Boston Takes to the Court

 Ahh the sweet, sweet sound of rain sprinkling down from the heavens, or booming through the valley (as it did last night) after a long, dry, hot summer. 

If you're from Vernon VT, your sports teams are in Boston and yet you are also accustomed to using words like, "taxachusetts" and "flatlander." Oh there is a more popular one out there; but Wayne assures me that it is not appropriate for this blog. Be that as it may, I believe that we share the love with Boston in more ways than the Pats, Celtics, Sox and Bruins. I'm not talking one way traffic here: but rather marvelous things  such as, each Mother's Day Boston has an entire Duckling Day complete with a  Duck Parade that includes a marching band! There is also a bronze statue of the endearing children's story, "Make Way For Ducklings" on the common. Arguably one of Boston's most nostalgic attractions are the Swan Boats. These boats navigate around a lagoon filled with ducks and geese being fed copious amounts of junk food tossed at them by tiny human hands. What I mean to say is this; that be it MA or VT, who doesn't love ducks? We are more connected than we sometimes like to think.

This morning I woke up to reports that 20 wild Mallard ducks were euthanized because they became sick from Botulism while swimming in the man made lagoon at Boston's Public Garden.  Our daughter Helen, who works with birds on the coast of ME and will begin a salt marsh restoration project this month, often reminds us that in Wildlife, "you can't change just one thing." In the case of Boston's lagoon, those investigating the outbreak of  this toxic bacteria, think that it happened because the Swan Boats stopped running due to COVID-19 restrictions. It seems that those tourist filled boats churning about in the lagoon, introduced the oxygen necessary to prevent Botulism outbreaks. 

Like the Celtics down by fifty points, Kemba Walker on the DL and the opposing team taking to the court hot in the fourth; the lagoon just couldn't catch a break. Warm water doesn't hold as much oxygen as cool water and shallow bodies of water heat up more quickly than deep.The impact of placing the swan boats on the DL (the lagoon's source of oxygen) during the hot dry months of summer created ideal conditions for the bacteria dominating the arena.

 This oxygenating process would typically occur in natural bodies of water via a system of waterfalls, tributaries and distributaries. To explain it simply, increasing oxygen levels makes it very difficult for certain bacteria to survive. If you are super interested in the science of Anaerobic organisms and Microbiology, click on the link for a more detailed explanation.  For the rest of us, see below.

 Botulism spores are harmless until the right environmental conditions allow the spores to germinate and then they become toxic. Botulism spores persist for years not doing much, just waiting in the pregame locker room for the right conditions that allow them to play. The spores are in habitats with no oxygen, soils, aquatic sediments, the digestive system of fish and in fish gills. The right conditions for germination include a nutrient dense supporting material with lots of decaying plant growth and no oxygen. 

We are getting a little out there, so let's bring all of this back to our home field with the understanding that I am choosing to talk about these small man created systems solely because they are easier to discuss and not because I'm being unfaithful to the home team. 

The Vernon pool is now in the off season, and that means they have turned off the water, filtration and other water sanitation systems. I took a walk over there today to check things out and found that the water seems just as clear as it was last week. But as everyone knows, soon the pool will become cloudy and then turn a lovely shade of green. Now we don't have resident schools of fish swimming around in the town pool, there aren't any decaying plants, the bottom is free of substrate, and the kids are out of the pool and on to the soccer fields. It's seems unlikely that the pool is a candidate for Botulism, so what is that green murky stuff happily populating the Vernon pool?  We will talk about that in my next blog - Norma Manning

Resources:

Avian Botulism, Sea Grant Michigan  

About Botulism, CDC

Oxygen Requirements for Microbial Growth, Lumen Microbiology

Parks Department Draining Boston Public Garden Pond After at Least 20 Ducks Contract Deadly Toxin, 7 News Boston

                                                The Lagoon in Boston's Public Garden

March for Science on the Boston Common

The Road To The Right

 With the sunset arriving a little earlier and the light feeling a bit more golden, I have found myself reflecting more as of late. I took a small break from writing to celebrate family and admittedly have felt reluctant to sit down and write again. Perhaps it is the encroaching start date for work, or maybe it's that I cannot seem to get that blessed five dollar foot long jingle out of my head; but I found myself in the mid morning just standing in the backyard doing nothing in particular but waiting for inspiration.

