French Broad Hollow Ramble

Pickin’ up pawpaws… Well, I didn’t put them in my pocket, but today I picked up two pawpaws that fell from one of the three pawpaw trees in my meadow.

Then I cut one open and ate it!

I wasn’t sure what to expect. The texture has been described as custard-like, and it was indeed smooth, but not overly so. It tasted sort of like papaya (maybe) and was not overly sweet. I have one in the refrigerator and found another one (larger) still on the tree. Now I can try to grow more trees from the seeds! (I grew several persimmon trees from seeds I collected last fall and will plant them soon.)

Since this post is about fruit from the Hollow, here is a photo showing 60% of the harvest from my two small apple trees:

For the last month or so, the roads and driveways in the Hollow have been populated with thousands of orange-striped oakworms. Some are crawling, some have been squashed, and some are dead for some reason unknown to me. (If you follow me on Facebook, you may remember remember when I posted photos and a video of the adult moths all over my porch last year.)

On my porch right now is a writing spider (Argiope aurantia, I think).

She is beautiful and has plenty to eat, as she has built her web under my porch light. Unfortunately, she attaches part of it to the screen door every night, and it comes loose when the door is opened n the morning.

And then there are these beauties that were once caterpillars.

 

After I saw the scat Thursday morning, I happened to look out that evening in time to see this bear walking across my meadow; it appears to be a yearling. Bear sightings are common in nearby areas, and I am happy not to see more around my hollow. Nonetheless, I will be more watchful when I feed the deer and turkeys in the meadow. (I took a short video but can’t post videos here unless I upgrade the blog, and I’m not ready to do that. However, I finally figured out how to get rid of the “featured” post.)

No scat along the ridge today, but this tree was down, blocking some of the neighbors from getting out. (They cleared the road soon after I took this.)

I see lots of dead and dying trees on my rambles. I have seen trees downed after windstorms, thunderstorms, and too much rain. Sometimes they seem to fall for no apparent reason. I have actually watched a couple come down and heard others crash, and I sometimes hurry by some that are leaning and wonder which way I would run if they started to go.

Let me begin by noting that almost all my walking is on private gravel roads, and I generally stay on the roadway—especially during the summer—to avoid being attacked by brambles, poison ivy, and/or stinging insects. I usually begin my ramble by walking up a short stretch of my neighbor’s very steep concrete driveway with Jet to near the top of the ridge, continuing down a gravel road that intersects with “my” road below my meadow, then back up my shared driveway. (We call this the loop.) I leave Jet at the house, then walk down to the river and back and wherever else the spirit moves me. Often I walk back to the top and then over the ridge (more on this in another post).

Today I found this bear scat in the road at the top of the ridge. I didn’t examine the scat closely, but it looks like it had been eating persimmons, although I haven’t noticed any ripe ones yet.

I noticed the triplet fawns, their mom, another doe, and several turkeys in my meadow a little while ago and took this photo from my deck. You can try to spot them below!

I think I have figured out how to have these blog posts upload to Facebook automatically and will soon find out.

I am trying to use my tablet today, and it has been a bit frustrating. I’ll try to clean things up tomorrow. Please excuse the many updates you may have received.

Here is today’s photo of the river and a shot of Jet on one of the few flat-ish stretches of our walk.

 

We have reached the middle of August, and the weather has been humid with rain showers or brief downpours almost daily. As you can see, the French Broad is up, as it generally rains more in the mountains (south of us on this north-flowing river).

Several different mushrooms grow in the hollow, including in my yard

and along the road.

Buttons’s antlers are growing larger, too, and he was rubbing a tree this morning to remove the “antler velvet” (which I just learned is a drug in traditional Chinese medicine).

You know you have a reputation when neighbors contact you to let you know about a dead deer by the highway and to offer their sympathy. That happened today. I had noticed deer tracks leading from the highway up our road earlier this week; there is water in the “creek” that runs by our road, but sometimes deer cross the highway to go to the river. And sometimes they don’t cross successfully. (There was no sign that the vehicle had crashed.) The death of the doe saddens me, but I know this year’s fawns are all eating on their own now.

The circle of life has been all too evident this summer. I enjoy seeing the fawns and poults (young wild turkeys), but it makes me sad when I encounter the other side of the circle. In addition to the doe on the highway, within the last month I have seen the bodies of a raccoon, a garter snake, and one of the box turtles that was a regular in the Hollow; all of them had apparently been hit and killed on our narrow gravel road. And one of the neighbors found the body of a tiny fawn with no clue as to how it died.

On the brighter side, one of this year’s fawns seems to admire Buttons (who began eating apple from my hand as a yearling last year) and often follows him around.

And then there is Lippy, one of the triplet fawns. I don’t know if it is her(?)  lip or jaw, but her bottom lip seems to droop. I can’t usually tell the deer apart, but she is distinctive.

Walking around the Hollow is great exercise, but it also gives me a chance to enjoy nature. For several years I have noticed this “chicken of the woods” mushroom on the side of the road near the top of the ridge.

And we have plenty of wildflowers. These Rudbeckia grow in many places, and they are keeping the pollinators busy these days. (I am not sure which species this is; there are several species in the Hollow.)

 

I almost always prefer being outside to being inside, but sometimes—like today—the weather keeps me indoors part of the day. When the weather keeps me indoors more, it is easier for me to sit and work on this blog. I knew when I began the blog that it would take a while before I would get into a routine of regular posts; I’m not there yet, but I’m trying.

I was able to get my walk with Jet and then down to the river in between showers (and downpours) this morning.

I saw this snake on my walk and was worried it would get run over. I moved it with a stick and finally got it off the road, but it didn’t care for my interference! (I think it is a common garter snake.)

Yesterday I had visitors behind the house

and a cyclist passing along the river highway.

I’m working on a way to present the photos that I have taken over the last year of the river, but it is not a quick process. In the meanwhile, I plan to go ahead and write about my rambles.

It’s been too hot and humid for much walking these last few days, but I’ve continued to take a short outing with my dog Jet before heading down to the river. And I make several trips into my field each day to put out corn and apple slices for the mama deer and their fawns. Some of the does have been eating in the field for years, and they let me get pretty close.

Since I’ve been here, there have been one or two sets of twin fawns every year, and this year one of the does had triplets!