Dreaming of a Green Christmas

I’m always dreaming of a white Christmas – because there is nothing quite so magical. But in the larger scheme of things, we want to embrace that winter wonderland and be green.

If you are tired of the rampant commercialism of Christmas, the rush, and the stress of the season, think outside of the box (stores). Way outside… like out and onto the trails of our wonderful conservation lands. Or ‘outside’ as in supporting Altona’s (and wider) wildlife by what you give to your own home and to others.

Most people have all they need – and additional little things just add to the general clutter of life. So how about giving something with meaning that won’t gather dust?

Looking for ideas?

1. A bat house
2. Seed wreath
3. A great feeder pole
4. Field glasses (binoculars). You never know where these will go! Mine are used for backyard and forest viewing but have managed to creep into my travels as well for wildlife spotting far and wide.
5. An annual pass to conservation areas. Altona Forest is a free Conservation area thanks to TRCA but there are many that do need a pass for access – and having the pass does prompt you to go and enjoy the varied trails, habitats and scenery of our area!
6. Picnic back pack – Whether you are brave and want to try a winter picnic or if you’ll wait for summer warmth, this is a fun idea that can start traditions
7. Hiking socks. There are warm socks and then there are hiking socks – both summer and winter kinds are a real gift for those who love to see where the trails lead them
8. Hiking poles. I would have never guessed how handy and helpful these are for novices to experts. Retractable and light carbon fibre are faves.
9. A calendar that is beautiful, inspirational and raises money for a charity that inspires you. The Coyote Watch Canada calendar is beautiful with many local photos and they help educate all ages about compassionate co-existance with this beautiful species. While we all live with electronic calendars in our lives I keep a beautiful one beside my desk for dates-at-a-glance and for
10. For a really big gift – consider a bench in a special place or a planting a tree with a name plaque. It’s a lasting and very special way to remember someone or celebrate your family.

And what if you are a fan of nature wanting to give back either as a gift from the heart or as a way to celebrate yule or solstice?

• Use your collected native seeds to make seed balls for underused areas like the hydro corridor (If you don’t have your own seeds, you can request some from the North American Native Plants Society (NANPS) if you are a member.)
• Make a suet log for local birds
• Be an angel for rescued wild birds and animals at Toronto Wildlife Centre (they are the only group to save our local wildlife) by giving them some things from their wish list or the Turtle Conservation Center through their wish list
• Donate to an environmental group that is both local and effective. Try a gift donation in someone’s name – either to support an animal they love (like polar bears!), an area they enjoy, or a cause where they feel like they can make a real difference.

 

 

The Journey

From the moment I entered these woods, it’s been ‘my Altona Forest’. Just as it’s your Altona Forest. And the forest belongs equally to all the creatures who live there and depend on its sanctuary. It’s a special place that can only remain that way if we personally engage with it and protect it.

Life is a journey – and living beside Altona Forest has been a journey of discovery, wonder, learning and gratitude. I’m so happy to have lived beside such an excellent conservation land and that I took the time and effort to really get to know it. Thank you for taking the journey of learning with me in this blog.

The first time I went for a walk on the trails I became disoriented and thought I must have passed my exit. I’m glad I didn’t give up then, but instead went for small walks, ever expanding, and staying in the moment. That awareness of what is around you heightens what you see, hear and experience: you are really alive in that moment and a part of all of nature around you. That’s when nature seems to reveal herself to you – and I’ve seen amazing things.

This is what I wish for you: joy and awareness in the discovery of nature.

Don’t put off walks in the forest – it’s good for body, mind, and soul. And you never know when it will be your time to leave and the opportunities for wonder will have passed.

Every time I put ‘My Altona Forest’ on a photo, I was aware that it is this creature’s Altona Forest much more than it is mine. It was as though this creature was saying ‘it’s my forest and my life… and all the natural space I have left’.

The Journey ~ © 2019 Natasha G

 

 

Counting Columbines

Yesterday I got a surprise. After walking these woods so many times, I’m happy that I can find things I didn’t think were there. I have told more than one person that while columbines ‘should’ be present in Altona forest, there are none. However, yesterday I found a few; just about 3 plants. I was overjoyed to have found them – and to be proven wrong.

