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Brown

Writer's picture: iowisotaiowisota

It certainly is the season of brown, but there is beauty in the cold hard brown. On a color palette, brown is made up of all the primary colors (red, yellow and blue); I love that all the potential colors of nature are hiding in brown! If you look closer and farther, the patterns and stories of brown will pull you in. My cell phone camera helped me to capture these 20 brown images this week.


Let’s start with trees. So many patterns and so much beauty in trees! The blocky plates in picture 1 are the bark of a rugged old black walnut tree, the funky ridges in picture 2 are the bark of a young hackberry tree. Pictures 3 and 4 are parts of basswood trees. As you look closer at the cut stem of the rotten basswood log (that fell across the trail last year!), you can see tufts of fibers under the bark… the bast fibers that can be used to make cordage. Picture 4 is the plump reddish-brown buds of the basswood; such a distinctive promise of the green that will burst out in the Spring! Picture 5 is a decayed brown log on the ground. I wondered if the tiny fringe of white ice decorating the bottom of the wood was the frozen breath of rodents sleeping under the log?! There are many hidden stories that I’ll never know. Picture 6 is a red oak leaf with a sugar maple leaf beside it. The oak leaves don’t break down as fast, so they remain crunchy underfoot until spring.


Image 7 is the seed spike of mullen, image 8 is the seed pods of evening primrose. The fuzzy seedheads of wild clematis (virgin’s bower) are in picture 9. There are lots of lovely patterns and promises in the seedheads you’ll find in the woods and prairies this time of year!


Picture 10 is a naturally exposed soil profile along the bank of the ravine. A soil profile exhibits so much history! Layers of life and death, stories of deposition and erosion.  Picture 11 is another story of life and death… frost covered dead twigs over the water of the spring, with hints of live green water cress under the twigs. Image 12 is turkeytail fungus. Each bracket holds a whole rainbow of brown, made with energy released through the power of wood decay.


The fuzzy fawn in image 13 frequents the backyard often, as do several does. One doe provided her coat in image 14 so that I can learn how to tan hides. The tracks in image 15 are evidence that plenty of deer remain. Image 16 tells a story of pileated woodpeckers looking for lunch. The flake of red inner bark in image 17 came from the stem of an elm tree that the woodpeckers were dissecting.


Image 18 is brown trout from a secret local stream. If you’ve ever had grilled brown trout, you know why we need to keep Dennis’ fishing spot a secret. In Iowa, you are allowed to fish for trout all winter long. But most of the local fisherfolk are sitting on buckets on the Mississippi River this time of year.


Image 19 is a brown rock. Millions of years of history from broken layers of the bluff are washed into a jumble at the bottom of the ravine. Creamy tan limestone is most common, but there are many splashes of interest… brown iron stains, sparkly quartz crystals, faint traces of fossils.


Lastly, image 20 is looking across the ravine toward the sugar maple grove. In a few weeks, the woods will start to wake up and I will set taps and buckets to collect sap for maple syrup. When that happens, I’ll be posting some maple syrup demonstration events on the Iowisota website. We already have a few “Dream-by-the-Fire” opportunities on the schedule, when we’re opening up the Gathering Room for visitors to get a break from winter.


I hope my photo tour of brown got you thinking deeper about all the life and exciting things that are hidden in brown. Appreciate this season of brown as we hope for some snow to make it a season of white!

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