Sootypaws Journal

We had high winds last weekend and just about every hickory nut fell out of the trees in our yard. That's a lot of nuts underfoot -- it's sometimes like walking on ball bearings.

Hickory nuts have an outer husk that falls away in four parts leaving the nut for squirrels, chipmunks and mice. The critters have been busy collecting and gnawing.

We still have green in the yard, even though it's January. Christmas ferns should last a few weeks longer. The tiny variegated wintergreen is green all year long. And now's the time when wild orchid leaves get noticed. The cranefly orchid's leaves begin appearing in October -- one leaf per plant. At first the leaf is purplish and quickly buried under autumn's leaf fall. Now the leaves are green and stand above the leaf litter.

		The paths in our yard are graveled which really helps keep the mud down in the winter.This photo shows hickory nuts and their husks in a path by the house.
		Variegated wintergreen which has sweet bell-shaped flowers around May.
		Cranefly orchid leaves near a pine log on the edge of the yard. Each orchid plant has just one leaf and in the summer, when the leaf is gone, will send up a spire filled with flowers.
		Our yard is part grass, part moss. One of the moss varieties forms dense green mounds.
		Christmas ferns in the edge of the yard. These are the commonest fern on our ridge.

We hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!