resurrection fern

Pine Cones

This week we had good news for the forest of Canada, more specifically the boreal forest.. I decided in celebration of this news it was a wonderful opportunity to share with you some pine cone love. .

That is the basket of pine cones I have gathered from areas in my community where they would otherwise by swept up or turned into mulch by lawn and garden machinery. I don't gather them from the conservation areas or forests because they are an important part of the ecosystem there. I also remove the seeds and place them outdoors in the garden or park so they might have a chance to propagate. An easy way to do this and a little project you can do with your children is to place some fresh pine cones on a baking sheet, and place in a low oven ( 200 degrees works) for about 10 minutes. Then remove and cool. When they have cooled you can get your children to shake them and watch the pine seeds fall out. It would be fun to plant some in a little pot with rich well drained soil to see if you can grow a little pine tree.

Pine cones, like people come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. In general the rounder ones are from different types of pine trees and the elongated ones are from spruce trees but we don't call them spruce cones for some reason. Here is what I found.

The pattern in pine cones is a example of the fibonacci sequence I have spoken about previously.

They can be used to make beautiful patterns in clay.

I had wanted to make a crochet pine cone but I haven't had the chance this week. I have been so busy. I will share with you my softie that I made, the little boy that became a tree. I designed his little cap to look like a pine cone. He is very dear to my heart in so many ways. Have a great weekend!!!

What Happens to Nature Happens to Each One of Us

· We are all an integral part of nature – what happens to nature happens to each and every one of us, young and old . I have been thinking about stewardship of nature. How the ecosystems are so vulnerable and need our protection. I see so many examples of this all around me even with in my own garden. I want to show you some of the plants and animals I have had the pleasure of meeting this past week to show you some of what we need to protect. Share these with your children because after us it will be up to them to continue this very important job. Nature is all around us for us to enjoy, you don't need to travel far and wide. Most of these encounters have been within an hour from my home and quite a few of them just outside my front or back door. It worries me when people write me and say they never see snails or other small creatures. I don't know if they just aren't looking hard enough or know where to look or if they have already left that ecosystem because of climate change or pollution. I find snails everywhere I go. Here is my nature slide show . Sit back and enjoy the ride.

In just over a week I saw a great many animals and plants all very close to my home. Did you see the baby bird ( a cardinal) that we rescued after it fell out of its nest. We really enjoyed watching mom and dad cardinals feeding the little one all weekend. One picture I didn't get was the little chipmunk that I managed to get out of Edgar's mouth . It was scared but otherwise intact and quickly scurried up the nearest tree. You can look after the wildlife in your own yard and come to it's assistance . You can also look for opportunities to volunteer with nature conservation groups in your area. My daughter wants to volunteer this weekend to act as a bodyguard for 3 little baby plovers at the beach just north of here. Their were only two nesting pairs and one family was wiped out by a hail storm a few weeks ago. The second family hatched after the storm and needs our protection. After seeing pictures of the little darlings who wouldn't want to volunteer.

I can't think of a better way to spend a summer weekend. The volunteers will also be allowed to camp near the beach if they want to spend the night. Have you had any encounters with wildlife this week?

Mosses, Lichens and Liverworts

Every time I prepare to write a blog post about something I think I know I always realize that I don't really know it at all. Have I ever told you how much I love mosses, lichens and liverworts. I think this love started a long time ago when hiking in the Rocky Mountains with my husband and two oldest children. I didn't realize it at the time but I was pregnant with my daughter Rebekah and I was having a little difficulty hiking with a pack or a child on my back at high altitude so I was taking many more rests than usual for me and admiring the wonderful plants growing on the rocks. At one of the tourism offices I purchased a poster of alpine lichen and I still have it framed and up on the wall. Did you know that spanish, reindeer and irish moss are actually not mosses at all. Mosses , of which there are thousands of varieties are leafy plants that do not have seeds. Spanish moss is related to the pineapple, reindeer moss is a lichen and irish moss is a seaweed. So then what does a true moss look like.

Although I am not an expert I think this is a typical sphagnum moss. I love walking barefoot on stones covered in these plants. So soft and cool on your toes!! I would love to have a living carpet that felt like this under my feet. Lichens are usually the first thing to grow on a rock or tree.

Those lichen look like lace and sea coral to me. So the lichen moves in and cover the surface and then next the moss arrives usually taking up residence on top of the lichen especially when it is growing on the rocks. As the moss grows it traps some soil underneath its surface and thus creates a medium for other plants to start to grow on the stones. These initial layers are essential for the ecosystem to allow the growth of more complicated vascular plants with roots and seeds.

In many of these photographs you will see the sporophyte, the long thin projections with a capsule on the top that contains the spores allowing the mosses to reproduce. The best photographs I have ever seen of these can be found in the the flickr pictures of Bonnie Mathews. I am totally in awe of her macro shots. My favorite lichen is the one with the tiny green goblets called false pixie cup . Can you pick it out in the next photograph?

Again don't take my word for it but I think the next one is a liverwort.

As well as these bright orange ones /

I was so entranced by these little ecosystems that I just couldn't stop taking pictures. I would love to try to recreate one of these in some fiber art project one day.

