Fred's photos from Wheaton Labs

More caterpillars! These were on an apple tree at basecamp. These are all the red humped caterpillar (Oedemasia concinna) aka (Schizura concinna). The first two photos are different views of the same caterpillar. The third photo is a different specimen that looks like the same species, but smaller and maybe a bit dried out. Maybe it is being eaten from the inside by a parasitic wasp? It hasn't moved in more than a day, so probably not in the best health. Nearby on the branch someone has left a bundle of tubular eggs wrapped in silk.

Next to accept fall's advance is the chokecherry (Prunus virginiana). These are found is patches around basecamp and the lab. I didn't notice much fruit on them this year. The fruit isn't that great on its own (not surprising when "choke" is right there in the name), but is delicious turned into syrups and jams. There is a traditional way of eating where one grinds up the whole fruit including the rather large pit and dries the resulting paste. This must be done outdoors as cyanide is released in the process. After thorough drying they are safe to eat. When folks have tried it here, we have enjoyed the flavor, but not the texture of the shell fragments. Maybe if we put it through a flour grinder or use some method to separate out the hard bits it would be better.

Not everything is going dormant for fall. Some things are taking advantage of the recent rains to have a second round of growth. During the heat and dry of summer the walking onions (Allium × proliferum) and the sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella) went dormant and all (or nearly all) of the leaves shriveled and dried. Now they are putting on new leaves.

The first photo is the walking onion. Because of a miscommunication and poor supervision on my part, these onions were planted way to close together and they struggled this year. Maybe i'll have time to separate them next spring.

The second photo is the sheep sorrel, which grows wild here. Though, I did scatter the seeds after disturbing this spot. This plant looks to have two leaves left from spring, but most had none.

The third photo is of the compost heating up. It isn't phased by the recent cooler temps.

I baked another batch of bread! I did one loaf in my cast iron pot and one in the loaf pan. Someone had abused my pot in a fire, so the bread stuck to the bottom and i had to tear it up a little getting it out. The crust came out better this time because i followed the directions and kept the pot and pan covered during the first 30 minutes of baking.

On my plot i found a nest (probably from bald faced hornets). I thought it was weird that light was visible in the opening. When i looked at the other side, it turned out that someone broke open the nest. Probably a hungry bird.

With the recent rains and fall temps come the mushrooms! I haven't had much luck getting ID's for many of the mushrooms that show up here.

These were all growing next to a two year old volunteer cottonwood tree that is growing at the Abbey. It has been mulched with hay, various weeds, and horse manure.

I spent the afternoon helping Stephen set up his new canvas bell tent. We had a few challenges,  but I enjoyed the experience. It is quite the upgrade from his previous setup. After he gets a heater in there, it will be a comfortable place for the next couple of years or so.

The best site for the tent did not have the best ground for putting in tent stakes. The bedrock was about 3 or 4 inches down. So, we had to drill pilot holes with the jackhammer.

The third photo is someone else with a portable home. It is a snail i found at the Abbey. The shell is out of focus, but i like this photo because you can see the crazy texture of her skin. She had a long dry road to cross, so after our photo shoot, i helped her the rest of the way.

The conifers are experiencing fall in their own way. The larch will sprinkle the mountains with their beautiful golden needles, but we are still a few weeks until peak color change. In the meantime, the Douglas fir and ponderosa pine are having a different kind of needle drop. This is the time of year when the trees get rid of the needles that aren't getting enough sun, or for other reasons aren't worth defending. Usually the needles towards the interior and underside of the trees turn yellow or reddish-brown and drop off. This is permanent and that spot will not grow new needles but instead will have bare bark. This is the result of the tree growing taller and adding new branch tips each spring. Those new needles end up shading out the older lower needles.

In the first photo you can see a ponderosa pine that has reddish-brown needles on the interior.

The second photo is one individual branch of a ponderosa. You can see green needles near the tip from growth of this year and last. Further from the tip the needles have died off and will soon drop. Further along the branch you can see little nubs where needles fell off in previous years. Eventually as the branch thickens and the bark continues to grow, all signs of needle attachment disappear.

The third and fourth photos are of Douglas fir. You can see that same phenomenon of the dropping of the shaded out needles.

It is through this mechanism that the lower parts of the tree trunks consist of dead branches or eventually a bare trunk as those dead lower branches break off. Those dead lower branches are usually much drier than the branches on the forest floor, and so, they make good fire starter. If those dead branches don't break off they can act as a ladder for wildfires to get into the crown of the tree.

On my plot i've got a little apricot (well, lots) and a little oak. They don't have many leaves, but they've got some nice fall colors. I can't wait until these are full size trees covered in these colorful fall leaves.

The last photo is from a nearby creek. Crawling across the rock is the larval stage of a flying aquatic insect. He has glued bits of sand together to make a camouflaged tube to live in.

More mushrooms to share. These are on the path between the abbey and the teepee, near the teepee gate.

The first two photos are of the same mushroom. This was growing on an old stump that is a bit too rotten for me to tell if it was a ponderosa pine or doug fir. One from above to show the cap and one from below to show that it has gills.

The second set of photos are of the same clump of mushrooms. These were just growing on the ground near the path. One photo is from above and one from below showing the pores (not gills) and the veil on one of the younger mushrooms.

Fall has brought us mushrooms and colorful leaves and now lots of seeds are ripening. While in Missoula i found a few tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) trees that had seeds ready. They are notorious for having a low germination rate, so i thought i better get a few thousand. These trees are the tallest trees in the eastern US. The tallest is over 190 ft! Sometimes they have no branches for 80 or 100 feet, making them prized for lumber. They grow relatively fast, but can still live for a couple of hundred years. The oldest ones are about 500 years old.

The first photo is of all of the seed pods that i collected. These are what grows after the "tulips" are pollinated.

The second photo is and individual pod with one seed separated. As the seeds dry out, the ones around the outside break free and helicopter to the ground. Seeds do better planted in the fall. If planted in the spring, they may wait a year to germinate.

The third photo is a few leaves from the trees.

Just wait a hundred years or so and these trees will be towering over my plot!