Ephemeral Seasons

In the wildflower garden at Baltimore Woods, NY.

Here in the Finger Lakes region our seasons are ephemeral (some may say our winters are not!) and so are many of the native plants that thrive in the woods. Spring wildflowers such as bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) are only here for a short stay. They come to life when the deciduous trees haven't leafed out and there is enough sun to reach the forest floor. Bloodroot is considered threatened and endangered in some places in the Northeast. This delicate flower's seeds are spread by ants. It has a brief life. It will only flower for a few days and then die. The leaves of the plants may last a little while longer but they too eventually return to the soil to wait until next spring.

Bloodroot has an interesting history. It gets its common name from the red root of the plant that was once used by Native Americans as a dye. It also has many medicinal uses, well know by Native Americans and discovered by the colonists. It was once used as a tonic, cough medicine, and the mashed roots were used as a skin ointment.

I mention bloodroot and some other spring wildflowers in my latest novel: Imaginary Brightness: a Durant Family Saga. Because the main storyline is set in the Adirondacks I wanted to include local lore about the woods. Although my editor told me to simmer it down a bit (this is not a forum to educate about the environment!) I threw in as many tidbits as I could. Indeed, the natives in the region, called the Algonquins, and then later the Mohawks, and other tribes that traversed through the Adirondacks, used many of the wild plants and especially tree parts such as bark for their tinctures, sweeteners, and food. I decided that since I was writing about history, the plants had their place in the story as well.

View of the sky in Baltimore Woods on a spring day.

Life in Finger Lakes Magazine

Thank you to Life in the Finger Lakes Magazine for publishing a review of my book Ephemeral Summer in their Winter 2014 edition. "The author, ..., has crafted an engaging first novel with appealing multigenerational characters and provocative plot twists." Laurel C. Wemmett. For the full review visit: http://bit.ly/1xutoO2


To purchase the book visit    http://amzn.to/1xgi495

Why Wine in the Finger Lakes?

Map drawn in 1779 by Revolutionary War scout showing the locations of the
Cayuga and Seneca settlements during the Sullivan/Clinton campaign.

In my novel Ephemeral Summer there is a reference to the Native American settlements along Canandaigua Lake and the rest of the Finger Lakes. This map, shown courtesy of Bill Hecht and digitized by Bernie Cocoran at the Library of Congress collections, shows the locations of the Cayuga and Seneca settlements at the time of the Sullivan- Clinton expedition against the Iroquois during the Revolutionary War.  Generals Sullivan and Clinton were ordered by General Washington to wipe out the Native American villages and their food supplies.


What is interesting about the map, and what I reference in my novel, is the number of orchards present at the time. The Native Americans understood that the lakes provided an ideal climate for fruit bearing trees and vines. Besides the longhouse dwellings shown as red rectangles, one can see the abundance of orchards dotting the landscape.

Indeed, diaries of the soldiers that took part in this scorched earth campaign recount the number of trees they girdled and bushels of grain they set fire to. In one entry a soldier recounts his arrival at the Seneca Nation capital of 'Cannondesago' near Geneva, NY.

at Cannondesago the chief Cinnakee 
castle about dusk,where we found about 80 houses somthing large 
some of them built with hew? timber & part with round timber and part 
with bark. Large quantities of corn and beans with all sorts of sauce, 
at this place a fine Young Orchard, which was soon all girdled

The Finger Lakes region was a confluence of Native American settlement and agricultural production. The lakes provide a moderating influence on the temperatures and climate of the region making it an ideal location for fruit-bearing trees and vines. Water has a high heat capacity meaning, once lakes such as Seneca and Cayuga heat up it takes a long time for them to cool down.  This works to the advantage of fruit production. In the spring, the cooler air around the lakes delays budding which then prevents damage from a killing late spring frost. In the fall, the lakes give off the heat they have been storing slowly all summer, which prolongs the harvest season for the fruit.

A tourist enjoying the bounty that the Finger Lakes has to offer.

If you take a trip to the Finger Lakes region in the fall you will see tourists pouring out of limos and buses and lining up for tastings at the numerous wineries around the lakes. Although I favor red wines, the Rieslings in this region are award-winning.

A Perfect Wedding Day at Clark Reservation

Columbus Day weekend. Peak season to check out the foliage of the deciduous trees that grace our landscape in Upstate New York. I asked my husband, "Would you like to go to the Adirondacks tomorrow and take a hike in the mountains?"

He gave me a blank expression that I interpreted as a no.

So instead, we got up early on this bright Sunday morning and drove about 20 minutes away to see a landscape that matches any vista in the Adirondack Mountains: Clark Reservation located in Jamesville, NY. As you can see from the picture, the major attraction at the park is the plunge basin lake, formed at the bottom of an ancient waterfall that was a result of the glacial ice melt about 10,000 years ago.

But there is even more history to see at the park: the fossils of sea creatures carved into the limestone pathways along the basin are testament to the fact that millions of years ago this part of the world was the bottom of a shallow sea.

I wasn't really thinking about all of this history however as I walked. Instead I was just in awe with the numerous cedars carving spectacular sculptures into the soil with their gnarled roots. And the rich palette of colors that the maples provided for my soul. And the loud swishing noise that greeted my ears over and over as Canada geese flew into the lake from the bright blue skies above - seeking refuge I assume from the waterfowl hunters in the surrounding fields.