I heard the half hearted honk followed by a second and gazed over the treetops to locate the geese that sometimes travel by on their way to Lily Pond. Only this time instead of coming over the tall spruce line, they lazily came in lower and to the right of them. Have you ever heard the feathers of geese pushing against the still air so low to the earth that in your mind you are almost touching their wings? This small flock's crisp v formation didn't seem to quite match up with their murmurings and I thought if I closed my eyes I would instead be listening to children being made to get out of bed for their first day of classes. Not quite weary from summer, yet ready to strengthen and test their wings over distance. It won't be long before they are indistinguishable from the hundreds that will fly down the valley in the coming days. Then I will, as I have always done, wave at the sky and yell, "Goodbye! See you next year!" 

Only this is all just a lie as they won't be the same small flock that left the setback flying to Lily Pond each day only to leave one afternoon for longer days. No, they will be changed from their time away and those that I greet with a "Hello" and "Welcome back" will have other, more pressing things to do than to reflect upon last season. Gone are the uncertain groanings of fledglings.

Wayne and I were on our way to Bradley to pick up Abby our youngest of four. She had been working at her first job in D.C. after graduating from Alfred U; but had since moved to Buffalo three weeks ago. While Wayne and I walked about Vernon tending to this and dreaming about that, Abby was taking the early train into the city and then the last train out at ten. I wasn't quite ready for the adult that would be standing at the airport curb, so I asked Wayne to take Scott Road. "We'll be late" he warned but I assured him that we would not. 

I always look for the state line marker when the paved road changes into dirt and noticed that people had begun to stack stones on top of it. Placing stones on monuments is a Jewish custom that is done to hold the dead's soul down on earth. Perhaps those who put the stones on the state line wish to hold their souls in Vermont and who can blame them? 

"Stop! Turn Right!" For the life of me I wonder why it is that Wayne sometimes can't follow the simplest of requests. "We're going to be late! I don't know where that road ends up." Wayne protests as he turns the car around. "No, we aren't going to be late" I confirm and then think just one more adventure this summer. The woods there are big dusky and peaceful with old trees. The ground is covered with thick layers of pungent pine needles that hide the reason for the ground lifting up to form hills without level spots in between.   The road gives hints of the secrets hidden there as Wayne slowly creeps the car over round stones. There is a large pond filled with pads, but mostly there are tall furrowed trunks with tops that are out of view and a brown forest floor. It is still and it is comfortable. 

I ask Wayne for the name of the road and he checks his phone. We are on Old Vernon rd and we can't imagine how it is that we had never taken the road to the right. Just as I begin to worry about being late, a tree emerges from the landscape bearing witness to a ritual that I can only guess at; but it is both joy and time standing sentry over a large rock fire pit that is so pristine and devoid of human carousing that it sits in stark contrast to the tree covered in rows of stamped in bottle caps. This is something important. This is a reminder that both the act of being in this place at this moment and a tradition carried on from days gone by has its place here. 

We are late to the airport; but we got there right on time. - Norma Manning

 

Vernon's Budding Ecotourism

 My sister Claire and my brother in law Gregg came down from South Hero, VT for a visit on Sunday. Claire and Gregg are regular readers of Nature Finds, upfront when I am overly cryptic and are my greatest supporters.  I typically get them down to Vernon in the colder months as it is difficult to motivate them to leave the lake during the warmer ones. It seems however, that Vernon had been calling them down with the promise of seeing first hand some of what I had been writing about. Preparing for their day trip was my first first experience with hosting Ecotourism in town, and so I set Wayne straight to work. 

I'm unsure who it was that first initiated the conversation of creating a farmer's market in Vernon years ago, or who ultimately brought it to fruition with the Facebook group Vernon, VT Farmers Market; but it is in my estimation exactly the sort of innovative community mindedness that a small agricultural town in southeastern VT can thrive upon while preserving it's rural charm. Because Wayne is a planner and likes to have a map in hand, I brought up the Facebook page and gave him instructions to find some vegetables and anything else that looked good for the day. Wayne came home thirty minutes later with one zucchini, two yellow summer squash and a container of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. It seems that he wanted to visit all of the town's driveway stands to make sure that I was happy. I was and so there wasn't a need to make him go into Brattleboro. 

