A Land Like This One

I drove up right after work on Friday. Made it just in time to get to my tent before dark, which was good because both my headlamps were dead :)

Cardinal-flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is finally blooming! I've been looking forward to it since I saw it in the listing photos and fell in love with the place.


Blue vervain (Verbena hastata) is also blooming - a lovely surprise



Red raspberries are ripe and delicious!


Blueberries too


All kinds of cool bugs this visit

The greater purple fringed bog-orchid (Platanthera grandiflora) is finally blooming! I've been looking forward to it since I found the seed pods back on March 9.
Allegheny monkey-flower (Mimulus ringens) on the other hand, was a surprise. I've wanted to see it for years, and suddenly here it is! 
Side-flowering skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)
I finally caught the american water-pennywort (Hydrocotyle americana) in tiny tiny bloom. I've been watching it for two months.
Ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Nathaniel spotted this little buddy. He hung out with us for hours in the shelter. I got to watch him eat a little wormy critter! 

I am delighted to have found six orchid species on my land so far!

I've talked about the pink lady's-slippers and the early coral-root before.

They're both past bloom now. Four others are in bud.

Two of them are closely related. On the left, checkered rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera tesselata). On the right, downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens)

Note that the downy has pronounced white veins, while the checkered are much more subtle.


The downy tend to appear in clusters like this one, while the checkered appear singly.

I have many more downy than checkered, and I notice that a much larger proportion of the downy are budding.

The purple fringed orchids (Platanthera grandiflora) are also in bud. I'm so excited for these! They are one of the more showy orchids I have encountered, especially when there are several together.


Finally, it was with mixed feelings that I found this orchid species on my land for the first time this trip. It is broad leaved helleborine (Ep…

The swamp candles (Lysimachia terrestris) are newly blooming! There are tons of them in the marshy area where the brook broadens.


I also found this little speedwell at the edge of the brook. I'm hopeful that it is the native marsh speedwell (Veronica scutellata) instead of one of the non-natives.


And I believe this is rough cinquefoil (Potentilla norvegica) - another new find.


And the ghost pipes (Monotropa uniflora) are just starting to peek up!

They are so cool - they're parasitic wildflowers! As you can see, there's no green - thus no chlorophyll. Instead of photosynthesizing, they obtain all their energy by stealing them from fungi in the soil - which in turn obtain their energy from a symbiotic relationship with tree roots.

Some old friends are also still blooming - remember these?

Wood sorrel (Oxalis montana)


Cucumber root (Medeola virginiana)


Blue flag iris (Iris versicolor)

I spent my first night on my land! All alone too. I thought I was going to get scared and bail, but it went great. I watched the light dim as I read in my hammock. At 8:45pm, it was almost fully dark in the woods, though the sky was still light. I snuggled into my tent and slept great. Waking up to the birds singing and the brook babbling was delightful.


I took the whole week off, so I got to spend time on my land Tues-Sat. It was wonderful! (But I'm thoroughly sick of bugs!)

I spent Wednesday showing Daddy around - what a joy to get to share it! He helped me put a third bridge log in place and bind them together. It is so much stronger now!


He and I also stumbled across this beautiful jaw! I thought it was a Moose, but apparently it's a cow. I wonder how it got here!


I spent a lot of time Thursday defining a path from the road, through the woods, across the swamp, and over to my tent, the shelter, and the brook. I traced it to avoid the most sensitive areas (especially the or…