These past few years, I walked the deciduous forest trails looking for native columbine blooms in late spring. Native columbines (Aquilegia canadensis – also called Canada columbines or wild columbines) have clover-like leaves and red and yellow flowers. They are perennials that live a couple of years, but if you leave them to fend for themselves, they will seed into the area and replace their spent plants.

Columbines are short and whimsical plants with taller lanky arms bearing blooms that draw hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. They are also a host plant for butterflies. There are foreign, cultivated species that are lovely and in a myriad of colours – but only the simple red and yellow columbines are part of the local, natural ecosystem.  Their habitat is clearings and the rich soils and dappled sun of the woods.

Having looked for them and not seen them for years, I was determined to add few columbines in our forest to support its natural biodiversity. Last year when I received the iris donations from Tin Roof Rusted nursery, J and I purchased 20 native columbines plants from this TRCA-approved grower. It was an investment in the forest’s future and I braved clouds of mosquitoes to plant them in a place where they would naturally be found but not threatened by invasives’s spread. I planted 18 – and put 2 in my own garden so I could watch their development, bloom times, and use them for gathering seeds.

Since columbines are low growing plants and bloom in their second year, I didn’t have the joy of seeing any blooms last year and couldn’t even spot where I’d planted them. I can only hope that they survived the short summer drought and their first winter. That didn’t stop my enthusiasm: I also got a few local seeds from the NANPS seed exchange. I vernalized them and then made some seed balls to throw along a few promising areas of the woodland trail.

Yesterday I walked to the area near post 5 on the trail to throw some of these native columbine seeds and then wandered to the south ponds to look for herons.  I was delighted when I spotted the native columbines on a wooded hill that gets good sun. How perfect that on the day I throw a few seeds, I finally find the ‘missing’ plant I was planting! And it’s right where it needs to be… thriving in the wild.

A very healthy plant in Autumn Parkette’s native planting shows the columbine’s growth habit

Biodiversity. It’s such a buzzword. But I wonder if we take enough time to consider it’s meaning and the connotation for any conservation lands. It’s simply a shortened version of ‘biological diversity’ – the numerous species that compose the web of life in a given area. Loss of one species affects the others up and down the chain of interdependence. And thus, the whole system reverberates with the loss… is weakened by it.

This year, I’ve been working extra hard to help the native biodiversity in Altona Forest… knowing that these are my last months here. Having some columbines in a few areas of the forest (not just one small grouping that could be destroyed) will provide a sustaining population that supports soil bacteria to butterfly larva to hummingbirds. Their presence strengthens the web of life of our forest floor.

 

Resources ~ Begin Your Reading Here

Terrestrial Biological Inventory for Altona Forest (TRCA 2014 – most recent to my knowledge) References columbines on pg 14 – as a plant present in the forest but being pushed out by DSV and other invasives (that take over places where it grows and alters the soil biology to keep it and other natives out).

Native plant sources for your garden (most carry columbines – they are easy to grow):

• North American Native Plant Society Annual Sale (3 sales in the GTA usually in May)
• Native Plants in Claremont (north Pickering)
• Evergreen Brick Works often has a summer market of sustainably sourced native plants
• Vandermeer Nursery in Ajax offered a section of native plants, plus has ‘nativars’ (which are cultivars of native plants) so choose those carefully since exotic species, selective breeding for colour, double petals etc can select out traits and food that birds, bees and butterflies look for and need

 

Counting Columbines ~ © 2019 Natasha G

Swamp Milkweed and Monarchs

Five years ago when I began this blog, I was new to understanding milkweed, dog strangling vine, monarchs, and the complicated relationship between them. I was outraged to find that the Ontario government had placed milkweed on it’s ‘noxious plants’ list and pushed for it’s eradication across the province. Yes: there are some toxins in milkweed that can make farm animals ill. However, it had been shown that animals would avoid eating milkweed in most instances. So the ‘threat’ of milkweed was minor. Finally milkweed has been taken off this list.

One of the original plants – photographed in 2014

Yet, years and years were spent in eradicating milkweed from fields and farms in Ontario. Years and years of Ontario waging war on the monarch; common use of pesticides, herbicides, and targeting the only plant that can feed its caterpillars. And in those years, an aggressive invasive vine brought to the new world by settlers was spreading far and wide. It mimics milkweed, takes over it’s spaces, adds chemicals to the soil to prevent other plants from growing near it, and fails to feed monarchs.