  

I will just store these memories away with me whenever I am feeling down or sorry for my self. Because I was physically able to hike into the basin, and hike back up (yes, we had to climb those limestone steps to get back to the car). When I got to the top I was also delighted to see that someone was planning on getting married today, and they had perfect weather. Good luck to you both - the anonymous couple that got married today. I hope when you come back to the park each year to celebrate, the weather cooperates and you get the same view that graced your ceremony today.

Chladophora in Skaneateles Lake

I went for a swim today in Skaneateles Lake (69 degree F) ...BRRRRR.... it was cold. And I went paddle boarding. Both activities allowed me a fantastic view of the lake bottom. Skaneateles has always been a clear lake - one can see the bottom at depths of 15-20 feet. It is a nutrient poor lake, not much algae or plant life growing. Hence I was surprised to see masses of chadophora clinging to the rocks below.

Like green mermaid hair, the algae appears almost feathery when viewed from a paddle board. Pick it up in your hands though and it feels and looks like green snot. This should make it easy to distinguish from Chara - another algae that clings to rocks. Chara feels like shag carpeting when you walk on top of it and it does not tend to disengage from the rocks and wash up on shore.

Sea Grant has been studying the outbreaks of chladophora on the Great Lakes. The real problem with this filamentous algae is when it washes up on shore, decays and causes a stink.  I grabbed these pictures from the internet to show how it looks underwater and when it washes up on a beach. One theory for the recent nuisance level blooms in the Great Lakes is that the zebra and quagga mussels that invaded decades ago are recycling nutrients in their feces. That, and the die-offs of the mussels and consequential decay also may be feeding the algae.

I am not sure what it is. I don't think Chladophora has ever been a problem on Skaneateles Lake. At least I have never noticed it reach nuisance levels in the ten or so years that I have been swimming near shore. We will just have to wait and see.

On the plus side - a mayfly landed on my swimming partner today. They must be hatching. The cycle begins again. 

Succession

Beaver dam at Baltimore Woods

It's not easy being a beaver (Castor canadensis).  A beaver is a squatter by all rights, and there are not many places left where he can make his home without being evicted.  But there are a few places still left, protected places, that allow a beaver and his family to do what they innately need to do: dam a river or stream, gnaw away and knock down trees so they can build a dam and den.  I went to visit such a place in Baltimore Woods this past week with my students.  Baltimore Woods is a protected property, 182 acres of land open to the public and and owned by the Central New York Land Trust.   Because it is protected, so are the flora and fauna residing there.  Baltimore Brook, a meandering stream, works its way through the property and provides the perfect backdrop for beaver life.

What made the field trip with my students so worthwhile is that we were able to view a beaver meadow -- the remnants of an abandoned beaver dam -- and just downstream from there a newly built beaver pond. It was a perfect lesson in succession, the changes in a landscape over time due to physical or biological interventions.  In this case, the beaver is the intervener.

Beavers set up home once they build their dam and ensure a pond environment that will protect them over the winter months and provide them with a place to store their cache of twigs for food.  After the dam is built they work on building a home where they can raise their kits, or litter of young.  After a few years if the host of trees available for consumption dwindles they move on to a new site downstream, like they have done at Baltimore Woods.

What they leave behind is a legacy of a meadow, and a new generation of plants that would have never appeared if it hadn't been for their work.

End of Summer

It is Labor Day weekend in the Finger Lakes.  This time of year is bittersweet for me.  Being a professor at a college I look forward to starting classes and seeing all of the new faces at school.  The fall also brings spectacular colors as the leaves on the trees change color and the apples are picked and eaten.

This summer was special for me.  I took off from work, and, among other ventures, spent the summer looking for invasive aquatic plants in the lake.  My search ended this weekend when, my husband and I canoed the southern end of Skaneateles Lake looking in the stream inlets for Hydrilla, an invasive species recently discovered in Cayuga Lake.  This plant is an aggressive invader that chokes out other native species and spreads prolifically.

We didn't find any Hydrilla but we did see a Bald Eagle perched on a tree branch, oblivious to the jet skis that were motoring all about.  Then, suddenly, we heard what sounded like a waterfall.  We stopped to pinpoint the noise and noticed that across the lake a rain shower was heading right towards us.  We quickly paddled under the nearest Willow tree for cover, but were drenched anyway.

Summer in Upstate New York is ephemeral, and pretty; I hate to see it end.

I also spent weeks swimming with friends.  We would meet in the morning and swim a 1/2 mile- 1 mile a couple of times a week in the lake.  We got to know all of the moods of the water.  I have done this training for the past eight years.  Each year we mark the passage of summer by swimming a mile with over 200 other people in the annual Skanraces - Escape from the Judge - race event.  This morning as we jumped off the Judge Ben Wiles at 8 am.  The skies were cloudy, the water calm. The only waves were those stirred up by the hundreds of swimmers.  I thought about how all of the swimming and training over the summer pays off, and what a joy to finally be done with it.  Now though, I sit and think, I wouldn't mind it if summer lasted a bit longer.  I am not ready to let it go.

This summer, I also accomplished something I always wanted to do: I wrote a book. It is set in the Finger Lakes, a coming of age story about a young woman (Emalee Rawlings) who, after the tragic death of her parents in an apparent murder/suicide, navigates her way through adolescence to adulthood.  What she experiences is something we all know well, that people and places we encounter throughout life change the way we think.   The book follows Emalee from her home in Canandiagua Lake, to college at Hobart and William Smith on Seneca Lake, and finally to the wilderness of Algonquin Provincial park in Canada.   It is a testament to the beauty of wild places and the importance of protecting them.  My goal in writing the book was to educate and entertain. It is appropriately enough called, 'Ephemeral Summer'.  Look for it next spring, I can't wait until until then.