend eves, I enjoy red Cab wine. 🍷

Today, I woke to a new 1” of snow covered with a layer of glistening ice. It’s going to be very cold here in Minnesota the next few weeks, so it is nice to a have wee bit of white insulation over the ground again.

Julie -- do you heat with wood? Or water based piping system- as both create a radiant heat for extreme cold. And, I also wonder do you wear cleats on your boots to get around the farm? I have to wear big black boots with heavy duty cleats strapped on the bottom to prevent falls during all the work outside I do each day.

I like reading about your beverage choices...

Sher, we heat with wood and passive solar gain. You can’t beat either one for the radiant heat that I love. We use electric mini split heat for backup and for air conditioning. And we have propane heat for backup if we’re gone in single digit or below zero weather. How do you or other readers heat?

Yes, I have pull on cleats for my boots. Like Nan Sheperd wrote in The Living Mountain, ice and snow have so many varied states. I didn’t need cleats yesterday because the thin ice layer was on top of the snow.

Julie-- our lows here might hit zero, although I have not seen this low a temperature. Where you get I imagine it gets below zero throughout the winter. I think how people heat depends on where you are in the country (or world). So, here we have an 800 foot deep artesian well that produces water at 92 degrees . We have coils running through the floor of the house, and then the water runs down under the pasture into a 1 acre wildlife pond (all the while this water is cooling), and then when the water overflows the pond, the water flows into Kickin ' Mule Creek, and then runs down to the Columbia River.

Wood is our primary heat here, and we have 4 wood stoves between house, barn (2), and the remote cabin. But, it gets very hot here in summer, and we use a heat pump for AC. Plus, because of wildfire smoke now that is all the rage . :) we must be able to close our windows-- so AC is essential.

Your electric mini-split I am not familiar with... as in Alaska everyone in town used oil stoves and baseboard water systems, which no one uses here in Oregon.

Sher, your 92* artesian well water system sounds amazing! A mini split is an air source heat pump.

Thanks Julie- many farmers in this region have artesian wells. Artesian water is under pressure. If we don't cap it- water pours out through the well head.

Happy New Year!
A cup of chai is a special treat for me. This past year I started drink more tea, particularly green tea. I don't love the taste, so I like to add a peppermint tea bag as well - yum! Other than that, the same steel tumbler has gone everywhere I go for a decade, filled with water. We have excellent well water here in northern Minnesota!
We rang in the new year with cold temps. Negative 30 last night, expected tonight as well.
The cold has a sharp bite, but the sun is shining today and the landscape and trees are beautiful.
We've had several big snow falls in the past week, so everything is buried and draped in deep white. Very pretty, if but hard to find places to keep pushing it all when clearing driveways and paths!
On cold nights like these (and days only reaching a high of negative 10) we love the warmth of fires from our Jøtul wood stove, and I marvel at the animals outside.
Today I'm starting Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival . Fitting for my surroundings during this season.

Amanda, Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival looks really interesting. I'm putting it on my TBR. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

You're welcome! It was -35° here in our snowy part of the world this morning. Truly amazing to see chickadees busy in the trees.

Amanda wrote: "You're welcome! It was -35° here in our snowy part of the world this morning. Truly amazing to see chickadees busy in the trees."

Amanda-- wonderful to hear from you again. I had wondered how you have been. -35 is incomprehensible to me! Zero is terrible here-- my fingers won't work, and the donkeys get annoyed, and the goats stays in his shed bedded down. I love chickadees -- I think they sleep in communal nests at night when is it cold? How is your griffon?

Happy New Year everyone!

Heavy wet snow her - very weird weather-- several feet on ground and some concerns about flooding. dark-eyed juncoes, white crowned and golden crowned sparrows - spotted towhees, house finch, downy woodpecker, and stellar jay-- and eurasian collared doves all around my house --busily eating the foods we have provided. Does anyone feed fruit in the winter to the birds?

A neighbor told me she is setting out thick slices of apples on her railing, and she sent a photo-- each slice had songbirds eating apples. This surprised me a bit- I have never tried this.

Suet is a big favorite though.

January 6-- Columbia River Basin region Oregon

What is your environment scene in your area now?

