It’s here. The garden classes are in gardens, the cooking classes are in kitchens, the nature study is in forests, the raspberries taste like raspberries, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries! I worked for weeks on the lesson plans for these hands-on classes, workshops, and tours and am so excited to finally roll them out. Click here for my entire…
My beekeeping article from the summer 2013 issue of edible Upcountry magazine is now available online. Many thanks to Carolina Honey Bee Company for hosting such fantastic classes. Our three hives are still doing great! Click here or on the image below to see the article: You can pick up hardcopies of edible Upcountry at locations all over the Upstate,…
Eliza makes a conscious effort to illustrate her blog topics with at least one photograph and I, in turn, am trying to uphold that goal. Why? Because we all love eye candy (plus many of us are visual learners). While neither Eliza nor I have had much in the way of professional photography training we both greatly enjoy documenting the…
In 2011, I wrote about White Nose Syndrome, and what people can do to help. We knew then it was only a matter of time before the deadly bat disease turned up in South Carolina. On March 11th, 2013, DNR reported that Table Rock State Park near Pickens is the location of South Carolina’s first confirmed WNS case. We feel…
Today’s blog post was inspired by the karma-themed TV show My Name Is Earl. I know some people would rather pay their taxes twice than be nice to snakes, but I owe this mundanely-named brown snake family some good publicity on account of I killed their brother. Or sister. Or both. Specifically, a couple little specimens of Storeria dekayi. It…
You’re probably having the initial reaction that I did, “Why would I want to control kudzu bugs? Just have at it!” But kudzu bugs (Megacopta cribraria) also attack other legumes. Especially soybeans, wisteria, and hyacinth beans (Lablab pupureus). The idea of something that successfully retards the growth of kudzu having a picnic on my soybeans is not appealing. It’s possible…
We have Passiflora incarnata (maypop passionvine) growing outside our back door. I’ve written in the past about how to grow this native plant for its delicious fruit, but today I wanted to share a video of our “bee bar.” I’d say they show up at first light, but really, they never leave. These sluggish insects gorge on nectar, becoming increasingly…
GoBlueRidge.net and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are reporting that bat White Nose Syndrome (WNS) was recently found in an old Avery County, NC mine as well as a cave in nearby Grandfather Mountain State Park.This marks the first sightings of the disease in NC and brings it even closer to my region of South Carolina. The bat population…
I lead a homeschool hiking group that meets in nearby state parks and natural areas at least once a month. We’re working on nature journals this year and I decided to turn the student tutorial I was writing for next Friday’s hike into a blog post. When beginning a nature journal, you don’t need much. Prior to setting out, we…
At first glance it’s so cute and fluffy, but the loggerhead shrike has grim eating habits that easily earn its North American nickname of “butcher bird” (different from Australasian butcherbirds). This little tool-using songbird outperforms the deadliest skills of hawks and the creepiness of vultures when it dines. Sure it doesn’t look much different from an insect-eating nuthatch, a seed-eating…
I was inspired to feature these weirdos after a friend of mine mentioned that she found some recently. Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora) are also referred to as ghost plant or corpse plant. They are in fact plants, though some people mistake them for mushrooms. They aren’t fungus but do prey upon it. They are parasites of mycorrhizal fungi associated with…
If I had to guess which snake most commonly gets mistaken for water moccasins (also known as cottonmouths) or copperheads, I’d choose the northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon). They have many color variations as they darken with age, sometimes to a nearly black color. Between its swimming habits and its confusing markings it easily fools paranoid hikers and swimmers. Fortunately,…
Tent caterpillars aren’t the end of the world. They may attack your ornamental or orchard trees but unless a tree is already suffering from other stresses it should recover quickly. These native, spring ephemeral caterpillars are often confused with fall webworms (Hyphantria cunea) or gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar). Fall webworms also have a brief life cycle (in the fall instead…
I decided to write a photo essay with variously camouflaged morels from the southeastern woodlands. I’ve also written a couple other tutorials on morel hunting which you can find here: How to Find Edible Morel Mushrooms (With Recipes) How to Follow Morel Etiquette When I first became interested in morel hunting I spent some time on Google images trying to…
Okay, it’s just going to have to be morel month on this blog. I do have new seedlings coming up and spring greens in the garden but I seem to be tunnel visioned with the morels… two-hundred found on Saturday (April 3rd, 2010)! Which apparently is very early… at the SCUMS meeting last night we found out that other area…
I promised! Here’s the morel hunting post. If you don’t want to hunt for your morels you can still use the recipes by buying fresh morels here, buying dried morels here, or by checking the dried mushroom section at your local grocery store. If you’re really lucky you might find them at your farmer’s market. If you just want to…
The Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve is one of my favorite late-day stops when I need to get a nature fix. It’s about 20 minutes from my house and offers a range of habitats to explore — including forest, rare wetland seepage areas, and maintained meadows. Meadow habitats have become so scarce in the Carolinas that DNR uses mowing and controlled…
I thought I would post about morels next but good things come to those who wait. In the meantime we have a bad thing with (at least one) good solution. Ever heard of Atrazine? It’s in the news right now for altering the reproductive systems of frogs: CNN, Reuters, Fox, BBC It’s now infamous and controversial. Atrazine has a reputation…
If that title sounds too good to be true, it’s not. Over the weekend my friends Tradd & Olga invited me over for dinner (and after eating the wild mushroom dish that Olga served you can expect a post on morel hunting soon). Tradd is a Mycologist and together they run Mushroom Mountain out of Liberty, SC. You can buy…
The last few dawns have sounded like spring (in spite of the snow we’ve been having). The birds are getting excited and so am I! I’ll be renewing my efforts to learn bird calls this year. Here are some suggestions on how to become an auditory birding expert. Books and CDs: The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Eastern and Central North America…