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A plethora of pics: remnants of September

By JIM NIGRO

From beginning to end, September was a great month to be outdoors. Apple trees already heavy-laden with fruit were showing deep hues of red.

This conjunction of a waxing crescent moon and Venus was visible in the early evening early in September.

Further downstream this woodland waterway entered a meadow, there the stream widened and was thick with submerged vegetation.....a favorite haunt of dragonflies that feed on aquatic insects and other tiny bugs. 

This is guy is called a Half-banded Toper....

Don't know how it was so-named but I really like the deep red color. 

The gossamer wings of a Jagged-edged Saddlebag

The markings along its abdomen are no doubt the "saddlebags."

This leopard frog lives in a damp, grassy section of the meadow, less than a stone's throw from where the stream exits the woods. He needs to lay low, as seen here, for this is also the hunting ground of a Great Blue heron.

Judging from its color phase, this leopard frog spends less time in the tall grass.

Smaller than a Concord grape and somewhat tart, wild grapes are edible and do make a great jam.

Poke berries, on the other hand, should be avoided.

Hawthorn guards the entrance to a woodland trail in Genesee County Park.

A wooly bear catepillar, a seasonal harbinger, checks out a leaf in the roadway of Genesee County Park.

Already deep red, these maple leaves, like the wooly bear, are an early indication that autumn is well under way.

Fall asters are prolific in our local outdoors -- and they really add color to the countryside.

Billie Owens

These are wonderful, colorful pictures! I learned several things from this post, including what those messy, overgrown weeds are in our backyard -- poke berry plants. I've cut some and put them in flower arrangements, eating a couple berries along the way...that's not going to happen anymore...

Oct 4, 2013, 10:17am Permalink
Debbie Pugliese

Oh oh whats that thing about the Wooly Bears and predicting the severity of winter? Lets hope more Black means mild winter and more Brown means cold!!

Oct 4, 2013, 12:11pm Permalink
Mardell Lamb

Are poke berries the same as "choke cherries?" Seems I recall that from years past. Good for the birds, so I've heard. Billie ~ eww. Ha.

Sept. was a beautiful month indeed ~ great shots, Jim. We sure learn a lot from you.
Thanks & hope you & Claudia have a great weekend!

Oct 4, 2013, 12:16pm Permalink
JIM NIGRO

Hiya Mardell!!!....choke cherries and poke berries are not the same. While I've come across an item or two on the internet that speaks of poke berrie recipes, I wouldn't recommend it. Choke cherries, on the other hand, while very tart, are viable.

The tap root of pokeweed resembles a giant yellow-orange carrot - and it is highly toxic. An old friend of mine once became violently ill after nothing more than a small bite of the root - he was hunting for wild horseradish ....fortunately for him, he immediately spit it out when he realized it wasn't horseradish. Had he swallowed even a tiny amount he may never have made it back to his car.

Its my understanding that the leaves of the pokeweed plant can be used in salads, but only at certain times of the year ( late spring, early summer maybe? Do you recall a song by Tony Jo White called Poke Salad Annie?) or they can be boiled and eaten.....again only at certain times of the year. The berries begin in summer as tiny white "buttons" before turning a deep burgundy come autumn. Birds gorge on the berries and later "deposit" the seeds which is why this plant is seen growing in the wilds as well as residential areas.

Oct 4, 2013, 12:46pm Permalink
JIM NIGRO

Billie, how did you make out with the walnuts? You previously mentioned walnut pie.There are so many hickory nuts on the ground out back the squirrels aren't bothering with the walnuts......and there are plenty if you need any!

Oct 4, 2013, 12:57pm Permalink
Billie Owens

Jim, those walnuts are dropping like crazy and the yard looks like it's full of limes, that's how big they are. I really would like to make something with them and one of my old cookbooks has a recipe for bread as well as pie. But I'm still daunted by what steps need to be taken to make them useful.

Is this right? I should gather them up and put them in my Florida room on something flat, like a big cookie sheet, and wait until they dry out and turn black, then peel away the skin and crush the nuts open?

Oct 4, 2013, 3:30pm Permalink
JIM NIGRO

Billie, it would be a good idea to keep them inside, that way the squirrels and chipmunks won't be able to help themselves. After peeling away the rotted hull, allow the inner shell some drying time. The longer they dry, the easier it will be to remove the nut inside.

Its not the shell that needs drying but the meat inside. But for making bread or a pie maybe this would work best as the meat will still be fresh - just a little tougher to remove. Hope this helps!

Oct 4, 2013, 4:03pm Permalink
Bob Price

Nice photos again Jim-how do you get so close to the insects without them flying away,or is just a good zoom lens? I remember you saying something about white birds at the Duck Pond on Albion Rd(the marsh/water you see from the pull off)-it looks like theres 30-50 white birds in the water in the afternoon when I go by there-what kind are they?

Oct 4, 2013, 4:16pm Permalink
JIM NIGRO

Thanks, Bob - As for the dragonflies, once I spotted them I waited for them to land and moved in slowly. Being that it was a somewhat cool day, they tended to stay put for a while if I didn't disturb them. Claudia and I both use a Canon with a 20x lens.

The large white birds you're speaking of are Great Egrets.....now that the surrounding cattails have turned brown they really stand out, don't they!!!

Oct 4, 2013, 5:02pm Permalink
tom hunt

Your question brought back a flood of memories. As a child one of the earlest memories I have is my Father crushing walnuts by placing them on a tarp and running them over with the family car. The job us kids had was picking up the nuts once they were seperated from the hulks. Those walnut stains were not easy to remove from ones hands. But we had walnuts to eat all Winter.

Oct 6, 2013, 5:06am Permalink
Billie Owens

Black walnuts must be as tough as macadamia nuts if an automobile running over them is a preferred method of cracking them. I have so many of black walnuts that may be the tact I'll take.

Oct 6, 2013, 10:36am Permalink

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