We have an unbelievable amount of snow and ice-- about 3 feet around the farmhouse and another foot or so lower on the property around the barn ---I am feeding thousands of songbirds...and Anna's hummingbirds who overwinter here. I wish I could easily share photos with you all ---

After more rain than I would have thought possible, here in southern California, our local trails now cut through streams and waterfalls. Beautiful! We hope for wildflowers soon.

Two cups of coffee with soy milk for me. :)

Hi p.l. -- thanks for commenting. The West is having rain and flooding-- now... Quite the description of trails cutting through to the streams and waterfalls.

Yum coffee with soy milk!

Here we have a lot fo snow and temperatures expected to reach mid-40 today. We have water seeping into barn, and we created a barrier between the water and the hay stacks last night. Water and hay should not come together! We will see what the day brings --

It sounds like so far you don't have flood threat and that you are indeed enjoying the rain... wildflowers sounds so inviting right now.

Happy new year to all. My neighborhood is in the 'dreary winter mode'. Had a warning for 10-30cm snow but the snow line is 300meters above us. Result--cold rain. Not so cheery. Tonight the town sponsors a group burning of Christmas trees--big bonfire after dark. Looking forward to that.

I've never heard of a group bonfire of christmas trees! Once, in Madison Wisconsin, a roommate took his tree to the middle of the lake and burned it on the ice.

Sher--no, no flooding thank goodness. :) And the days are lengthening and we are seeing sunshine again, both quite welcome to my seasonal blues. :) A hummingbird is doing a courtship dance outside the kitchen window, daily. Hope he finds a nice mate to settle down with.

P.L. wrote: "I've never heard of a group bonfire of christmas trees! Once, in Madison Wisconsin, a roommate took his tree to the middle of the lake and burned it on the ice.

We live in a small town--2,500 residents. About 80-100 families usually walk their trees to the open pasture. The volunteer fire department oversees the entire event. They put an inflammable safety barrier around the fire. The barrier is maybe 60meters in diameter.

Everybody hands their trees to the fire department people at the edge of the barrier. The fire department manages the fire.

Some volunteers serve hot drinks. Many groups of people watching. Its a pedestrian, not vehicular, event. It all happens after dark. The fun is watching the mesmerizing flames, bursting with that special fire energy, which then release streams of dancing sparks. We quite like it.

Following the Three Kings Day, this really marks the end of the Christmas season.

That's a pretty neat tradition Edward! I can just imagine it--very community- excellent.

P.L.-- good luck to your hummingbird-- A bit early for spring though he'll have to be patient. :)

All concerns of flooding gone for now- cold again - snow is not melting. We did but 10 sandbags though to stop water from reaching our hay-- if water came into barn. But, this week -- cold and clear in the Columbia River Basin region in Oregon.

Hi everyone, I'm in Cape Town in South Africa. We're in the height of our summer and had a heatwave over the weekend. It was also humid which is very unusual for this climate.

I spent the weekend trying to keep my animals cool and my plants from wilting and was mostly successful. I like a cup of rooibos tea served black, or a cup of coffee with a splash of milk.

Hi Emily:
Great to hear from you. What types of animals do you have?
I know humidity makes it feel hotter than the thermometer shows.

Rooibos is native to South Africa? Is that correct? Here I am able to get it green or red. I like organic green rooibos, because it has a bitter taste.

Welcome-- what are you favorite types of nature books to read?

Edward-- what types of trees are in your region of the northern range of the Swiss Alps? I envision fir trees almost one hundred percent. Do you have deciduous trees, and if so what types?

Thanks, Sher

Sher wrote: "Hi Emily:
Great to hear from you. What types of animals do you have?
I know humidity makes it feel hotter than the thermometer shows.

Rooibos is native to South Africa? Is that correct? Here I am..."

Hi Sher! At the moment, we have 2 dogs (both great danes), 3 cats, 2 rabbits and a miniature horse. So it was mostly trying to keep our mini cool in 100+ degrees with humidity.

That's correct, rooibos is native to SA! It directly translates from Afrikaans as "red bush". We mostly get red rooibos here but I believe green rooibos is supposed to be packed full of antioxidants.

I like all sorts of nature books, especially those involving animals or history in some way. Thanks for having me everyone!

