Merry Christmas!!!!

I will not be posting for the next 2 weeks. I hope you all have a happy holiday!

The Parasite That Makes You Kiss

     Most people can think of many words to describe the holidays. Some of those words might include cookies, family memories, games, and kissing under the mistletoe. Did you know that the tradition of “kissing under the mistletoe” is actually a custom of the Scandinavian origin? Well, believe it or not, mistletoe isn’t just for the holidays. It is actually a very interesting plant.

     Well first of all, did you know that mistletoe is a parasite? Mistletoe grows on the branches of shrubs or trees. Mistletoe can grow on hundreds of kinds of trees, and, like any parasite, it can kill with major infestation. Mistletoe infections can cause swelling of the branch of trunk so be on the look out! The main way mistletoe is spread is by birds who like to eat the mistletoe, and then they poop out the seeds. There is another way for the seeds to be spread (this is my favorite way). Sometimes squirrels get poop in their fur or they step in bird poop and the mistletoe seeds are spread that way.

      Most people know when they have seen mistletoe because they look at a deciduous tree in winter and notice a green blob in the tree and nothing else. Mistletoe is actually an evergreen, but the reason that we see it in the winter is because deciduous trees lose their leaves in the winter and mistletoe is the only thing left on a tree. Mistletoe can grow in clumps up to 5 feet in diameter and the roots of the parasite can grow up to 2 feet INSIDE of the tree. Mistletoe actually makes roots inside of the tree, and this hurts the host plant and can kill the host. Mistletoe is partially parasitic. It creates its own food by photosynthesis, but it still takes water and minerals from its host.

     There are two main types of mistletoe, European and American.  There are seven indigenous species of American mistletoe in California. The European mistletoe is being used for medicine to treat cancer. But BE CAREFUL because American mistletoe, (Viscum album,) is a poisonous plant, and can cause acute gastrointestinal problems such as stomach pain and diarrhea.

     I hope your holidays are full of games, family memories, and most importantly mistletoe!

The Devil’s Mountain

        If you live in the bay area, or at least around the bay area, then you have heard about or probably visited the great Mt. Diablo. I have always been able to see Mt. Diablo from my house but I haven’t really known a lot about it.

        Did you know that there is a light tower on the top of Mt Diablo? It is called ” The Eye of Diablo”. It was first turned on by Colonel Charles Lindberg on April 15, 1928. Even though Charles Lindberg was in Colorado when he turned on the light, it didn’t stop him. He turned on the light by telegraph. He punched in a code that was then sent to the “Eye” on Mt. Diablo, while at the same time he turned on another light in the Merced Hills of Southern California. It was used as a navigational light for aviation before planes had navigation instrumentation. Amazingly, when the light was turned on it could be seen from up to 150 miles away on a clear night. Sadly, the light was taken apart to make room for the museum, but now is on top of the summit building. Now the light is only turned on once a year on Dec. 7th to commemorate the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

     Although Mt. Diablo isn’t the tallest mountain in that world, standing at only 3,849 ft. tall, it still has an AMAZING view. In fact you can see Mt. St. Helena, Mt. Lassen, Suisun Bay, the Antioch- Pittsburg area, The Southern Cascade, The Sierra Nevada Mountains,the half dome in Yosmite,and more! Now, if that still doesn’t seem all that amazing think of this.You can see the equivalent of six New England states combined! Which is equivalent to 40,000 square miles! Did you know that the only other place IN THE WORLD where you can see more land than on Mt. Diablo is Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa? THAT’S AMAZING! The reason you can see so much is because the surrounding area is flat because it’s at the edge of the central valley.So the next time you visit or see  Mt. Diablo you can think that you are looking at on of the rarest views in the WHOLE WORLD! 

Happy Trails!