Claire and Gregg had two requests, they wanted to take a swim in the Broad brook waterfall and they wanted to take a hike in the town forest. The day being overcast and relatively cool compared to the hot dry summer we have endured, I opted to just play tour guide and left my swimsuit at home. We noticed that the brook was dry in places, as we crept up the dirt road and were surprised that the small parking area at the waterfall was filled with cars sporting out of state plates from Louisiana, New York and Massachusetts. A few other things had changed since we last swam in the pools there, an official no parking order was posted on a tree along the road, a no trespassing / private property sign was posted on the rocks just before the bridge and people have stacked rocks in an attempt to dam the brook and make the pools deeper. Wayne sensed my soap box lecture on the plague of stone stacking coming on and hinted that everyone just wanted to have fun. As it turned out, the relatively big group that was there, was having plenty of fun and it made me smile to see happy people. We decided to keep our social distance and settled for walking along the bank remarking on the beautiful rock formations that could be seen now that the water was so low.

Once at the town forest, we opted for the Red trail which is traditionally a muddy walk in parts as it skirts the upper swamp. Claire and Gregg wanted the full experience, asking me to point out things that I had written about. As we neared the swamp, I noticed that Gregg's feet were somewhat bouncy as the trail slightly compressed with each step. This prompted me to talk about how areas of the forest floor are made up of deep moss. I must have entered my own world as the next thing I knew, there was Gregg laid out on his stomach in the middle of the trail "Oh no! What happened? Are you okay?" It seems that Gregg had spied an interesting plant and wanting to get a closer look laid down purposefully in the middle of the trail. Typically anyone attempting that maneuver would have emerged as a soaked swamp creature; but today he was completely dry. It's a good thing that he didn't choose to hit the trail where he earlier found a sizable pile of coyote scat! "Hey I found a Black Gum tree over here!" Claire announced while pretending that the sign on the other side didn't say Black Gum Tree. Gregg hurried over and they ceremoniously posed for a tree hugging picture. 

When we emerged from the forest, there was a family from MA at the trail head parking and the woman asked me if I was Donna. Saying that I wasn't she followed up asking if I was the person who wrote about Vernon. Confirming her suspicions, she mentioned my pizza story and shared some beautiful pictures of mushrooms that she had captured on the White trail. Honestly, they were beautiful with one being orange and tiered like a blooming flower. I admire people who take nothing but a photograph and good memories with them while wandering out and about. Dang, I'm feeling a lecture coming on about leaving no trace so I had better wrap this up.

We drove back to our house and, thanks to Vernon VT Farmers Market, we ate a supper that included veggies with cookies for desert. I hear that the Gilbert's stand will have Red Velvet Woopie pies on Wednesday! See you there.  -Norma Manning

(In place of a lecture see below)

Leaving No Trace: Rock Stacking, Ausable River Association

Here is How You Can Protect Vermont's Hiking Trails, VPR

Hiking Resources, American Hiking Society

                                                One of the Vernon Farmer's Markets 

 

Tree Hugger Tourists

                                                A dry Red Trail at Black Gum Swamps

                                                                   Adult Coyote scat

                                       No surface water in sight at the upper swamp

                                       The moss is turning light due to lack of water

                                               

Mushrooms - The Other Fruit Topping

 I've always expressed an aversion to fruit on pizza. Wayne can't stand any type of olives and while I prefer veggies, Wayne prefers meat. So it was after years of concerted negotiations, that we settled on sausage, mushroom and onion as our regular toppings. Things can be tricky when dining with others however, as one wayward individual inevitably suggests pineapple. Sometimes I honestly don't know about people.  

I understand what you are thinking, tomatoes are technically fruit, and pizza wouldn't be pizza without  tomato sauce. I believe that one minor indiscretion is acceptable in the realm of pizza toppings; but to further unravel my stance, I recently discovered that mushrooms are actually the fruit of  a fungus.  My relationship with pizza just got complicated and to further add insult to injury, olives, bell peppers and eggplants are all botanically fruits. 