Sher wrote: "Edward-- what types of trees are in your region of the northern range of the Swiss Alps? I envision fir trees almost one hundred percent. Do you have deciduous trees, and if so what types?

Thanks,..."

Here are the most common.
Conifers only in the highest forest and until the tree line.
Pinus cembra
https://www.waldwissen.net/en/forest-...
Pinus mugo
reforestation favorite for lumber Picea abies
Pinus sylvestris
In the middle are mixed conifers and deciduous.
Then lower down:
Fagus sylvatica
Larix decidua
Prunus avium
Populus nigra
Acer campstre
Sorbus aucuparia

Edward:
I read the article about the Swiss Stone Pines. I was surprised the area that the pines grow in appears drier than I envisioned of the Swiss Alps landscape. The story of the relationship between the nutcracker and the pine was very interesting to read about, and the nutcracker is such a striking bird. It has spots on its feathers that remind me of the starling, and the nutcracker's beak is massive -- I guess needed to crack the seeds. Interesting the nutcracker will find 80% of its cache and that it selects for the healthiest seeds. I fault humans for their killing of the birds thinking the birds were harming the pines when in fact the birds' cache was contributing to the pines's survival.

I so wish I had been able to explore the Swiss countryside the two visits I have made there. I think I may have said I have never been to Switzerland -- I forgot! I was there during a visit to Germany and when I visited Italy- but each time it was a short visit just inside the border for tourism. Anyway- thank you for sharing your environment--

Emily wrote: "Sher wrote: "Hi Emily:
Great to hear from you. What types of animals do you have?
I know humidity makes it feel hotter than the thermometer shows.

Rooibos is native to South Africa? Is that corre..."

Hi Emily:

What a fun array of animals! I bet the mini-horse and the Great Danes stand shoulder to shoulder.

I hope you will be able to join some reads and discussion with us.

Sher wrote: "Edward:
I read the article about the Swiss Stone Pines. I was surprised the area that the pines grow in appears drier than I envisioned of the Swiss Alps landscape. The story of the relationship be..."

Glad to hear you found it useful and interesting. I must add that the northern face of the northern range is blessed with rainfall while the southern face is quite dry.

Hello Everyone:
In case you have not noticed-- Becky is posting entries from Thoreau's journals into a folder Thoreau's Journals and separating threads by theme. She welcomes discussion, comments and questions, so if you get a moment check out what Becky is doing. Thanks!

Sher wrote: "Hello Everyone:
In case you have not noticed-- Becky is posting entries from Thoreau's journals into a folder Thoreau's Journals and separating threads by theme. She welcomes discussion, comments a..."

Thanks, Sher - that's kind of you! :)

Yesterday I woke to -18* F. Today I woke to 26* F. Tomorrow it will be -4 in the morning. I’m not kidding when I say we have rollercoaster weather this year!

Wow Julie!

We are still deep in cold and snow here, and the theme of this year is ice fog, freezing fog -- going on day 5 of this. It is dreary, but this too will pass, so I am doing some hellacious walks and doing the minimal of outside chores, and doing indoor projects.

I wanted to ask you - are you making any plane for your solo backpacking trip?

My friend write yesterday, and she is taking off by herself for over a month with her cockadoodle (65 pound) -- she'll be leaving her husband and business behind -- she has never done this before. Going in a little RV she bought to the Grand Canyon . I'm psyched for her.

Julie wrote: "Yesterday I woke to -18* F. Today I woke to 26* F. Tomorrow it will be -4 in the morning. I’m not kidding when I say we have rollercoaster weather this year!"

Weather and climate both beyond human control--prove me wrong! Ha Ha!

After a nice white snowfall in mid December, we have had six weeks of high pressure--nothing but sunshine and low fog--temperature always within a degree or three of freezing.

Makes for hazardous patches of ice on the sidewalk--a little melting during the warmer afternoon (just above freezing) that turns into dangerous slipping areas as the sun sets and all becomes frozen.

Unpredictable--keeps me on my toes…not to end up on my back.

Edward, do you have cleats that slip onto shoes/boots? They can help in your icy conditions.