Fuzzy, Yellow, and Edible

Now that I have done pineapple guavas, my next subject is, oddly enough, pineapple quinces. Pineapple quinces have a very floral smell to them and usually ripen in September or October, but our tree ripened in November. Quinces are a yellow and furry fruit and they have a very distinct flavor. They are surprisingly like apples. Although you can’t eat them raw and in slices, you can however make them into pies and cobblers and they will cook down just like apples. They also have the star in them when you cut them in half. Most quinces cook up pink, but ours cooked up to more of an orange color. Some people also like to make something that is called quince butter, or quince cheese. It is quince cooked down to a paste that looks and spreads like butter, hence the name. For thanksgiving my sister-in-law made an apple and quince cobbler and it was TO DIE FOR!!! When preparing to eat quinces don’t forget to peel them!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Taking a week off, but I’ll be posting next week!!!

Thanks

Pine is Fine for the Mind

    If you go into your backyard, or go to your local park, I bet you’ll find a lot of pine trees. There are so many different kinds of pine trees, such as the Monterey, Bishop, and the Grey pine. Not only do pine trees bear needles, but they also bear pine cones, and each pine cone carries a certain amount of pine seeds, also known as pine nuts. Bearing pine cones make them a coniferous tree for little critters like the Douglas squirrel nibble on. But the Douglas squirrel is not the only thing that likes to nibble on the seeds, we eat them too!

    Not only are these trees big and majestic, but the needles carry very important minerals and vitamins such as calcium and Vitamin C. Back in the old days, vitamin C was used to help people from getting scurvy, but because scurvy in not seen a lot anymore, vitamin C helps us through the common cold. 

    There are a lot of things you can make out of pine needles. Some of the many things are honey, tea, baskets, caulking, decorations, cough drops, and vinegar. Now, not all things listed are made from the actual needles. The honey, caulking, and cough drops are made from the pine sap, but everything else is made from the actual needles of the pine trees. It doesn’t matter what kind of pine you have. They all have a different taste but they can all be used for any of these projects. We have Monterey pines. When you look at the list of all the uses, you’re probably wondering about the vinegar. And it IS the oddest thing on the list, so of course that is what we are making. Another reason we have decided to make pine needle vinegar is because my mom has been reading some articles about there being lead in balsamic vinegar, so she was thinking that if we liked the pine needle vinegar, which is known as a balsamic substitute, then we could use it instead.

    When you are planning to make vinegar, or anything that you are going to eat, you want to make sure that you have to best tasting needles. So that is what we did. My mom and I went outside and we tasted a needle from each of our pine trees to see which one would make the best tasting vinegar. And the one we chose had the acidity and taste of French sorrel. So we went outside and picked a whole bunch of needles off that one tree. Then we stripped all the needles off the one branch, being very careful to make sure they were very clean, and then took them inside to be dealt with. My mom has looked at a bunch of different recipes for pine needle vinegar and some recipes say to pasteurize the vinegar and other say not to. So we made two jars, one pasteurized and one not. We took half of the needles and shoved them into a sterilized jar with the pasteurized cider vinegar and one with cider vinegar straight from the jar (we used Braggs Cider Vinegar which is raw, unfiltered and contains the “mother”. To pasteurize, we boiled and then let it return to room temperature). Now we need to wait for 6 weeks for it to age. We will report back on how it turned out.

The Bushy Tailed Ones

   Don’t you just love those furry little animals who steal bird seed out your bird feeder, or who build nests on the side your house? I love sitting outside in my backyard listening to them on my house. It is very amusing to see them run along our window sills making their nest. Even though these little animals cause a lot of trouble, I find them so fun to watch!! Alright, maybe this animal isn’t your favorite, but they’re interesting and sneaky nevertheless. The squirrel that you see in this area is the Douglas squirrels. Douglas squirrels are not indigenous to this area. The squirrel that is, is the Grey squirrel. They are now seldom seen because the invasive Douglas squirrel has pushed them out. Now we see them in open spaces, because that is a natural habitat with oak trees and few pines. Oaks provide acorns for Grey squirrels, but few pine trees for the Douglas squirrel. Even though the Grey squirrel is the indigenous one, I am going to talk about the Douglas squirrel, the squirrel more commonly seen in this area. The Douglas squirrel does have an eastern equivalent, and that is the Eastern Red Squirrel. Although they don’t look alike these squirrels occupy the same niche in nature. This squirrel has many names including Tamiasciurus douglasii, Chickaree, and the pine squirrel. When some people think about squirrels they picture a little furry animal with a bushy tail. But not every squirrel has a bushy tail, but the Douglas squirrel does. This squirrel has a slight orange tint on the under side of their body and the top is a soft brown color. Adult squirrels can grow to about 7-9 inches including their tails; and believe it or not this animal only weighs about ½ a pound!