What is a fruit? Merriam Webster Fruit VS. Vegetable offers the simple definition of fruit as being, "Anything that grows on a plant and is the means by which that plant gets its seeds out into the world is a fruit." You will find some argument about mushrooms on this subject as mushroom fungus reproduces not by seeds, but by spores. While this is true, the spores from mushroom fungus are contained in and then released from the mushroom. Seeds and spores serve the same reproductive purpose. 

 The fruit that we find above the surface is the smaller part of what is the organism that is growing below. That white fluffy far reaching stuff under the surface are roots called mycelium and that's the stuff that is responsible for a lot of environmental good in the hood. Unlike moss, fungus doesn't get its nutrients from photosynthesis as it has no chlorophyll. Mushroom fungus gets what it needs from what it is living in and on. There are three groups of mushroom fungi: Those that are parasitic and break down and kill their living host,  mycorrhizal which takes nutrients from its host but in return helps it to grow healthier, and saprophytic which breaks down an already dead host. 

I think it's important to realize that mushroom fungi are not just decomposers and recyclers of wood and leaves which returns  minerals and nutrients back  the earth, they are also environmental house keepers. They collect and store all kinds of icky stuff from the environment like heavy metals, bacteria, pesticides, and oil. This fungus also among other things, filters out water pollutants and controls algae. They are very thorough at their job, not stopping until all of the toxins within their reach are cleaned up and yet they don't release these pollutants back into the environment. I really could use a friend like mushroom fungus in my basement to get rid off all of my kids dorm room supplies!  Consider this as well; because they are toxin collectors, you should really know where your yummy fruit pizza toppings grew up. A clean growing environment means clean food. 

One more  thing to know about mushrooms is that every mushroom is edible at least once. If you would like to learn more about mushrooms, like which ones are not poisonous and can be eaten a second time (and put on pizza), a good place to start would be the resources provided below. -Norma Manning

Mushrooms of the Northeast by David Demarest. 

Are Mushrooms Vegetables?  Grow Cycle

Meet the Mushrooms Mushroom Mountain

6 Ways Mushrooms Can Help Save the Planet CRCLR

These many mushrooms indicate the expanse of the mycelium underneath

Mushrooms of Vernon town forest and Lily pond

       

         Here is a good example of mold myceluim which is decomposing a mushroom

The Green Badge of Courage

Let's talk moss shall we? Let's also toss in a few more low to the ground (but not always) things that we may love, hate or be indifferent to.  But given the recent storm Isaiah that blew through Vernon this week, I think that I will begin with that green badge of courage we call moss. Okay, so I may be getting a tad dramatic here; but I hope that you are as surprised as I am about all of the cool attributes of what many a lawn worshiper considers a nuisance.

Until I began investigating moss, lichens and mushrooms for this blog, I was a happily oblivious hiker escaping the heat of summer while snapping photographs of interesting things low to the cool damp earth.  Oh sure, sometimes these things presented themselves higher up and sometimes they were in hot dry places, and sometimes they were flat and on "dead" things like rocks while other times they had dimension  and were on living things like trees; but in my mind they were all part of one big cool family. Well as it turns out I couldn't have been more wrong.

So why personify moss with the attribute of courage? Well let's first take a look at the ways people attempt to rid their property of some of the 12,000 species of moss. I suspect the most popular method is application (who has time for hard labor when there are games of golf to be played). A moss warrior might apply Ferrous sulfate (iron) which kills moss by drying it out. Putting down lawn fertilizer bolsters plants like fescue, permitting it to out compete moss. Lime increases soil p.h. making it  inhospitable. Other methods include decreasing water, increasing sunlight and disturbing it which also includes heavy traffic. Heavy traffic is particularly notable when considering the Black Gum swamps in Vernon's town forest (more on that later). Hmmm, perhaps it's not the moss that deserves the green badge of courage after all; but rather it's the property owner who is brave enough to resist an abundance of media advertisers and their attempts to embarrass land owners into eradicating it. Well as people are fond of saying when confronting these things, "follow the money."

There are parasitism, mutalism and commensalism relationships in the world of Botany. Moss is of the commensalism variety which is Geek speak for: while moss lives on trees (among other things), moss doesn't take anything from the tree. Unlike fungus, moss doesn't have roots and so does not break down nor remove nutrients from that upon which it is growing. At great risk of sounding like a plant nerd I will try to tread lightly here.  As I mentioned, moss does not have roots so how and what does moss eat? Well, moss is a non vascular plant. It is short, non woody, it doesn't seed or flower and it has leaves that are one cell thick. I was told to shorten up my paragraphs, so on to the next paragraph...