I read. I wrote letters. And since I believe that action is worth so much more than words, I got to work. I threw common milkweed seeds (whenever I could sustainably get them) into the sunny hydro corridor adjacent to our conservation lands. I still do this. And when I discovered one small patch of swamp milkweed in Altona Forest, I promised that I would be its guardian.

I have a special love of swamp milkweed (asclepicas incarnata). I love it’s bright pink-coloured blooms, the clusters of tiny starry flowers, it’s tall leggy appearance, and the slim upright pods of silk-winged seeds.

The little patch of swamp milkweed was right on a trail edge and the plants would get broken and stepped on. This is a big deal when there are only about 6-7 stalks. So I would push them up and use other plants to support them – repeatedly. I began taking at least half of the seeds they produced and scattering them just 20-30 feet away in a sunnier wet spot that was away from where people walk. I was hoping that new seedlings would eventually grow in this suitable area.

Caring for this little group of plants was a small way of supporting monarchs – and it paid off when I regularly found monarch caterpillars on the milkweed.

Last year, I noticed that there were at least 2 mature swamp milkweed in the area I had targeted the seeds to. This was very gratifying: as I watched their seed pods ripen, I thought how they could ‘take it from here’ and spread into this safer area and hopefully create a bigger patch and monarch nursery.

Ready to fly – ripe seeds hang from on open swamp milkweed pod in late October

I had an opportunity to add more swamp milkweed to the wet north corner of the forest last spring because Bonnie (Tin Roof Rusted nursery supplier to TRCA) offered me a slat of seedlings to plant. I chose a challenging spot to plant them – the damp soils and full sun they need, but hidden away from walking paths. I planted most between post 30 and the north (amphibian) pond – an ideal spot that stays damp even in dry spells. (I planted a few along the north boardwalk so hikers could see them, but it doesn’t seem like they survived.)

So the small patch could be increased by 30 if the robust seedlings that Bonnie provided grow strong and tall. The monarch nursery and food for a wide range of native pollinators could expand exponentially.

Last fall I collected swamp milkweed seeds from a planting where they get wasted, and cold treated them (they need this to germinate) in my fridge. Earlier this spring, I spent a couple of evenings making milkweed seed balls.

I threw 20 balls into the wet clearing in the north-east corner of Summer Park. This is an area that offers wet soils, sun, and protection from trampling and is under-used for pollinator supporting native plants. I also threw about 10 along the wet Summer Park fence-line. But I saved 20 for the damp and sunny area across from the observation deck at the north pond and another 20 for the muddy north-east corner beside Post 30.

I hope to establish 4 distinct but connected patches of swamp milkweed in the north of Altona Forest. Each patch can be cross pollinated because they are close enough to each other – and are 4 local, non-cultivar, genetically-diverse seed sources: Tin Roof Rusted nursery, seeds from plants from Claremont Native Plants, seeds from NANPS … and most importantly, seeds from Altona’s own pre-existing plants.

I will be selling my home and moving far away in a couple of months. I won’t be here to push up those milkweed plants. I won’t be here to see if the hidden patch blooms this year. I won’t know if those little seed balls will sprout and grow and bloom in the coming summers. But if 4 patches of swamp milkweed survive in the north forest, they’ll carry my hopes, signature, and memory.

If you find yourself walking in the north end of Altona Forest and spot swamp milkweed, stop and admire it. Look for monarchs but do everything you can not to disturb them. And hopefully you’ll think that I did a pretty decent job of stewardship in this beautiful place while I was here.

This looks so posed, but this is how I found them. I never touch wildlife to create a ‘photo-op’. I was being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes as I snapped this and ran away

 

Resources ~ Begin Your Reading Here

There are 4 native milkweed types naturally occurring in our area: common, whorled, butterfly (rare) and swamp. Swamp milkweed grows almost exclusively in wet areas where the others cannot.

** Tin Roof Rusted is a TRCA-approved native plant supplier and TRCA knew of the plan of the planting. Unless it’s a public planting organized by TRCA, no planting is allowed in the conservation area. This protects the forest from well-meaning but misguided introductions of invasive or foreign plants (like those little packets of ‘bee’ seeds) and soil contaminates.

