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And we’re walking.
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Or rather, I’m walking and the husband is reading…
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This time about the arboretum’s project to reintroduce the American chestnut tree that was decimated by a fungus.
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They’ve planted hundreds.
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Finished reading, the husband caught up and we entered the woods.
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The trails are well marked and not wanting to miss anything I made sure we did both the inner and outer loops.
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Cool and peaceful.
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Melodic bird song and the gentle swaying of branches.
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And a burl.
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Which some little creature had already hollowed out for his home.
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Out of the woods and back to the meadows.
To be continued….
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River's world..... 
I didn’t know that was called a burl. I didn’t know “burl” was a word. My only interaction with it has been Burl Ives. I wonder if he was named after a bulbous knot in a tree.
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They make beautiful bowls out of them here. Go for big money. People search the woods to harvest them….
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I didn’t know the name either…
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Nick did the same thing. I’d stand and wait while he read
Every
Single
Word
On
Each
Sign.
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I also didn’t know that those things were called burl’s. What in interesting things nature does. It’s just beautiful over there, I go stay there for days on end.
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Locals walk it every day. Open year round and it sure beats a treadmill.
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Burls are growths to cover up injuries, a self-made bandage. The tree does its best to protect itself. But then humans come along and cut the burl off, damaging the tree all over again. Many do not survive the second injury. But most people don’t care.
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Well, at least this one is safe.
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Our nature preserve looks similar to the photos here. I’m kind of amazed, somehow I think of Maine as having totally different vegetation than Ohio. Wrong-o, me.
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Far northern Maine has more conifers. We are the pine tree state after all.
😉
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That one burl looks like a crocodile head.
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I am enjoying this adventure
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Happy to take you along…
👍
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I learned from Dick that we once had a chestnut on our property, but alas…got the same story about the decimation.
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It’s been devastating.
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My eyes are playing tricks again. In one of your pictures, I thought I saw a Bear. Lol
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Wow. I didn’t see him… but it’s Maine so who knows?
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