This squirrel likes to live in coniferous forests. The reason they like to live in coniferous forests in because these squirrels mainly eat the seeds of coniferous, or needle and cone bearing trees. They also eat berries, mushrooms, some fruit,  the eggs of some birds and acorns. Although Douglas squirrels eat acorns, their bodies don’t digest them well.  Did you know that unlike most cute and furry animals, these squirrels don’t have chubby cheeks to hold food? And they also like to live in second growth forests. A second growth forest is a forest that has grown back over time after a fire, logging or infestation of some sort. In the summer these squirrels make ball shaped nests in the branches of trees. In the winter they prefer make their nest in the hollows inside of trees.

Mom note: This information is from from something I read awhile ago. I couldn’t find my original source so I’m going from memory. If you find this to be incorrect, pleace let me know.

There’s a Chicken in our Tree!!

picture courtesy of michael wood

     No it’s not a real chicken, if you’re wondering. It’s another name for a mushroom. This mushroom’s real name is Laetiporus Sulphureus or Sulphur Shelf. Other names for it are, Chicken of the Woods, Chicken Mushroom, or Chicken Fungus. Each shelf ranges from 2-10 inches across. These mushrooms grow in brackets or shelves, hence the name. Sulphur shelves are mostly spotted on oak trees but they are also commonly spotted on yew, cherry wood, sweet chestnut, eucalyptus and willow trees. Although these mushrooms grow on live wood, they grow yearly and every time they grow they produce rot and then when they grow back the next year they are going to produce rot on top of the rot they have already created. Once you have spotted a sulphur shelf on one your trees they are usually there to stay.

    Many of you might be wondering why this mushroom has so many names that revolve around chickens. Well the reason for that is, when you eat the mushroom is has the texture, consistency, and taste of chicken!! Did you know that some vegetarians use these mushrooms as an actual substitute for chicken? This mushroom can be cooked any way you would usually cook chicken. Isn’t that cool! It can also be frozen for a long period of time and it can still keep its edibility. But, there is some bad news. Although there are no poisonous look alikes, it can cause distress to some people. There is small percentage of people who eat this kind of mushroom and their lips swell up. In bad cases, it could give you stomach distress or vomiting. The only way to find out if you are one of those people is to try a very small bite of mushroom. My mom, my brother, my dad, and I all tried them and we are fine!

   This is a very unusual mushroom because, unlike most mushrooms that grow low on the ground after the rain, fall through winter, this mushroom grows very high up in trees and it grows from spring to fall. It also has some interesting uses. It is very fibrous and can be made into paper if  left on the tree long enough. It makes a very beautiful warm honey colored paper. It can also be made into pastel crayons. Once you notice this mushroom you will see that it has a very pretty bright yellow color to it. Despite it pretty bright color, this mushroom doesn’t make a very good dye.

    So next time you see this beautiful mushroom, you can say too, that you also saw a chicken in a tree.

Guava Goodness

Every now and then, at this time of year, my grandma comes over to our house with a bag of green fruits. She told us that they were guavas, but when cut open we saw they weren’t pink, so it sparked interest. My mom and I did some research on the “guavas” and we found out they were actually something called pineapple guavas or feijoa. We also found out that they weren’t true guavas, because true guavas grow in tropic areas and are pink on the inside, and these were white inside.

      The guavas grow on big bushes and are all over the bay area because the bushes are used for landscaping. Did you know that you don’t actually pick these fruits, you let them fall off the bush and then you pick them up? Then you wait 3 to 5 days until they yield slightly, just like a ripe avocado. When they are ripe, they have a very distinct, lovely floral smell. It’s hard to miss. Also, another way to see if they are ripe is when you cut them open. They are supposed to be clear on the inside. If they are white they are underipe and if they are brown, then they are gone.

