Covid Journal, Day 50: Back to Joe's Run

62 and raining this morning. It was very warm overnight, and now today we've had thunder, a little sun and a lot of rain and heavy clouds. A good day to stay inside.

I feel like I've been a slug this weekend. I can't seem to get up the energy to get into anything much. So I sorted books and packed some up to send to various people, cooked, finished my book, little things like that. Yesterday was a beautiful, warm day and I got out and did some weeding in the flowerbeds but that's about all.

I still have photos from my walk the other day to share, though, so here we go.

The wild larkspur are finally coming into their own. This beauty is growing right at the edge of the pavement.

Here it mingles with wild phlox. This roadbank used to be carpeted in the phlox but time changes what grows where in the wild.

I do not know what this tiny bluish-white flower is. It is growing with the roadside grasses, and has at least a 6-inch stem. It lines one part of Joe's Run.

I kept hearing a goat, I thought, as I was walking, and assumed it must be in a nearby field. But no, it was a young lady out walking her 4-h lamb, getting it ready to show at the county fair this summer--if there is a county fair this year. We had quite a traffic jam: a neighbor coming home from work, the girl and her lamb, and me with my camera.

Mayapples, or mandrake, is also a common plant here. It is often harvested for its many medicinal uses.

 Here is the mayapple's flower. So shy, hiding beneath the plant's big umbrella leaves.

Here's a bit of lore I collected last year for my wildflowers workshop:

The botanical name Podophyllum peltatum comes from the greek podo and phyllon meaning "foot-shaped leaves" and Peltatum meaning "shield".
Folklore:
• Allow the bearer to work in secret, or to allow his or her actions to not be revealed too soon.
• The whole root can be tucked under the mattress to ensure the fertility and virility of the couple who sleep upon it.
• Kept in a high place in the home, Mayapple root is said to draw prosperity to the home and protect it from bad luck.
Uses: Modern medicine has found compounds in the rhizome that are useful against cancer and it is used in the treatment of genital warts and skin cancers in Asia. It is also under study for use against dropsy, dyspepsia, biliousness, and various liver conditions.
According to lore, Native Americans used this plant for its healing attributes but also to commit suicide.
Listed as "unsafe" by the FDA and most experts agree that its action is too strong for self-medication even by experienced herbalists. Every part, excepting the ripe fruit, is deadly poison and can kill an adult human within 24 hours.
Symptoms of mayapple poisoning are salivation, vomiting, diarrhea, excitement, fever, headache, coma, and death.
Culinary Use: Only the ripe fruit or "apple" of the mayapple is edible. The fruit is ripe when it is yellow and slightly soft. Despite its name, the flavor is more like lemon than apple. Mayapples may be eaten raw, but they are best cooked or made into jelly. They may also be juiced and mixed with sugar and water to make a beverage similar to lemonade(remove all seeds before juicing). These fruits should be eaten only in moderation and only when perfectly ripe.
Has been known to cause technicolor diarrhea. Can you just imagine that!!

I need to find out what this shrub is called. It's plentiful here, and has berries later on. I have wanted to learn about it, and if the berries can be used to make jam, jelly or tea.

Sweet white violets mixed with cleavers, grass and a bit of dead-nettle.

The trilliums are nearing the end of their run for this year. My friend Carmen has found several varieties of this beautiful flower in her area of West Virginia, but in this region we have only the one. That's quite enough to make me happy. Years ago I tried to transplant some, but now I prefer finding it in the wild.

A bank covered in trillium.

Two hemlock trees, not that common around Joe's Run, and in front the invasive kind of mustard.

 Stonecrop can make itself at home anywhere, even on a drainpipe! That's coltsfoot leaves in the foreground.

One of many little wet-weather waterfalls along the road.

Two beech trees seem to be hugging each other.

And so back to ridge and to home. I still have a few more photos to share; perhaps tomorrow.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.