• What is Swamp Milkweed? – Wiki has great info
• Swamp Milkweed – description and range map
• About Swamp Milkweed
• Spreading Milkweed Not Myths
• Native milkweed (and other natives) sources:
  • Tin Roof Rusted in Mt Forest (further away, but she is an approved supplier to TRCA – a former resident/ City Councillor/ advocate for Altona Forest!)
  • North American Native Plant Society Annual Sale (3 sales in the GTA usually in May)
  • Native Plants in Claremont (north Pickering)
  • Evergreen Brick Works often has a summer market of sustainably sourced native plants
  • Vandermeer Nursery in Ajax offered a section of native plants, plus has ‘nativars’ (which are cultivars of native plants) so choose those carefully since selective breeding for beauty can select out traits and food that birds, pollinators and butterflies look for and need

 

Swamp Milkweed and Monarchs ~ © 2019 Natasha G

Out of the Blue

As the April rains saturate the forest, the vernal pools and streams become ever more present, and water flows freely in places that are later just damp spots. The forest is preparing for the season ahead. In Altona’s abundant wet woods, blue cohosh is just waiting for the right moment to emerge.

Sometimes you can be blind to something until someone draws your attention to it. And then there is suddenly a fascination. On a wildflower walk led by Marie, she pointed out blue cohosh and opened my eyes. I have loved its spring show ever since.

Blue cohosh is a lovely native plant that is quite common in the dappled shade of the deciduous forest along Altona’s blue trail. They are one of the earliest plants to come up in spring and look like misty shadows in their cloaks of deep purple. They hold their unusual colour until their leaves unfurl and open in spring’s warmth.

Before the leaves fully open, the tiny 6-petalled blooms appear. If you don’t look very closely, you would miss them as they are so tiny. But don’t miss them – they are quite fascinating to look at up close. More interesting than traditionally beautiful, blue cohosh has two types of blooms; one with yellow blooms and one with purple blooms. I have only seen the one with purple blooms in our forest.

Bloom stages: round bud, open with inner stamens closed, fully open, and spent flowers

Later as spring deepens the shade in the forest, and the tree canopy begins to fill in, the blue cohosh becomes a lovely, 2ft tall, under-story perennial. The leaves are delicate and sway in the breezes, and only a few of their stems or leaves belie the last vestiges of the beautiful purple they emerged with.

Transition – the last of the purple showing in the stems and leaf veins

With so few natives in the under-story, this hardy clumping plant is a breath of fresh air. While it is slow to spread either with it’s underground rhizomes (like branching root systems) or it’s colourful berries, once it’s established it returns year after year. It thrives in the shade, loves the rich compost soils of the forest, and prefers the wet woods that Altona has in abundance.

The plant has berries the colour of blueberries, but much smaller and held up and out on the plant. They are attractive to look at and add some colour to the forest’s summer palette.

Walk gently on the forest trails… blue cohosh and many of our spring ephemerals begin as tiny leaves and are very easily destroyed. Pause to spot these beauties and watch their colour change through the spring.

Blue cohosh on the forest’s floor – different stages and heights

Resources ~ Begin Your Reading Here

Ontario Wildflower Database

Plant Database – about blue cohosh

Gardening With Blue Cohosh

About Blue Cohosh

Blue Cohosh – locations and behaviour

Blue Cohosh Seeds

Out of the Blue ~ © 2019 Natasha G

Tomorrow’s Bees

In just a few weeks, the first bees will emerge in early spring. I’ve been thinking a lot about native bees and the immense obstacles they are facing with climate change, environmental toxins and chemicals, and loss of habitat. We need to plan and act now for tomorrow’s bees.

Native bees are the often forgotten cousins of the non-native media-darling honey-bees. Native bees are non-stinging, vary in size and colours, are often ground-nesting, and some are specialists in that they consume the pollen of only a specific set of native plants to survive. With so much habitat loss, specialists are at the mercy of scarce food in only tiny pockets humans have decided not to develop in urban areas, the pesticides used in huge swaths of farmland and suburbia, and the extreme weather events of climate change.

The earliest bees to emerge in spring are especially vulnerable. They have few resources left, are hungry for native food where there is so little, and a climate-change late ice storm or freeze-event can mean their doom.

I’m frankly such a neophyte in understanding bees that it’s overwhelming. I definitely can’t identify them and know only little bits of their life-cycle. Then it occurred to me that you and I don’t need to have the scientific or research background to make a huge difference in their survival. We just have to ACT on what we know:

Problematic Pesticides

All pesticides are harmful to pollinators. And what is harmful to native bugs, also poisons native birds. Stop using all pesticides. Be aware that when you buy plants to add to your garden from many garden centers, there are pesticides in the plant and in that soil… they are grown that way. (Ask questions – and request change.) Even if native bees live in our conservation areas, they forage far and will be vulnerable to all the pesticides used in the nearby neighbourhoods.

Shelter Conundrum

In order to have homes for ground nesting bees, there must be places of undisturbed bare ground: not lawn or mulched beds. Just plain undisturbed earth. Can you leave some?

Then there is the need for winter shelter. Pile leaves in your flower beds and leave hollow stalks of plants standing: it will offer protection to the bees over-wintering there.

In spring wait 2 weeks past the time when there is a chance of a freeze before you begin to clear your gardens. (In the Altona Forest area, that begins in about the third week of April.) Those leaves and hollow stems are still protecting bees and you might throw them out in leaf bags or expose them to the still-too-cold weather when you clean up your garden too early.

Early Food

When bees emerge in spring, they need early blooms for food. The most important blooms are native because they can feed the specialist-eating bees as well as the generalists. One way to be extra smart about helping the earliest bees is to plant some early blooming plants within a couple of feet of a south-facing wall – the radiant heat from the wall will allow the plants to bloom even earlier to support those earliest bees. 

In fact, the best time to clean up your garden (get rid of last years dead plant matter) is when the first native blooms begin. Here are some early-blooming native plants for our area: redbud tree, serviceberry, pussywillow tree (luckily there are some in the deciduous wetland areas of Altona), highbush blueberry, spicebush, golden alexanders, wild geranium, bloodroot, hepetica, wild ginger, marsh marigold, and dutchman’s breeches.

This is a simplified and pragmatic approach to making a difference on a personal level. I am a firm believer that every single garden matters because each garden is like a bead in a chain; safe havens and food sources for our pollinators to use and travel along. Strung together, the gardens, planting plots, and even balconies of dedicated and caring people will save bee and pollinator lives in a time when globally we are facing nothing short of an insect apocalypse.

We don’t need to be scientists – just savvy and caring – to make a big difference!

Resources ~ Begin Your Reading Here

Spring Blooming Native Plants in Ontario

A Helping Hand for Early Bees – National Wildlife Federation

Pollinator Plants for the Northeast – US source downloadable PDF

Early Blooming Natives

Help Native Bees – Conservation Halton

Celebrate Wild Bees – U of T researchers

Pollinator Conservation Resource Center – Xerces Society (We want to thank them for the use of  the poster we’ve used in this article and all their stellar efforts to educate the public about the #LeaveTheLeaves conservation efforts)

Pesticides and Ground-nesting Bees – University of Illinois

Pesticide Assessment for Solitary Bees – Oxford Academic

Bees of Toronto – full publication pdf

 

Tomorrow’s Bees ~ © 2019 Natasha G

In Search of Native Clematis

I was on a hike in Minden Ontario a few days ago – along a beautiful wetland area now frozen and crisp with sun-sparkling snow and ice crystals. As I stood on a viewing platform, I looked for the quirky and lovely seedheads of the native clematis that grows near the water’s edge here. There were none! I have enjoyed the whimsical and charming vines in this spot for years – where did they go?

This was interesting because I know of one spot in Altona Forest on the north loop trail where there was native clematis. And this summer and fall, I’d noticed it was gone.

Native clematis looks nothing like the large blooms of the many foreign and bred varieties typical in the garden center. It is a lovely native wildflower – a climbing vine that has little bunches of starry white blooms often found on sunny wet edges of wetlands, along river banks, and in wet-forest clearings. I’ve heard that it can tolerate quite a lot of shade, but haven’t seen it in these conditions. You might know it by another name – virgin’s bower, devil’s darning needles, or it’s scientific name clematis virginiana.