I loved the little moss in a bowl that my sister , Zina had on her deck table last weekend.
Her back yard was like a wonderful green haven , I posted some pictures of it on flickr earlier if you want to see what I mean. I went for a long hike today in the Garanaska River Valley and collected a few types of moss to make a little moss garden of my own. No sooner had I placed it on the porch when a few snails had to check it out. These are not the usual garden variety snail. Last evening I was thinking how much I am going to miss the snails after the summer so I decided to make a few year round snails. I made one with liberty tana lawn fabric and the other from vintage handmade lace trim. The base of both is wool felt and the antennae I crocheted from vintage cotton. I think they would make really cute pins but for now they just want to hang out in the moss.

If you want to see some amazing snail photographs check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/8618469@N02/.

Make Room for Mushrooms

The month of June was extremely wet where I live and this has lead to an abundance of mushrooms in the forests much earlier than usual. Here are some pictures I took on the weekend near my sister's cottage in Quebec. There was so much variety and I was very excited to find a large amanita muscaria. Identifying mushrooms is not easy so I am not going to try to tell you the names of all of these species. I will leave that up to the mycologists.

I love making mushrooms and never have trouble finding friends and family to give them to. I came up with a method of joining a fabric circle to knitting and made these a few months ago. I posted a tutorial on this subject as well.

I wanted to make a smaller, delicate, crochet version so I gathered up my supplies. The fabric circles were cut from some liberty tana lawn I had in my stash.

Edgar sat watching me as I added the crochet gills and stem.

I really like how small it is although making the stem was a challenge.

It is less than an inch tall and looked really cute with this crochet covered wooden person I made the other night on the porch .

I am thinking of turning it into a mushroom pendant for a necklace. I will work on making a few more today in between work and chores.

I hope to get out into the woods this weekend and I am going to be looking for more mushrooms. I would love to find a fairy circle to share with you . I have seen a few over the years but never had a camera with me . Have a wonderful 4th of July to all my american friends !!!

Snails Write in Runes

Snails were in abundance in my sister's garden in Ottawa last weekend especially after the rain on friday night. Saturday morning I was setting up some beautiful stones up to take some photographs of my new little friends and they were more than willing to participate.

The snails were leaving very thick beautiful lines of snail slime on the stones.
Limasine is a synonym of snail’s mucus. It is rich in proteins and vitamins among other components.
It also has peculiar characteristics that are being researched for use in the area of dermatology to treat damaged skin. There was one snail in particular who made some wonderful patterns on the stones.

My brother in law said that it appeared that the snails were drawing runes for us. Here are two of the best examples of the morning.

What were the snails telling us? We needed to find the book to try and interpret these.

You can make your own interpretation but Barry and I thought that the two symbols were strength and flow. I could have spent the entire day with these very creative snails . They were so social and not afraid of human contact.

This sweet little snail even let me adorn it with a jasmin flower and thanked me by making some rock art.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of my new friends.

I also found a tiny little friendly snail by the beach on Monday. His antennae were so sweet.

So if you want to find some very artistic philosopher snails you might want to visit some Ottawa gardens at least until they open up their art gallery.

Meet Amygdala, the driftwood bunny

I want to introduce you to my newest little friend, Amygdala but first I want to share with you a little about the day he was created. I have had a very emotional weekend away when my mom became very ill and required emergency medical treatment. Yesterday I was feeling kind of tired and was having a hard time getting motivated to do anything. It was a beautiful day, just as the first day of july should be , warm and full of sunshine. I started out working in the garden and right of time the mid summer flowers , the day lilies were in bloom.
So I picked some for the porch table .

I hung the laundry on the line in the back yard.

Edgar cheered me up with his antics. He was trying all morning to catch butterflies but never managed to get one. He needed a good scratch on his belly. I love this mercat pose he does.

Feeling a little better, I pulled out my supplies.

I made a little crochet covered disc of wood my husband kindly cut from a branch that fell off the magnolia tree in the winter. I first stained the wood yellow with a water based stain.

I took photographs along the making way for this so I might write a tutorial later in the week if anyone is interested. Next I made a very delicate necklace. I found these really beautiful maple keys last month one morning.

Here it is hanging with the maple tree reflection in the mirror and then on the neck of my daughter. Don't you love her black apple t shirt. That emily is a very talented girl.

After a great chicken curry dinner ( After seeing michelle's nan on flickr I couldn't help myself) I was feeling relaxed and decided to make a new creation out of a piece of driftwood I found at my sister's cottage on the weekend. That is how Amygdala, the driftwood bunny was created. Amygdala - an almond-shaped neural structure in the anterior part of the temporal lobe of the cerebrum; intimately connected with the hypothalamus and the hippocampus and the cingulate gyrus; as part of the limbic system it plays an important role in motivation and emotional behavior. He made friends with us instantly and made us smile . He asked if he could wear one of the acorn necklaces because he wants to live a very long life . I managed to take some photographs of him just before the sun went down. His sweet little facial features are all natural and the wood has not been altered in any way. He is really pleased to meet you all !!!.

