The Cape Cod Times recently did a feature of the top stories of 2012 – and we felt that there were a couple of big news items left out locally. Â So here is my rundown of the top news events on Cape Cod in 2012: Cape Cod saw its first wild bear since colonial times […]
Archive for the ‘Interesting’ Category
Cape Cod’s Top Stories of 2012
Posted in Guest blogger, Interesting, Rants & Raves on January 7, 2013 | 2 Comments »
In Search of the Elusive Eastham Turnip
Posted in Edible, Guest blogger, Interesting on November 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
In the fall of 2011 it seemed like you couldn’t go very far on Cape Cod without running into an Eastham Turnip. Workers at various small grocery stores urged me to purchase one and cook it up for Thanksgiving, praising the Eastham Turnip’s merits again and again. Due to a combination of being a bit […]
goodbye hummers – safe trails
Posted in Interesting on September 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
September 11 was the last day the hummingbirds visited the feeder in the yard or any of the still blooming cardinal flowers, jewelweed, and blue lobelias. This realization of loss, of not seeing the hummers again until next April pales to nothing in comparison to the loss felt on that day so many years ago, […]
What Are We Doing About Water on Cape Cod?
Posted in Guest blogger, Interesting on August 7, 2012 | 3 Comments »
There is a lot of talk about being connected to the food we eat on Cape Cod, whether it’s promoting local farms or the restaurants who buy from them. Another issue of sustainability that has been on my mind lately is the concern of clean water on Cape Cod. There has been talk that at some point we […]
Identification help?
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on August 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve spent a few years getting familiar with the taxonomy of native plants, and while there are certainly some species I have a tough time identifying, it’s peanuts compared to the problems I have in the insect and spider world. I’m reasonably good at pointing out a fly, bee, sawfly, butterfly, or moth. Beyond that, […]
Actaea racemosa (bugbane)
Posted in Flora, Interesting, Plant bio on August 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve had bugbane in my woodland garden for a few years now, and while the leaves are beautiful, I had not been overly impressed until this summer. The plants finally matured enough to produce flowers, and they do so in an otherworldly fashion: First these long stalks appear with these slender cornhusk-like appendages. The little […]
buzz time
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on July 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
They are back in force this year – I am referring to Sphex ichneumoneus, the great golden digger wasps. By adding more milkweed last fall I seem to be getting a lot more visits by many more of these insects… Read last year’s blog entry
Hummingbird moths…
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on July 24, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Sometimes a design is so good or successful that it is worth repeating, often over and over again. Just look at our marine mammals who have adapted over eons, in some form or another, the finlike appendages of fish. However, we are not going to be fooled easily in mistaking one for the other unless […]
What a difference six months make
Posted in Interesting on June 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Back in January I had put in the preliminary work to create a walking path through the wasteland area that is part of my property. Some rudimentary tree limbs marked what is now a pleasant corridor with grass underfoot, flanked by wildflowers (with dominant players such as jewelweed, milkweed, and pokeweed). What a difference from […]
Will the real native sac spider stand up?
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on June 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Honestly, it may take a quiz show and the willingness of the participants (spiders in this case) to help identify the right species of sac spider. The native sac spider (Cheiracanthium inclusum) is very similar to the one introduced from Europe in 1978 (Cheiracanthium mildei). In the picture from my yard I believe I have […]