Quirky-cool seed heads persist well into winter. Each little ‘hair’ is attached to a single seed

I love discovering it on woodland walks – and it can be easily spotted in many conservation areas and forests in the GTA area. While the vines can grow larger, I love that the blooms I see are often at about eye level- cascading and spreading wide on any fence, tree or shrub that can support it. Beyond being lovely to look at, the blooms are a boon for hummingbirds, bees and other native pollinators.

In fall, the vine has ornamental but crazy-looking seed heads. These remain on the vine well into winter. And that is why I was looking for them on my hike. They are a little like the hair of a mad-scientist – and utterly charming. I’ll admit to liking it as much in it’s winter form as when it blooms.

The light to mid-tone green leaves with the wide ‘teeth’ are signs that this is native clematis – and not the look-alike Japanese one

But why did the native clematis disappear from spots where I know it grows? Was last winter too cold? I don’t think so because it’s winter hardy to zone 3. Did the ground dry out around it? Possible in the drought we had early last summer, but this tough little vine can handle drier areas too. Is it possible there was a upsurge of a particular disease or pest that attacked these vines? Possible – but they are generally pretty resilient to both. I can’t think of what killed it.

I know of one other hidden spot in Altona Forest that has a few clematis vines. I am going to try to take a few seeds from those and place them where it once grew in the north. If the sole patch of any native plant gets destroyed through human disturbance or extreme weather, then there is a loss of biodiversity and pollinator support in the whole forest.

What about our neighbourhood? Can we help? Yes! A great tip is that native clematis is also a wonderful garden plant. It can cover fences, scramble up arbours or posts, be trained up a trellis, used in slightly shady or wet areas and needs very little care once established. If it gets out of hand and spreads too much, cut it way back in early spring. Just be very sure to get the right one – there is an invasive foreign look-alike – look for clematis virginiana on the tag and buy from a local reputable source.

In desperation for an image of the real native clematis (I can’t find mine), this is taken from Prairie Moon Nursery: a great source for northern-hardy seeds south of the border

Be a part of pollinator rescue in your garden – plant natives to support and extend the forest ecosystems. The smallest of gardens can make a difference if you plant natives and avoid herbicides and pesticides. You will not only be inviting bees and butterflies to your garden, but you will be a hero for native biodiversity.

In Search of Native Clematis ~ © 2019 Natasha G

Resources ~ Begin Your Reading Here

• Ontario Wildflower Database
• Northern Ontario Plant Database
• Wildflower Center: Virgin’s Bower
• About Virgin’s Bower (US source)
• Detailed Identification (US source)
• The Foreign Species (Beautiful Pretender)
• Native or Invasive? Check the Leaves!
• Grow Me Instead (Guide for replacing invasive species in southern Ontario)
• Prairie Moon Nursery (US seed source) photo used above is copyright to them

Moments in Time

I love reading New Year’s Resolutions. I think it gets at who we really are and what we are trying to be. They are beautiful in their very humanity – do we look inwards to try to make ourselves better, or look outwards to make changes for good in the world around us?

Yes – there are statistics on how long people keep those resolutions. So maybe we need to think of new year as simply a fresh start and opportunity to step in the right direction by thinking of new year goals, plans, or targets. Not resolutions that are set up to fail; going cold turkey on life-long habits. We need to give up thinking that if we miss the target we can’t begin again. And give up thinking that small positive changes are ‘not enough’.

A great new-year ‘get-outside’ nature project for an individual, couple, or family is one I have attempted and failed to complete at least 3 times. It’s deceptively simple… and just requires nature and mindfulness:

1. Pick a place in nature you enjoy and will regularly visit
2. Take a photo of it from the exact same angle each month for a year
3. Make a digital album or slideshow of these photos

Yes – that’s it. Capture a moment in time – each month. All it requires is a device of your choosing: phone, camera, ipad. The trickiest part is to remember to take that photo monthly and store the photos together in a retrievable file.

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And yes; I’ll likely try again – because it’s already given me insights and more appreciation of the forest’s cycles. Within my failure to get all 12 consecutive photos in one year period, I found learning and enjoyment.

It’s an absolute joy wandering in nature and picking views that somehow speak to you. Narrowing it down to one. It might be a particular tree, a view that is highlighted by the sun, a spot that has wild changes during the year cycle. Just picking the place you want to photograph makes you more aware and engaged in the forest around you.