Those short thin leaves are like little sponges that absorb varying amounts of water depending on the type of moss it is. Sphagnums (peat moss) for example, can absorb twenty to thirty times its weight in water! The stuff in it's leaves that makes moss green is called Chlorophyll. The magic happens when Chlorophyll traps the sun's heat energy. The energy combines with Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and water to create carbohydrates which is food for the moss. Oh my goodness I can feel your eyes glazing over already; but hang in there for a second and prepare to have your mind blown. The moss only needs the carbon from the bond to make its carbohydrate and so expels the O2 and of course O2 is none other than oxygen! 

So let's recap. Moss is a bunch of leaves, that act like sponges, that take in a greenhouse gas, and in return gives us oxygen- all without breaking down or consuming whatever it is growing on. But oh my friends it gets better than that! Moss is a simple indicator species, moss is intolerant of pollution and will not grow on polluted sites. I know, how exciting can one plant get!

Consider tropical storm Isiah with all of it's twenty four hours of flash flood warnings. Now consider all of those beautiful, clean, big and small, deep and shallow, moss filled swamps within the forty one acres of moss filled town forest! Our town forest floor consists of peat and other mosses that has been measured to be eleven feet deep in spots! It's like having basins and acres of sponges at the ready and waiting to absorb storm water, slow water runoff and control erosion. The mosses at Black Gum Swamps are one of Vernon's secret weapons against flash flooding and greenhouse gas! They truly are Ninjas. Clearly protecting those swamps and the moss within to the very best of our ability is to everyone's benefit. 

If you still need more on the subject than that, let me explain how I came up with the title "The Green Badge of Courage." Along with being absorbent, moss has antibacterial properties. Moss was historically used to treat infection and stop blood loss -it is an old fashioned bandage if you will. For this reason, I took liberties with the title of Stephen Cranes novel, The Red Badge of Courage. 

Shall I keep going? Moss is said to to have been used to warm the blood if consumed; but some sources caution against it. It was stuffed into footwear, mittens and into gaps in homes to insulate from the cold. It was used for bedding. It was used for making diapers. Moss was part of the process for preparing fish for drying... Okay, that's enough of that! Next blog I will discuss that incredible fruit we know as mushroom.

Until then, as you wander about in Vernon be sure to tread lightly and wear your "green badge" with pride - Norma Manning

Resources:

What is Moss?? Earth Titan 

7 Main Types of Moss From Around the World Homestratoshhere

Moss Wikipedia

State wants to protect rare black gum swamp in Vernon VTDigger

Our Life Jackets Saved Us

I'm super fussy about wearing Coast Guard approved personal flotation devices when aboard any type of boat. Today while paddling  on the Connecticut River, we lost Wayne's phone, our water bottle, a towel and our canoe; but our life jackets may have saved our lives.

We started out later than planned, one day later to be exact. Wayne always the heavy lifter, put our red, Old Town, Penobscot canoe on the car while I loaded the paddles and jackets. When we arrived at the Vernon Dam there was already a canoe and a boat in the water. Now to say that I am paranoid about entering the water for such activities might be what Wayne would call it; but I think of it as being prepared. I used to be Red Cross certified Water Safety Instructor (WSI) and worked at that job for seven years. I had previously lent my jacket out and I was complaining that I couldn't get it adjusted. Wayne knowing that I wasn't going anywhere without a perfect fit patiently helped me to refit it. I always tie a whistle to my jacket strap and mentioned to Wayne, "Wouldn't it be great if they had a waterproof zip phone pocket on life jackets?"

