Christmas trees make a great cup of tea
White spruce with cones (Photo by Manitoba Museum)
Every day, the Google search engine is inundated with searches for the next superfood, health trend or nutritional qualities of certain foods. Sadly, very few people know that you can make a beverage high in vitamin C from...Christmas...
Heard it from a Scout: Sumac is nature's tasty candy
Staghorn sumac (Photo by Kaelem Moniz)
In my first year of Scouts, I went on a hike with my troop and discovered a strange-looking plant. One of the senior Scouts told everyone that it was called staghorn sumac and that it was like “nature’s sour candy.” I tried it...
Need to ID a plant in Nova Scotia? There's an app for that!
Bunchberry (Photo by NCC staff)
Those red teaberries look so yummy, but can I eat them? What can I collect to make tea? What goes well in a salad? These questions and more may be answered for you in a recently released app created by developer Gordon Isnor and me, curator of...
Restoring the dunes of James Island, BC
Volunteers at the Broom Bash event on James Island, BC (Photo by Ann MacDonald)
“Covenant,” from the French word "convenir," means to come together. And this fall, 11 of us did just that as Conservation Volunteers with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). We spent a sunbaked autumn day yanking gorse and Scotch...
A walk in the woods: Columbia forest region
Measuring trees on the Midgeley Conservation Area (Photo by Steve Ogle)
To walk through the forests of the Columbia forest region is, to me, a huge privilege. This is for two reasons: one, the Columbia forest region is home to home a number of Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) properties, including NCC’s...
Garlic: The forbidden fruit? (Part Two)
Garlic (Photo by cyclonebill/Wikimedia Commons)
Part One of this blog was an overview of garlic, and the native variety growing in the Eastern Townships and Outaouais regions in Quebec. In Part Two I present you with a little garlic 101! The minimum threshold for a wild garlic population to...
Garlic: The forbidden fruit? (Part One)
Garlic (Photo by cyclonebill/Wikimedia Commons)
Picture this: the aroma of fresh garlic bread coming out of the oven to accompany your pasta dish. Garlic oil in salad dressing to top off your garden vegetables. A plant of many uses, of many medicinal properties and a kitchen staple, garlic is...
Monarch butterfly habitat selection
Monarch butterfly (Photo by A. Dabydeen)
The monarch butterfly is one of the most recognized and loved insects in the world. It is known, in part, for its phenomenal migration from its Canadian breeding grounds to overwintering sites in the mountains of Mexico. Unfortunately, the...
Book review: The Vascular Plants of Bruce Peninsula, by Joe Johnson
The Vascular Plants of Bruce Peninsula (Photo by Bill Moses)
The Vascular Plants of the Bruce Peninsula, by Joe Johnson, is a landmark book in the history of botany on the Bruce Peninsula — a place described as being Ontario’s most well-known botanical destination. The first person to attempt...
How to be a botanist
One of the most beautiful of Happy Valley blooms is the fringed gentian flower. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
You may know from my previous posts that I consider myself an amateur botanist and spend time associating with several naturalist and conservation organizations, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). I try to share my experience and...