Suddenly you are a part of forest life and its stories that you have noticed through the seasons. As you visit each month you will begin to see more – be aware of new things. Somehow this simple project increases your connectedness to the place you choose.

So – get out there and try this project.

Be outside more; get more fresh air, engage with nature, and be kind to yourself, others, and nature all around you.

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PS My 2019 targets? I want to step more gently on this beautiful Earth we inhabit (that includes my garbage output, carbon footprint and literally how I walk on trails that are the homes and life of so many species), listen more carefully (to people and also to nature which often speaks in the softest of whispers), and to protect and give back to nature. What do you want of yourself?

Moments in Time  ~ © 2019 Natasha G

Long Nights In the Forest

This is a poignant time of year – full of festivities and family gatherings and things to do – but it’s also the time when dusk creeps in at 4:45pm and it seems we spend most of our hours in the dark. It’s a time when the blues can set in as our days have more hours of darkness.

Winter solstice will arrive soon – either on December 21 or 22 – depending on the year. The Latin word solstice meant ‘sun stands still’ – but the traditions of marking the day far predate even that term. The winter solstice is the longest night of the year; the day with the fewest hours of light. For early peoples, these were the lean times as their world slipped further into the long winter and the days were short and food was scarce.

They celebrated the ‘sun reborn’ on the longest night of the year since each subsequent day would offer a few more minutes of light. All through the northern hemisphere, there is history of people celebrating with bonfires (yule logs), candles, feasts and dancing. They celebrated hope – for longer daylight, for warmer times, for food growing plants to grow again, and for the lean and hungry times that came with winter to end.

The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir

The sun conquering the dark was likened to the plants in the forests that seemed alive and green when all others browned and died down. Somehow these evergreens conquered the dark winter – and gave hope of the sun and warmth returning. They were brought into homes as symbols of invincibility, survival and cheer to beat back winter – holly and it’s berries, ivy, fir trees and boughs. The traditions and forest lore are much more ancient than the familiar carols that later incorporated some of the celebrations’ imagery.

O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How lovely are thy branches
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How lovely are thy branches
Your boughs so green in summertime
Stay bravely green in wintertime
O tannenbaum, o Christmas tree
How lovely are thy branches

This forest ‘Christmas tree’ is a native hemlock. I think it’s decorated just perfectly with the snow, but I do enjoy seeing a few plastic balls put on public trees. As long as there’s nothing to harm the tree (or break a bough), wildlife (like tinsel) or get blown away (and become garbage) AND the ‘decorators’ come back to remove every last piece.

Songs and traditions reach back to long, long ago when gathering was subsistence and the quality of crops meant survival. The return of the sun literally meant life. Imagine the long days in the cold, dark hours in January to March with only a few precious candles for light and fires to keep warm.

How will you celebrate the coming solstice? Buying a yule log (jelly or for the fireplace)? A walk in the woods to quietly mark the change of season and the return of the light? Mixing up an age-old concoction of eggnog, wassail (a spiced cider), or mulled wine? Decorating your home with fresh boughs – on the mantle or in the planters outside? Lighting candles and turning down the lights?

I hope you will take a moment to celebrate the season in the forest – perhaps with a walk and spotting the plants the stay green all the way through winter – from the mosses to the Christmas fern to the spruce, cedar and pine trees. Maybe they will inspire you too…

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer” – Albert Camus

Long Nights in the Forest ~ © 2018 Natasha G

Native Seed Balls

When the leaves are gone and frosts are glistening on the roof-tops and in our gardens, it feels like the November blahs are about to come knocking at the door. The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are dipping, and the infamous ‘grey days’ of November come calling.

If you, your friends, or the family are craving an indoor activity, you can set aside some time to make seed balls! It’s just as much fun for a grown-up girls day as it is a great way to teach kids about native plants.

You’ve likely heard of seed balls since they are not new. However making them is not just a fun and easy activity; they are an effective green-project for planting native seeds. The seeds in seed balls are protected by the outer shell and are less likely to be eaten by wildlife, balls are easily thrown into an area to be targeted, they are fun to make, and include all a seed needs to get growing.

This is the perfect time of year to make seed balls with native seeds since those thrown now are the most likely to grow in spring. Seed collecting is easiest now and plants like milkweed have their pods ripe and dry. Throwing your seed balls in November to January will give the seeds the cold period they need to germinate and grow in the spring (vernalization). When the thaw and the rains come, the clay will soften and ‘melt away’ and provide nutrients for the seeds.