The island in the river across from the Cold Brook is in bloom with colors of purple, lavender, red and white. in my mind I was already planing my blog and this was my first picture. The river seemed calm with only a slight current making taking pictures of wispy goose feathers floating on top of the water a bit challenging. The banks are a mix of sandy beach and large outcroppings of smooth rock. Near the beginning of Stebbins road there is a river overlook where a cable ride to the other side used to be. I snapped a picture of a survey(?) pin installed in the rock there.  The river is clear with long green weeds growing on the bottom that are interspersed among the gravel and submerged trees. We came across a camp of several tents with children and adults as they were just getting off of their boat. I asked if I could include them in my blog and they happily agreed. Wayne who always paddles from the back gave me updates as to where he thought we were on the river. There was a beautiful waterfall and at one point Wayne mentioned that he thought that we were behind the post office. We were taking our time but mindful that strong storms were predicted for the afternoon. You will have to forgive me that the order of the trip is mixed up because my adrenaline is continuing to adjust down.

"Can you go towards that Cottonwood so I can take a picture with the mountain behind?" I was more focused on getting a great picture than the changing river current as we neared the tree. Wayne was the only one paddling at this point when he alerted me that the current was taking the canoe. I stuffed the phone between my jacket and my shirt and attempted to help us break clear of the growing current. It was too late. Just like that we were forced upon the tree and into the water. Our canoe was flipped with my end towed under the big tree. When I came up I saw that Wayne and I were both fighting to not go with it. My jacket kept kept me upright and I was bracing myself against the current on a log. The log wasn't fixed and was being pushed up against the tree. I believe that the canoe getting hung up, and the fact that I was wearing my jacket are the reasons that I was kept from being drug under the tree. I could reach a tangle of branches beneath my feet and searched for more stable ground. Wayne however was closer to shore, he was also chest deep and fighting a significantly stronger undertow. He was holding onto the end of the canoe which was pitched up closer to the surface of  the water. We were in trouble, coping with our sudden baptism, assessing the danger and trying to determine if the canoe could be salvaged.

Wayne at one point was pulled back under while trying to upright the canoe. When he came up his glasses were falling off of his face and I yelled for him to bite them! It's odd what you say and do during a crises and for some reason I thought that it was a good time to tell him I had lost the phone. Wayne wasn't too happy about that development. We fought and fought for all we were worth to free the canoe. At times we thought we were making progress but the ribs of the boat broke free. In one last ditch effort, we found the handle at the bow and pulled as hard as we could only to have the entire boat, though now upright pin under the tree. We were both exhausted and I told Wayne to leave the canoe, that we needed to try to get ourselves to safety. We could see a path on the opposite bank and so began to work our way towards that landmark. The more we progressed towards the middle of the river and away from the tree, the shallower and calmer the water became. We were able to walk most of the distance, swam in a few spots and found that the path was a steep deer trail. After we managed to navigate the bank we found ourselves in a large field with weeds that were over our heads...each carrying our paddles. You see, during the struggle both Wayne and I had thought to retrieve our paddles and place them in the tree for safe keeping. Having my paddle while trying to get away from the current was a huge help as I used it like a hiking pole by sticking it into the river bottom.

When we got to the opposite side of the field there was a farm road and we walked on it right up to Beth Eriksson's front yard. Beth was standing there holding a box of something from her garden looking calm as a cucumber, completely refreshed, with impeccable hair and a big smile on her face. I who looked like a drowned rat covered in river muck and farm weeds, waved my paddle in the air to gain her attention. I love Beth, there is no other way to put it, without hesitation she offered up the pristine back seat of her car saying that it happens a lot. She put down a blanket, we climbed in paddles, jackets glasses, ball caps, mud and all and Beth with her Covid-19 mask on drove us back to the dam. Wayne discovered that he still had his sunglasses in his pocket and by some miracle we both had our car keys. If I forgot to say thank you before you pulled away Beth - Thank You, your calm demeanor and generosity..I have no words except amazing!

So here I am two hours later writing my blog from the comfort of our office chair. Wayne has a nasty scratch and bruise under his arm and one on top of his shoulder.  He is on his way to Tractor Supply to find a come-a-long because being a Navy Veteran (submariner ironically) he refuses to leave his boat in the river. I'll leave the logistics up to him, I'm not going back today...my ribs are sore and my life jacket is still wet. -Norma Manning

Update: During this accident I tore my left bicep muscle.  I didn't realize I had injured myself when I wrote this blog entry and I am still healing from it on November 27th. Wayne and I weren't able to recover our cherished Old Town Canoe.

On a better day of canoeing at Lily pond a few years ago