Creation Finds A Way

My son and I went mucking out through a snow covered swamp in southern Fairfield County, Ohio yesterday afternoon looking for Skunk Cabbage flowers as a part of my One Thousand Flowers project.  We did find a few Skunk Cabbage blossoms that were far enough along that they had melted the snow around them so as to be visible to wildflower nerds like me.

After a while my son called out, "Hey dad, check this out."  He brought over to me a Ball jar he had found buried in the snow.  Growing inside the jar was moss, as green and happy as could be.  The jar had been laying on its side.  My bet is that the jar was acting like a little greenhouse, adding just enough heat to make the moss happy!  We returned the jar to its original location.

I guess it reminds me of Proverbs 30: 24-28,

“Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces."

I find it so interesting how Creation always seems to find a way.  We litter our world with a variety of things, yet Creation is flexible enough to work with it; to make due with the available resources and use those resources to its advantage.  Just like this little moss, taking advantage of an unintended greenhouse.  Perhaps in our own walks through life, we would be well served by exercising a little flexibility and wisdom, much like these smallest members of Creation!

To learn more about my One Thousand Flowers project visit: http://www.gofundme.com/1swe8s

Much Like All of Us!

The blooming of the Skunk Cabbage is on the horizon.  Normally this plant blooms more towards late February.  This year it seems a little ahead of schedule.  I checked my favorite Skunk Cabbage patch last weekend and I estimate that patch is about a 7-10 days away from blooming.

The flowers are quite spectacular, with a large maroon-colored spathe surrounding a short and stubby spadix, where the actual reproductive structures are housed.  Currently the spathe is exposed above the slimy muck of the swamp this plant calls home, but the spathe has not opened quite yet to reveal the spadix.

Skunk Cabbage is called Skunk Cabbage because the vegetative part, which looks all the world like a big leafy cabbage and appears after the blooms fade, smells something awful.  Tear off a piece of leaf and give it a smell.  It will be an experience you will soon not forget!

Back to the flower though, once the spathe opens, the process of decomposition begins at the base of the spathe.  This decomposition, like most decomposition, produces a foul odor.  The reason is to attract pollinators, in this case most likely flies and beetles.  Most bees aren't flying in early February!  This decomposition also generates heat, which of course will also attract flies and beetles trying to get in out of the cold.  Sometime try taking a thermometer and comparing the air temperature to the temperature inside the spathe and you'll see what I mean.

While there is rottenness in the Skunk Cabbage flower, obviously there is some good things about it too.  It provides a home for insects.  It is beautiful to look at.  It adds color to an otherwise dreary Ohio winter day.  The Skunk Cabbage is kind of like people.  Pretty much all of us have some kind of rottenness inside of us (called sin).  But at the same time, we are capable of doing wonderful things for others, and cheering up someone's otherwise dreary day.  I think too often we are guilty of judging folks by their rottenness, rather than trying to build upon their good.  God calls upon us to love each other, despite the stink in our attitudes, words, or clothing. 

Only by focusing on the good will you be able to remove the stink!

From Death, Life

As I have mentioned before, I am obsessed (ok, I'll use the 'O' word!) with all of the many, varied, wonderful forms of life that we can find living around us.  While I do not worship Creation, I am certainly enthralled by it.  Bugs, plants, big animals, little animals, even fungus, I find all of it so very cool!

From a Christian perspective, I view fungus sort of like baptism (now I have your attention, eh!).  Romans 6:4 states, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."  Out of death comes new life, which is the life story of a fungus.  From a dead, rotting piece of wood, some of the most beautiful creations in nature come to life.  I know not everybody agrees on the beauty of a fungus, but you have to admit the coral fungus above is pretty darn cool!

Romans 6:4 is talking about baptism.  As we are dunked in the water, we are symbolizing Christ's death, and resurrected out of the water as a new life.  Just as God uses the fungus above in the grand scheme of things, He uses us as well.  The fungus has the purpose of speeding along decomposition.  He has a purpose too, I would argue uniquely selected by God, for each of us.  And God considers both the fungus and us as beautiful.  Anything that fulfills His will is beautiful.  And it doesn't really matter if we have come from a rotting piece of wood.  God doesn't care about your past, just your future!

By the way, regarding the fungi pics, the top is a Coral Fungus, the middle is Scarlet Cup, and the third is a species of Mycena.  By the way, some Mycena are bioluminescent, meaning, they glow in the dark.  How cool is that!

One Thousand Flowers

Large-flowered Trillium

As my friends know, I am obsessed with learning about nature.  Twenty-seven years ago I was finishing my forestry degree at Northern Arizona University.  At the time I had a collection, one of the few students who did, of all of the trees, shrubs, and grasses that we had been required to learn during the four years of the degree.  I kept these pressed specimens in a big blue binder.

That mentality has not changed over the years.  That one blue binder has now grown to three rubbermaid tubs, about the size of bath tubs, that house nearly 3000 pressed specimens.  In recent years, I have also taken interest in other things, such as moths, grasshoppers, etc, as you know if you have been following this blog.  I now use the camera to document things, rather than collecting specimens.  Over the past couple years I have tried to focus my efforts on studying a particular group of organisms each calendar year.  So, for example, in 2011, that focus was butterflies, and was documented in my book Butterfly Rider.