    First off, my mom and I made a smoothie out of them. I took some of guavas (cut them and spooned out the insides) and some yogurt and blended them together and, well let me just say, guavas are not meant to make smoothies. That was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. Then we decided to add them to apples and made a fruit crisp (see recipe below) It was amazing!! When done, the top is crunchy like a crème brulee. It was so good.   The following recipe is adapted from the one I found at www.bibliocook.com.  

GUAVA AND APPLE CRISP

½ lb feijoas (pineapple guavas)

1 lb apples

                                 2 tablespoons sugar

                                 1 heaped teaspoon allspice

                                 ½ cup flour

                                  8 tablespoons of butter

                                  ½ cup of oats

                                  ½ cup sugar

                                  A pinch salt

 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the feijoas in half and then scooped out the flesh. Then peel, core, and chop the apples. Mix the together in a deep dish with the capacity of roughly a quart and half. Sprinkle with sugar and allspice and toss. Place in oeven to soften for 10 min while you get the crumble ready.

Rub the butter into the flour then add the oats, sugar and salt and mix well.sprinkle over fruit and put it back in oven for 30 to 40 min. when done take out and let cool. THEN ENJOY!

MUSHROOM BASICS

amanita muscaria by Mike Wood

Photos courtesy of www.mykoweb.com

   With winter coming up, and rain soon to come, I thought we should talk about the one thing that screams rain for me, MUSHROOMS! As you have probably guessed, mushrooms usually grow in cooler temperatures and wet and rainy conditions. Now, although there are thousands of types, there are only two main kinds that foragers usually deal with. Those are gilled mushrooms and polypores. Here are some examples of commonly known mushrooms:

gilled mushroom by Mike Wood

Gills- chanterells, shiitaki, portabello.

boletus by Mike Wood

Polypores- boletes, porcini, turkey tails. You may have heard people talk about being worried about poisonous mushrooms. This is true. Poisonous mushrooms can be deadly. With that, most mushrooms aren’t poisonous but even the deadly mushrooms can be touched without any problems. NEVER EVER eat an unidentified mushroom because, although most mushrooms aren’t poisonous, if you eat an unidentified mushroom you still could get VERY SICK!!! So watch out and always identify.

There are many uses for mushrooms. Of course you can eat them, but you can also you can dye with them and make paper. But, if you make paper out of mushrooms, you need to use a kind of mushroom that is very fibrous, like turkey tails . Mushrooms are also used for decomposing plant and animal life, mycofiltration*, mycoremediation*, mycoforestry*, and mycopesticides*. Some also have symbiotic relationships with plants and animals. The parts of most mushrooms are the cap, the stem, the veil, and last but not least, the gills or pores. Many people would think that mushrooms are the main plant. But it’s only the fruit. The main plant is underground and it is called the mycelium. Try to think of it as an apple tree with the tree underground and the  apples growing above ground.

FUN FACTS: Do you think you have seen the biggest mushroom ever? Well, you are going to surprised by the size of these two, giant mushrooms. The first big mushroom is in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon. This big monster covers 2200 acres and is 2400 years old (older than Christianity) and weighs about 605 tons!!! The next mushroom is in Washington and it covers 1500 acres!!! I don’t know about you but to me these are some SERIOUSLY huge mushrooms! Also did you know that mushrooms are genetically closer to humans than any plants or animal? But with that said, unlike humans who have only two sexes, male and female, mushrooms have 36,000 sexes!

*Mycofiltration- you can run polluted water through a bed of certain mycelium and the water will come out clean.

*Mycoforestry- fungus keeps forests healthy; they break down dead plant and animal matter. They also have symbiotic relationships with both plant and animals

*Mycoremediation- you can clean up toxic spills with different types of fungi.

*Mycopesticides- specific fungi kill specific insects.

*Myco- anything to do with mushrooms or fungus.

*Symbiotic- two organisms living together to help each other.