#forest trip

Few minutes in, I realized that the heel of my sock has developed a hole, and my foot was now chafing against the rubber boot I was walking in. Which is mortifying, it meant by the time I'd be home, I would have a wound on my heel.

But then I thought, wait a minute, I'm a woman in the forest, I have to be more resourceful than that. So I started grabbing moss and shoving it inside of my sock, in order to make a soft protective layer on my heel. It didn't work exactly as I hoped, the moss didn't stay where I put it, but I kept putting in more and it immobilized the boot so it couldn't chafe against me.

I also forgot to take the moss out of my sock, so I am the rare tumblr user to be actively touching moss while blogging.

I saw a lot of butterflies in the forest! Over 20 of them, it made me wonder if they accidentally got born too soon. Most of them were plain yellow ones, and they would not let me take a picture, no matter how many I followed, they never land. This orange one was patient enough to let me snap a pic!

I wonder what they're all eating in the forest, there was about 5 crocuses I found, but other than that, no flowers! There are dandelions and daisies outside the forest though, so possibly they're finding those.

I looked up the orange butterfly, and it's named Vanessa Atlanta, and they're cool to be out during winter! They can hibernate, migrate, they are happy to feed on nettle and dead nettle, and that's available in winter as well. Relieved to know that she's safe!

It was a bit harder to figure out the yellow butterfly, but it's most likely a common brimstone, and they can also hibernate and feed on evergreen foliage during winter. They even feed on holly!

I also found a cool ass birch tree:

I have recorded in my brain that birches are medicinal for something, forgot for what, but the point is, now I know where to find a birch, so when I connect it all together I will benefit from this knowledge. I think the bark is great for starting fires.

The forest I go in is super versatile! At first I thought it was just beech-chestnut-hornbeam, but then I discovered there's a good amount of oaks as well, and now there's birches too. That is very healthy for a forest! Forests that only have one or two types of tree are susceptible to pests and diseases, these trees can support each other.

If you've read my other post, you know I found some abandoned plant cuttings, that I suspect might be bayleaf; that is still under questioning, maybe it's bayleaf, maybe it's something poisonous. The point is that I maybe found something to eat :).

Here's the crocuses I saw! They've only come out, it's the first warm and sunny day of 2024.

Forest time today.