Hello Friends! Tonight’s post is just to touch base with you and let you know that I have will back as strong as possible soon. For those who don’t know I have Covid pneumonia but am expecting a full recovery.
Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days and.
The rattle of dry leaves brings a winter rhythm to the wind’s lonesome melody in the empty lake. I’m only able to tolerate a few moments of exposure to the cutting breeze. But the big blue truck has an excellent heater and I ease the lens through the small gap to capture the oak leaves as they hold the light. It only roughly two weeks until the New Light begins I tell myself. It’s my understanding that the Native Americans didn’t make a winter camp in the mountains of West Virginia because of the darkness. The gray skies and the mountain’s shadow can seem to be moving in on you at times. But the light of a good fireplace and the warmth of a close friend can make it easier to bare. While the truck is parked I open the lid of my thermos and the aroma of the coffee fills the cab. There’s nothing like your favorite warm drink on a cold day. The wind dies down a bit giving me a second chance to try capture the light in the leaves. It’s enough. I make my way back up out of lake bottom while holding onto the light of my own. The light in my heart that guides me and keeps me warm.
Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.
We also have the Lloyd’s Lens Photography Discussion Group on MeWe that is set up as a fully functional community. There you’ll not only be able to see and connect with me but you can also make your own posts and interact with each other.
I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup
Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc
To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.
WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographerThank you again for your support of my page!♥️
The echoes of summer reverberate throughout the empty lake. They’ve drained lake almost completely this year and I expect that they needed to inspect the dam. So I went down and scouted for any interesting angles of what looks like an alien world. On the way back out I noticed the large knot on a small oak tree. This is government land so there’s no harvesting allowed. But, burls are highly valuable wood. Because this one is so young I believe that when it matures it will be fairly large. The cause of a burl boils down to uncontrolled growth of tissues within the wood. In some ways its like a cancer except it’s usually not fatal to the tree. Some of things that start a burl to form include fungus, viruses, insects and mechanical damage. When you open a burl it’s full of wavy grain and sometimes swirls or inclusions. But in skilled hands what once was an injury becomes a thing of beauty.
Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.
We also have the Lloyd’s Lens Photography Discussion Group on MeWe that is set up as a fully functional community. There you’ll not only be able to see and connect with me but you can also make your own posts and interact with each other.
I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup
Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc
To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.
WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographerThank you again for your support of my page!♥️
Always be extra cautious about mushrooms. Even though tonight’s post isn’t about food or medicinal values there’s always an outside chance that someone somewhere could have a negative reaction to handling certain fungi. Most fungi are still very much alive when you bring them into your home so be prepared to deal with spores.
Tonight’s Forage Friday post is going to be a little different. Often in the cold seasons I find myself facing the choice between suspending the Forage Friday posts or expanding the concept of foraging to something beyond food and medicine. Such is the case tonight. Earlier this year I resolved to learn more about the various mushrooms and fungi that seem to thrive in our mountains. When I took my insect and disease control courses in the 90s the focus wasn’t so much on the identification of individual mushrooms as much as it was identifying which ones helped the forest grow and which ones devalued timber. I was blessed to have one particular instructor that had a vast knowledge of mushrooms and was very willing to go deeper into which ones were edible and traditionally used as medicine etc. But for the most part we stuck to approved curriculum. However, he did manage to impress upon me that the phrase “forest products” doesn’t have to be limited to timber.
When I wrote about Chaga and Turkey Tail Fungus my main focus was on the traditional Native American medicinal values. And I’ve been taking advantage of that knowledge lately. But as I became more interested in learning more about them I encountered a post that spoke about what to do with the mushrooms after the extracts have been made. As it turns out most of the mushrooms have more to offer than polyphenols and triterpines. The body of a fungus is made from a substance known as chitin. ( pronounced KY-tin). This substance very close molecularly to cellulose and can be used to make paper. Moreover, to make mushroom paper all you need is a blender, hot water and a screen to cure your paper. That’s it. No toxic chemicals to pollute the rivers and that’s my favorite part. Basically you simmer the leftover fungus until it’s soft enough to turn into a pulp with the blender and spread it on the screen to drain. Some of the people doing this recommended adding a little tissue paper to the mixture for cohesion and one lady suggested that cobwebs might make the mushrooms paper better. But the bottom line was its doable.
I began to think about trametes pubescens which is a close relative to Turkey Tail Fungus and doesn’t have a reputation for the medicinal values. But it’s cream colored and unless I miss my guess it just as prolific as Turkey Tail. Maybe more so. Aside from the obvious uses of paper for writing and as tissue I think it might make an excellent canvas for art. Mushroom fiber is pretty absorbent and should hold pigment very well.
As I pushed even further into the realm of mushrooms as an alternative substance for everyday needs I learned that some people have discovered that it also be made into a leather type product, a replacement for Styrofoam and plastic. Architects are even experimenting with turning fungus into a lightweight building material. Some of this has a way to go before it becomes practical but the way they do it is by growing the fungus in a mold and then curing it in an oven. In Appalachia we have a thriving forest industry that could easily expand beyond the expected lumber and make use of all the sawdust to grow many of the types of mushrooms used in these products. It could be a second harvest for us.
Of course we don’t really have to wait on the big industries to catch up. Many of the mushrooms can also be grown in lawn waste or even cornstocks and more. All you need is basement, garage or outbuilding and you have the whole internet to learn more.
Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.
We also have the Lloyd’s Lens Photography Discussion Group on MeWe that is set up as a fully functional community. There you’ll not only be able to see and connect with me but you can also make your own posts and interact with each other.
I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup
Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc
To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.
WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographerThank you again for your support of my page!♥️
The cold north wind gently whispers secrets in the empty canopy of my Appalachian Forest. I know that as far as the Gregorian Calendar is concerned Winter comes with the New Light in roughly 18 days but for me winter is when the leaves are gone and the grasses turn blond. And winter lasts until the flowers open and the buds swell. As a youth I loved to roam the winter forest. If pick a dirt road or logging trail just see where it goes. The advantage of a winter wandering is that you can be a little more comfortable about where you step. For one thing the snakes hibernate but the vegetation also dies back giving you a better view of the path. I had special spots to take my daydreaming in winter. Among them was field of ground cedar and a place where I would sometimes find british soldiers. The lichen, not the warriors. And there was another place where we could find beard lichen in winter. Sometimes I’d just spend the day breathing crisp air and chewing on sweet birch. Occasionally I’d find an old bottle or some other piece of junk that made me feel like I was an archeologist. I don’t go out as much as I would like to in early winter do to schedules and limited time but even just a short stop on a seldom used trail can be enough to reconnect with nature.
Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.
We also have the Lloyd’s Lens Photography Discussion Group on MeWe that is set up as a fully functional community. There you’ll not only be able to see and connect with me but you can also make your own posts and interact with each other.
I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup
Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc
To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.
WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographerThank you again for your support of my page!♥️
LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC 