Oh, I forgot about Jerusalem artichokes. Yum!

I don’t know. Maybe a three-way tie between wild strawberries, venison, and morels. (Which is NOT to say that I’m adept at hunting/gathering any of them!)

Oh really? Interesting.

An uncle of mine got into in nature a few years back because, while shopping at a flea market, he saw a perfectly spherical cloud of lekking gnats hovering four feet above a table for a couple of hours. It was like a revelation to him of this vaster world about which, he suddlenly realized, he knew almost nothing. He ended up getting a butterfly guide and attempting to identify all the butterflies he saw at his suburban work site. You never know when someone’s going to be bit by the nature bug.

That looks like a yearling to me, last year’s cub just chased off by the mother (it’s mating season). These are the ursine equivalent of teenagers. Look out! Yeah, it’s probably opening the door on its own. Bears are very good at that sort of thing.

I think there is value to trying to relate to things without a name coming between you, but that’s an ideal that’s difficult to achieve in the best of cirumstances — probably impossible to achieve as part of a group. I’ll admit that the virtually exclusive focus on field guides and i.d.s evinced by some nature enthusiasts wears on me.

The photo of you and the porcupine is marvelous!

And reading this today feels serendipitous, since a local black bear made an appearance at our house again for the first time in a while. Someone had knocked over our trash can last week and strewed garbage all over the lawn, and after I cleaned it up, I moved the trash can into the garage to keep it safe from what I presumed was a raccoon. Alas, either I didn’t close the door all the way, or this little guy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbarenblat/4702822943/) is capable of opening it…