The Crochet Trend Continues

I guess I am stuck on crochet this week. I am also working on a very soft alpaca silk cardigan in a beautiful shade of green but the main focus of crafting on the porch has been covering natural objects in crochet. I keep looking around the house and surrounding environs for things to cover. I grew tons of gourds one year and have dried ones lying around indoors and out . They are a beautiful shade of honey brown now so I washed and polished a few of them with a little lemon wood polish and then proceeded to make a turquoise cover for one of them. The crochet cotton is from a vintage spool I had in my stash. I never buy new crochet cotton because I always find bags of them at the thrift store for 1.99 . The colors are much more interesting than the modern versions and the texture is softer.

I am also showing some pictures from the beaches of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We spend a few weeks there last summer on vacation and it was such an amazing place. I have been dreaming about it this week and wondering when I will get a chance to go back. If you live on the west coast you should definitely consider a holiday there.

A few people have asked me to recommend a beginners crochet book. It is a really easy skill to pick up, most say it is a lot easier than knitting but I can't actually remember how I learned to crochet . No one taught me. My mom only knows how to knit. I do recall my sister Ann crocheting granny square vests and a green dress so she might have shown me the ropes. I will have to ask her next time we talk. I have recommended the hip to knit book for newbie knitters so probably the hip to crochet book is a good start or find some lovely granny somewhere who would have all the time in the world to teach you what you need to get started.

And for all those who say "I really love the things you are making but I don't know how to crochet" . I say try it. Crocheting is so forgiving. It is much easier than knitting. You can make any shape you want, you don't need to follow a pattern, crochet hooks are cheaper than knitting needles and you can take them on airplanes. Replace, " I don't know how " with " I think I will give it a try".

Then you can have covered rocks, pieces of wood, gourds , etc of your own to admire.

I guess that is why I make tutorials because I think deep down everyone has the ability they just need to have the will to try. Don't let everyone else have the fun of making things , try it yourself. You have to start somewhere. I think a large part of what makes us so special is our strong desire to create. The ocean is vast and so is your potential.

Designs from Nature

I have a large stack of national geographic magazines in the bathroom and I just looked at a article about this very topic , designs from nature. I thought it would make a great title for my next post about some of the crochet covered things I have made this past weekend. I love the way nature covers some of her rocks and over the past year I have taken some pictures of them so I will share some of mother natures work and some of mine.

The last thing I wanted to share with you today was a little crochet covered acorn that I turned into a simple necklace with a length of chain stitch. Have a great start to your week!!

The First Sunday of Summer , the day in pictures

Here is my day in pictures with a little comic relief to start if you remember the snails ended the day yesterday consoling themselves with a heineken after the netherlands lost at Euro 2008 to Russia and this morning they were a little hung over. I made them some kasha to start the day. My father was born in St petersburg, Russia so I think I might just start cheering for Russia now.

Then we had a little garden drama involving Edgar the cat and a young bird.

I did a little crafting on the porch , covering some small smooth rocks with crochet . I am not sure what I will do with these but they remind me of a more natural sort of cameo. I don't even like to crochet, it seems to make my fingers numb but I find myself strangely drawn to cover all sorts of natural things with crochet lately. I have some others to show on a future post.

We went for a beautiful hike in a wonderful place a short drive from our home. It had amazing views, wonderful smelling meadows, beautiful stones, babbling brooks, many varieties of butterflies, tadpoles in the pond and the largest jack in the pulpit I have ever seen.

That is the day so far, I am going to catch the end of the Spain vs Italy game and then think about dinner. I love these long summer days. Have a great remainder of your weekend.

Transition State Complex

School's out and today marks the official start of summer this evening. For most families this is a time of transition . You may have exciting things planned for the summer like trips to far away places.

Or lazy days at the beach.

Or you may be planning a green vacation or eco friendly activities with your children.

What ever you have planned you may feel overwhelmed by this transition. You may feel like you will never be able to accomplish the things you need to do to get to that place where you can relax and enjoy all the wonderful experiences summertime has to offer you.

You look all around to find a way to get to the place you need to be but all directions look very difficult.

You just don't have enough energy to take that big step.

In chemistry the intermediary stage of a chemical reaction is called the transition state and sometimes it requires a lot of chemical energy to get to that state and it can be very slow and difficult. In chemistry to reduce the amount of energy required chemists make use of helpers like enzymes, cofactors and catalysts.

The helpers reduce the amount of energy required to get to the transition state.

The help you receive really makes all the difference and you are ready to embark/

Phew!!! That was so much easier with help. Break the "good mother myth" you don't have to do it all or do it all alone. With everyone pitching in to help just think of the places you can get to and the fun you can have. Happy summer!!!!

No snails were harmed in the photographing of these pictures. Did you know that snails are hermaphrodites having both male and female sexual organs. They still require another snail to mate. They have 4 tentacles, 2 longer eye stocks and the 2 shorter feeler tentacles. Some think of them as garden pests but I love them so much . They eat mostly dead organic matter of which there is always a lot of that in my garden and they always make me smile.