Ready to give it a try?

Materials:

• Native seeds (great native wildflower options include milkweed for monarchs, wild columbine, coneflowers, native clematis (virgins bower), blazing star or blue flag iris. For native tree ideas see the paragraphs below)
• Clay (natural air drying (non-synthetic) varieties available from arts and crafts stores and some discount stores)
• Plastic spoon
• Topsoil or garden soil (only 1-2 cups – but it must be very dry or it could mould and kill the seeds) Avoid the ones with bits of stick or compost – they are hard to use for the balls
• Knife
• Newspaper

Directions:

1. Begin with dry seeds with any ‘fluff’ removed
2. Cut the clay into small pieces with your knife. (You can make one or two test-balls to verify how much clay should go into each you will make. How large they are is determined by how big the seeds are and how much earth you put inside)
3. Roll the clay in your palm to make it pliable and round. Flatten it in the palm of your hand. It should be moderately thin – too thick a ‘shell’ will hinder growth.
4. Press your thumb in to make a slight bowl shape and add a little earth with your spoon. Using a spoon will keep your hands clean. Add 2-3 seeds to the earth and close up the ball using your fingers.
5. Shape the ball gently and place it on the newspaper to dry. It will be dry after 1-2 days.
6. Once the balls are dry, store them in a cardboard box or paper bag until you deploy them. Don’t store them in plastic. It’s as much fun to toss the seed balls as it is to make them – just keep in mind location, location, location! Moisture loving plants (like iris and swamp milkweed) need wet sunny areas and meadow plants (cone flowers etc) need dry conditions. Most flowering plants need lots of sun… so planning where to throw them is also part of the fun.
7. Sit back and let Mother Nature do the rest!

Making seed balls is very easy – but it does take some time. I made some to give to a few neighbours who back onto Altona Forest and likely also had nearby emerald-ash-borer-infected trees cut down. Unfortunately, aggressive invasives like buckthorn and dog strangling vine move into these disturbed forest-edge areas, so seeding with some native shrub-trees could help. I made my seed balls for these neighbours with redbud seeds from my own garden – mixed with some I purchased from the Ontario Tree Seed Plant – to ensure genetic variation.

For forest-edge tree seed plantings, it’s best not to choose tall hardwoods which would naturally lean towards the sun and into the yard and potentially hit a house in a storm. Instead the best trees are short (10-25ft), have visual interest, and serve pollinators and wildlife with blooms or berries. My picks would be american mountain ash (sorbus americana), pagoda dogwood (cornus alternifloria), native mulberry (morus rubra – this is increasingly rare due to the foreign invasive), witch hazel (hamamelis virginiana), serviceberry (amelanchier various – wet or dry area), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis – can tolerate wet soils), and of course redbud (cercis canadensis). All require at least a few hours of sun daily (the more the better) – so plan wisely. (While you could buy young trees from TRCA-approved growers and LEAF*, you can grow most of these from seed with some effort and planning.)

Whether you choose native wild flowers or shrub-trees, this project is tactile and fun. It brightens the grey or rainy days with hope of pollinator-friendly blooms in as little as a few months. It’s easier than you think to make a lasting difference for native biodiversity

*At the time I’m writing this, all the municipalities around Pickering participate in the LEAF program, but Pickering does not. Have a friend in those regions order a tree through LEAF and pick it up from their home

Resources ~ Begin Your Reading Here

• Seed balls – about (this process is older than you might think)
• Seed balls – a second method
• Seed balls – a third method
• Harvesting seeds from your garden
• Sourcing native seeds:
  • Collect some from native plants of good provenance in your own garden (be kind and share some too!)
  • Visit green-expos, earth-days, community exchanges (but be careful that what you are getting is actually native, local seeds).
  • If you are a member of NANPS (North American Native Plants Society) you will be able to get SeedEx seeds for a nominal cost. In fact I’m shelling some of my redbud tree seeds to donate to them for their exchange.
  • Be careful to buy online native seeds from reputable and local companies. I have not tried this out, but here’s one you can begin your search with

Native Seed Balls ~ © 2018 Natasha G