Where I wander is off the beaten path. It is only natural because the easy to reach lands have been used for farming and houses and roads. It is the steep hills and wet areas that have been left alone. That is where I find life as it used to be, mostly undisturbed. Some of it has been used to graze livestock. The fences remain in bits and pieces, wire and wood, an occasional metal post. These are slowly being taken down by weather and the weight of decaying foliage. Even though they don't contain any livestock, they still change the woods. In places where they stand, a section or two still barricading the flow, they make their mark. Deer trails swerve around them. Sometimes they jump them or crawl through, but like all of us deer take the easy way when they can. So they go up or down a hill, across a wet area, or just avoid an area all together. And where the deer go, so goes the other beings of the woods. This creates spots that are less traveled. Tiny oasis of undisturbed land where a plant may survive. These are the places that catch my eye these days.
I was deep in the wet woods today. Jumping from hummock to hummock, trying to keep my feet dry. It is out here that I also find places where anything is possible. Right now it is just mosses and the tiny leaves for Naked Miterwort. In a week or two there will be many leaves unfurling from the wet ground. Some I will recognize right away. Some will look familiar, but I will need to look them up, or wait. Some will just reveal themselves in their own time.
As I leave the woods I bend down and grab a tiny leaf. Sweet Cicely or Aniseroot? My nose told the tale. The licorice smell of Aniseroot was unmistakable. Life unfolds, and I look forward to reading the story it tells.