Sher, last night I went looking for our *Windswept* side read discussion, but couldn’t find it. Do you know if it’s still available? I wanted to do share some hiking updates with our group. Thanks!

Julie-- it is under the archive area at the very bottom of the group page.... but even though archived everyone who was in that discussion will get notice of your post. It might be under side reads archives - not the general archives. Let me know if you have trouble...

Julie- here is Windswept

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks Sher. I’ll try to post a hiking catch-up this weekend

Hello Everyone:

Does anyone have a February nature report?

90 % of our farmland is dry and 10% is still under deep snow. This is because the exposure keeps things dark and cold. In 3 weeks all should be clear.

Say's Phoebe returned Feb 11, and they will nest and raise their young here. I love this bird-- orange and brown and they like nesting on platforms around barn and house. Their call is a long whistle.

We begin our spring wind season -- whipping cold winds.

We’re visiting my son in the mountain West. The least amount of snow I’ve seen in 10 years. About 2 feet on the ground. 3 years ago there was nearly 5. I’m afraid there will be lots of fires this summer.

We had record setting heat last week, and we are in extreme drought, but thankfully the heat passed. A few wildflowers popping up.

The garden is doing well. When we moved here the frost date was March 15, but it's closer to Jan 15 now. So I have the summer crops planted and they're sprouting nicely.

We are facing our third apocalypse of the year tonight/tomorrow here in southern Ontario. Every week for the past 2 months we have fluctuated wildly between extreme cold to heavy "dumps" of snow.

Tonight it's a special treat: warmer temps bringing unprecedented amounts of rain, until it turns to freezing rain for a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon before a predicted 10" of snow tomorrow night. All of that, coupled with high winds, means we are in for an interesting ride!

Becky, I’m in southern Minnesota and our thermometer is on a rollercoaster ride as well, but overall it’s been drier than normal for about a year. And this comes after several very much wetter than usual years.

In a recent long very cold spell I took to feeding a feral ginger cat. 🐈. Fed and watered it outside for about three weeks. Now I haven’t seen it for about 10 days. Instead I’m seeing a lot of canine, rabbit, possum, and squirrel tracks. Yesterday I saw a large coyote traveling on the contour below our house. Walking later in the day, I came across the coyote’s tracks in several crossing up to about a 1/4 mile out from my house.

How is March coming in for you? Like a lion or a lamb?

Lamb. Heard the first Sandhill cranes this morning. For me, in the Driftless, March does not mean greening but it does mean bird migration. Very exciting time!

Sher wrote: "How is March coming in for you? Like a lion or a lamb?"
Temperature-wise, lamb. High winds-wise, lion. Sustained winds of 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph today. But quite balmy, so everything is melting.

Our robins and red-winged blackbirds returned this week (seems to be right on target compared to other years) and our Eastern screech owls were trilling away like mad last night.

So far Lamb here too, which is unusual. Normally we have high winds in March. But, it has been mild this first week of March. I'll check back and report again in two weeks.

Becky - great report on your lion/lamb.

Still rather lamb like here -- in regards to high winds. But, we got a surprising two inches of snow just as we were cleaning out multiple garden beds and putting in new spoil and compost.

Spring is very slow in arriving here on the northern slopes of the Swiss Alps. It has been a very long season of snow drops and winter aconites. Some Iris reticulata in flower and the first daffodil leaves are reaching out.

Had those orange cloudy skies for a half day this week--they say it is from the Sahara. I am not convinced--even though the low pressure over the Med indicated the flow from North Africa.

Lived for a couple years in Morocco and even though we experienced a number of shergis (24hr/day hot winds from the Sahara) they were never orange.

We did see orange sandstorms all around the edges of the Empty Quarter in the Arabian Peninsula quite regularly. Oh well weather always surprises and is always interesting to observe.

Hello Edward:
Here in the Pacific Northwest orange skies mean fires somewhere and not too far off. When I read what you wrote, I was immediately taken back to three or was it four summers ago when the Columbia River Gorge was on fire. The sky over the farm was orange for days. For me --just the thought it is uncomfortable.

We planted 1,100 daffodil bulbs last fall, and yesterday I made a tour to see where they are coming up. Not too far up yet, but I see several inches of flat green leaves. A good sign.