In 2013, I am going to make my focus on plants in a project I am calling One Thousand Flowers.  I will attempt to photo-document 1000 species of plants, and I am going to focus this search throughout Appalachia.  Much like I did with the butterfly year, I want to write a book and design a calendar as products of the One Thousand Flowers project. 

However, I want to make this something bigger than just me.  I have a real heart for Appalachia.  My family has lived in Appalachia since the 1860's.  My idea of art is the shapes of the cut-outs on the outhouse door!  So I am going to try also to document the Appalachian way of life, and the poverty that is found throughout Appalachia.  In addition, I will donate half the profits from any book/calendar sales to Appalachian ministries that try to help Appalachian people out of poverty.

I am giving people the opportunity to participate in this project in a variety of ways.  I have developed a website where people can donate money to the effort.  To achieve 1000 species, I will need to do some traveling on my days off.  Donations of friends and supporters will help fund this travel.  Visit this website for more information: http://www.gofundme.com/1swe8s

Of course, I understand that times are tough financially for a lot of my friends.  If you cannot support me financially, I would absolutely appreciate your support in the form of encouragement and enthusiasm.  At least four places in the New Testament we are called to encourage one another, and I fully intend to hold my friends to this Christian mandate!  One way you can encourage the project is by sharing about it within your own circle of friends.  I know I am not the ONLY person in this country who is a nature nerd! 

Another way you can show your support will be by staying tuned-in via this blog or my facebook page to my adventures.  Your support really does help encourage me.  One thousand species is a lot, and I will need encouragement.  And, I thank you in advance for your support, whatever form it may come in!

Rest and Rejuvenation

I am not especially fond of winter.  Winter tends to be wet, and cold.  I do not like to be neither wet nor cold, let alone both at the same time!   I do not like driving, walking, or skating on ice.  If you have seen the movie Cool Runnings, when Dareese first tells Sanka about the idea of getting together a Jamaican bobsled team, Sanka's response to it is much like my response would have been.  When told that bobsledding was essentially driving a push cart down an icy shoot, Sanka said, "ICE!  As in snow and cold and ICE!  Forget it!"

However, winter has its place and is a part of God's planning.  Winter is a time of rest and rejuvenation.  Trees go dormant (not DEAD!), taking a break prior to the big rush of growth that will happen in the spring.  Animals find a nice cozy den and sleep off the fat they stored up in the fall.  Even some species of butterflies go into a sort of hibernation.  The Eastern Comma is among the handful of butterflies that ride the Ohio winter out as adults, tucked behind loose bark or in dense brush piles, just waiting for spring.

We all need a period of rest and rejuvenation.  Our bodies are simply not meant to be on high alert all the time.  GO, GO, GO tends to lead to high blood pressure, ulcers, back pain, and a host of other medical issues. 

Winter also has its own sort of beauty.  While I do not like to drive in snow, I can certainly recognize the beauty and perfection of a snow covered field, not yet spoiled by footprints or an icy crust.  I can also find humor in the snow.  The photo below, while being very simple, holds a very wonderful memory for me.  My youngest daughter and I were hiking at Conkle's Hollow SP in Hocking County, Ohio, a few Decembers back when she suddenly declared, "Look Daddy, a toilet!"  I nearly cried from laughing so hard. 

Use this winter to rest weary bones and a weary spirit.  Find humor in unlikely places.  Spring is just around the corner!

The Miracle of Life

As I write this, one of my former junior high students is in the process of having a baby.  She is kind enough to post updates on facebook!  I taught her in 6th and 7th grade, several years ago.

The miracle of a new life is always amazing.  And while human babies can be amazing, I think butterfly babies are really amazing.  Butterflies undergo complete metamorphosis.  This basically means the butterfly baby looks nothing like the adult will look.  When a butterfly mama lays an egg, and a caterpillar hatches from that egg, that caterpillar is entirely on their own.  Any nurturing that the mother butterfly provided was accomplished through the selection of the spot to lay the egg.  Imagine, being a 2 millimeter long caterpillar out there in the great big world all by yourself.

God has created some interesting mechanisms to keep these little guys safe.  Some are toxic like the monarch caterpillar.  Others have evil looking spines and barbs, like the Gulf Fritillary caterpillar in the pic below.  Some have what look like big scary eyes (like the Spicebush Swallowtail) to scare away predators.  Others blend in perfectly, like the Giant Swallowtail caterpillar which looks like a glob of bird poop.

This caterpillar will eat and eat and grow and grow until it transforms into a chrysalis.  I like to think of caterpillars sort of like junior high boys.  As a chrysalis, the butterfly is very vulnerable, yet God designed them in such a way to help them stay safe.  Some are green, looking like a rolled up leaf.  Others are brown, looking like a twig or peeling piece of bark.  The Glasswing butterfly of the tropics has a chrysalis that looks like a glistening drop of water. 

Eventually, an adult butterfly crawls out of the chrysalis, and will shortly be able to fly away, and avoid predators using flight.  But in the meantime, God's wonderful creativity gave it a better chance to survive.  God finds creative ways to keep us safe as well.  God finds creative ways to allow us to be productive members of His kingdom.  Never question God's creative ability to work miracles in your life!


Spiny Gulf Fritillary caterpillar



Gulf Fritillary adult

Droplet-like chrysalis of the Glasswing butterfly