M.J. Wayne

Clever…

There are only a few wild mushrooms that I personally know to be edible, and morels are the only ones that I’ll eat…for now.
I’ve recently purchased the mushroom identification book (by DK Publishing) to ID the different varieties growing on the property.

Cedars are some of my favorite trees. This drone pic of the yard was taken in early 2025.

Pearl Sutton wrote:In my neck of the woods that would be a tree frog. They climb up windows, cars, and anything. They can go totally upside down, so he could have easily gotten up there, and vent stack is easy climbing.

Why is not a matter I know of, maybe the smells and heat attract some insects. Or it's out of the wind and might be a nice place to hide when it's cold.

I concur. Tree frogs can do all of that.
One of the oddest things I had ever noticed while working was a tree frog dried up and dead inside an energized electric meter base. When removing the meter, i noticed the frog. It was in contact with both the ground wire, and a 'hot leg'. The only way the poor frog could get to where it was would be through the weatherhead up high. There is just a tiny amount of space between the wire and the plastic part, but just enough for the frog to enter. I figured the coworkers wouldn't believe that one, so i took a pic....which I probably shouldn't post here.

Disregard

This map site shows shaded contours that really stand out. It's very useful for me, I hope it's useful to others as well. The view can be changed with the settings on the right.
This is Current River in Missouri, but you can zoom out, scroll to your property, and zoom in.
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.98001,-90.99006&z=16&b=imagery&o=r&n=1

As far as my 19 acres goes....(all figures are approximate. Used Google Earth to measure)
4 acres cleared flat areas, including sections of new and old driveways.
9 acres of gently sloped, and flat woods
6 acres of steep hilly wooded areas.

A straight line from my house to the driveway entrance measures 755 ft.
Because of the hilly terrain, the winding driveway measures 1200 ft.
The house sits roughly 125 ft above the driveway entrance.

Edit to add...the highest point on the property is 60 ft above where the house sits. A house was at that high point until the federal govt. purchased a portion of the property for a project in the late 80's.

Allen Ayers wrote:As someone who's starting to look into herbal medicine myself, The Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine by Andrew Chevallier, The Modern Herbal Dispensatory by Thomas Easly, Medical Herbalism: The Science and Principals of Herbal Medicine by David Hoffman, and anything by Rosemary Gladstar are all highly recommended by the herbalists I know.

M.J. Wayne wrote:I love this book. I like that you can search by ailment, or by herb. It also explains how to harvest, dry, prepare herbs. The uses and benefits of each herb are explained separately. Glad I bought it.

The author Nicole Apelian has been accused of heavy AI use in several of her books by many herbalists, I'd recommend doing your due diligence and double checking any recipes or claims you see in that book. Better safe than sorry!

Thanks for that info. This book was published in 2019. That's not very old, but neither is AI. Was AI in use even back then? (asking because i know little about it)

I love this book. I like that you can search by ailment, or by herb. It also explains how to harvest, dry, prepare herbs. The uses and benefits of each herb are explained separately. Glad I bought it.

A few more. The last two pics were taken in Illinois.