Rainy Roots

Caught this little cutie trying to keep warm through the cold snap last weekend. Don’t forget to keep the humming bird feeder filled up during this time of year! These little guys need to eat often. 🧡

In the last few weeks we’ve observed such a cool phenomenon while out on our adventures: hair ice!

Hair ice, also known as ice wool or frost beard, is a type of ice that forms on dead wood and takes the shape of fine, silky hair. It is somewhat uncommon, and has been reported mostly at latitudes between 45 and 55 °N in broadleaf forests.

The hairs appear to root at the mouth of wood rays (never on the bark), and their thickness is similar to the diameter of the wood ray channels. A piece of wood that produces hair ice once may continue to produce it over several years.

German and Swiss scientists identified the fungus Exidiopsis effusa as key to the formation of hair ice. The fungus was found on every hair ice sample examined by the researchers, and disabling the fungus with fungicide or hot water prevented hair ice formation. The fungus shapes the ice into fine hairs through an uncertain mechanism and likely stabilizes it by providing a recrystallization inhibitor similar to antifreeze proteins.

Have you seen hair ice this year? Tag us in your photos!

🌱 A week ago we took advantage of a weather window to forage on our local trails. Many local plants can be used in teas and tinctures for medicinal and wellness purposes. You never know what a wealth of resources you have right outside your back door until you really get out there and get dirty discovering its bounty!

On this occasion we found usnea and devil’s club. The plant body of usnea is used to make medicine. It is also used for weight loss, pain, fever, and wound healing, and to make phlegm easier to cough up. Usnea can also used directly on the skin for sore throat and for athlete's foot. Devil’s club root (and other parts of the plant) are used for a multitude of medicinal purposes. It has excellent antiviral and anti-fungal properties which makes it effective on both internal and external infections. Devil’s club is probably the most important spiritual and medicinal plant to most Indigenous peoples who live within its range. Different parts of this plant are used by for over 34 categories of physical ailment, as well as many spiritual applications.

Remember to check with your local land manager on rules and regulations for foraging. In Washington, the non-commercial harvest of nonmarine edible plants and mushrooms for personal consumption is allowed on all land managed by Washington State Parks except natural area preserves. ... Harvesting from wilderness areas is prohibited. Remember that rules may change for federally managed lands.

Ooof. 2020 was a doozy and we were not immune to the stress and anxiety that defined the year. It left us feeling a lack of creativity and an ambivalence towards just about everything. We know we aren’t alone and we hope you can give us some grace for being dormant for the better part of the last year. We’re looking forward to diving back into our normal creative routine in the coming weeks and are super excited to begin sharing more regularly. We recently went foraging on micro local trails and are stoked to show you what we found!

Fancy a walk in the woods? ❄️

Kinda speaks for itself, huh? 🧡

Making the most of fall because it’s fixing to be a short one!

Fresh air and freedom. 🧡

Spent the weekend scoping some salt water camp spots. Jarrell Cove State Park offers dreamy jade waters, rocky beaches, and forested trails. They also offer “boat up” sites for those living the salty dog life. We’ll be adding this one to our list! 🧡

Fridays are for fun! (Especially when you get word the smoke is finally blowing out!) Rain or shine, you’ll catch us outside this weekend.

It may be a long trail ahead but the views at the end are worth it, we promise!