11/28 Blog Post #3
I chose a place in the woods on my family’s land to be my home phenology spot. On the surface it seems very similar to my place in Burlington because it is an opening in a woods with a water feature. They both have rather open canopies with downed logs and woody vegetation. However the water feature here is a swamp that forms from rainfall rather than a continuously running stream of water like in my Burlington spot. The trees here are mostly oaks with coniferous, like Eastern White Pine and Eastern Hemlock, as you move further away from the swamp. Most of the vegetation has died for the season except for some raspberry bushes that are still holding onto their leaves. The ground in this spot is also very different from my place in Burlington. Rather than hard pact soil that is present in Centennial woods, the ground here was damp, which made it rather squishy underfoot. There was also a lot of decaying matter on the ground covered in mushrooms, moss, and other fungus.
I could not think of a gift that would be fitting for my place, so I chose to think about the part of the Honorable Harvest where they spoke of not taking the first or the last. As I mentioned there are some bushes of raspberries that are still holding on. I was considering next season coming back to this spot in order to pick them when they are ready. Then I reflected on if the land would want me to. This is the only bush of raspberries in the area, and I wonder what animals eat from this bush. I thought of who I would be taking from if I were to come back and pick all the berries. I decided that I will come back to the bush and, if allowed by the plant, I will have a few berries but will end up leaving them for the animals of the area.