Wood Elves are a tricksey species that make an annual appearance in the fall, usually before the Autumnal Equinox when they are widely observed dancing in the moonlight. They provide things. In our case they provide us with a lot of work to be done.
Wood elf spoor.
It will take several sessions to put this large pile of winter firewood away under cover. We have already put away roughly half, stacked neatly in the woodshed overhang adjacent to the garage. The wood elves will deliver two more loads of ‘work’ of a similar size before they are done for the season, the next delivery slated for next weekend. There is an old saying that heating your house with wood warms you at least twice: Once when preparing it for burning, and then again in the stoves. I must say I’m really looking forward to having fires on a regular basis in the cookstove again. Which reminds me, we need to clean that stove thoroughly and get some stove cement for the firebox.
Autumn is definitely beginning.
Under the canopy of pine trees, underbrush is turning to their fall colors. This hillside is covered with Ninebark.
The large fruiting bushes are covered with munchables, just the thing a hungry bear , bird or deer needs to fatten up in anticipation of lean times ahead in the coming winter.
Chokecherry have something astringent that is almost impossible for humans to eat. Bears love them, and so do a lot of bird species. This year the bushes are heavily loaded with fruit.
Another favorite of virtually everybody on the mountain from chipmunk to bear is Serviceberry. This is one of the primary ingredients in pemmican.
Normally, Elderberry is a smallish bush but occasionally it can grow to a tree. This particular plant has a trunk almost a foot in diameter, and the tree itself is over 15 feet tall. It took us a while to figure out what it was as we had never seen one so large.
All the above pictures were taken on our drive down the hill to pick up mail from the mailbox. At the end of driveway, by our gate, are a couple of other plants which say “fall weather” to us.
Wild roses produced a lot of rose hips this year.
A non-edible berry is a Snowberry.
These plants completely carpet the aspen grove adjacent to our house. They also turn color as fall progresses.
Last night at roughly 1 AM Dan heard some noises from the plum tree next to our bedroom. Lately the tree has been the site of nightly deer parties but this sounded different. So he turned on the outside light, and sure enough, it was a different plum predator in action. A two hundred pound black bear was caught in the act of attempting to climb the plum tree, having cleaned up the fallen fruit on the ground. The bear was quite startled to be suddenly illuminated and when Dan opened the window to say “shoo” it was just too much to, dare I say it, bear… yes I did. The bear scampered off through the brush at high speed.