#mountain maryland

[ahedderick]

Early morning, when the sky is bright but the farm in the valley is still in shadow. The songbirds are going wild, this quiet-looking photo was actually taken in a chaotic swirl of chirping and tweeting.

Lady surveys her domain alertly. Jeez, I wish I felt that awake.

Suddenly . .

. . the sun peeps up over the ridge!

Good morning, y'all.

(Hero's white face is also alert. There might be treats happening.)

[alaskassweetdump]

DelFest is almost here! One of my favorite times of year. It’s practically in my backyard! A weekend of music is always what I need.

If you are searching for free festival parking that is close to the festival grounds, send me a DM and I’ll hook yah up!

Happy DelFest, all!

[vandaliatraveler]

I finally got back into the mountains this weekend. My escape consisted of short hikes between successive waves of cold, soaking rain. Salvation nonetheless. Photos are from multiple stops along Rt 219 and its byways, including Garrett State Forest (MD), Cranesville Swamp (WV and MD), and Cathedral State Park (WV). The hawthorns are gorgeous this time of year, not to mention the second wave of spring wildflowers now coming into bloom, including fringed polygala (Polygaloides paucifolia), dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius), red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), painted trillium (Trillium undulatum). and golden ragwort (Packera aurea).

[kas-e]

Into the abyss.

Daybreak and last light in the old town of Cumberland, Maryland.  A truly unique town that sits in the quiet mountains of western Maryland.  Coming from the east, it’s last stop for anyone heading west into the blue ridge mountains.  It’s always been a strange little town, but now it seems all but abandoned.  Here’s a few long exposure shots from last stop there a few years ago. 

[histhoughtslately]

This view…

#worklifebalance

[istandonsnowpiles]

Sky and Leaves

[coquettishbaguette]

“A life of only errands will make a fool of ya.”

-Friko “Where we’ve been”

[rustbeltjessie]

On the tape deck was Bruce Springsteen’s most haunted album, Nebraska, blue guitar, harmonica, his voice that cut through us like a rusted knife, like the wind whistling through the car windows, tangling our hair with ghost hands, we were far from Nebraska, in a different landscape though just as haunted, so

much history, how could anywhere with so much history not be haunted, how could anywhere anywhere not be

—Jessie Lynn McMains, from “Spook Hill” (TMP Magazine #6: Haunted Highways, October 2023)

[butchboromir]

The fact that going to maryland has been played twice in germany and NO times in MARYLAND makes me think god is playing a cruel joke on me

[bethanythebogwitch]

Native Wildflowers collection

Native wildflowers from my previous job. All pics by me. Not an exhaustive list. Split into multiple posts due to the image limit.

Starting off with everyone's (read: monarch butterflies') favorite: milkweed. Common milkweed is on the left. I think what we called common milkweed was actually 2 closely-related species. On the right is swam milkweed, which likes wetter soil. Butterfly weed in the bottom is a milkweed, but its sap is clear instead of white so some people don't realize that. It's also much shorter than most milkweeds.

We have 2 main gentian species. These flowers don't open all the way and only larger insects like bees can force their way in. These bees then seek out gentians as an exclusive food source, making it more likely for them to pollinate the gentians. Cream gentian (left) is white and can get very tall on good years. Bottle gentian (right) is a small, low-lying plant that hides under other plants. This picture was taken early in the season so they're pretty pale. They turn bright blue when they're in bloom.

Yellow (left) and purple (right) coneflower

Mountain mint (right) and downy wood mint (left)

Wild raspberry (left) and dewberry (right). My personal nemeses when I was moving through the prairie. Thorns are not my friend

Foxglove beardtongue, which comes in a common white color (right) and a rarer purple variant (left). Below is false foxglove, which is a hemiparasite (plant that gains nutrition through parasitism and photosynthesis) that leaches off of oak roots

Bee balm, this one has a lot of ornamental cultivars

Rattlesnake master, a badass name for a weird and spiky plant

Ironweed. We have a few species and I don't know how to tell them apart

Wild quinine. In the 3 growth seasons I worked here, this one became much more common.

Prairie coreopsis (left) and tall coreopsis (right). Guess what the difference between these two is

Rosinweed (left) and cup plant (right). Two closely related species.

Maryland senna (left) and partridge pea (right). Similar (but not closely related) species that grow pods full of seeds. As they dry, the pods peel open and send the seeds flying out.

Prairie dock. These grow very tall and have huge leaves that are cool because the roots bring up water from deep underground

Ashy sunflower, a hemiparasite that kills goldenrod and tall grasses. As those two are very aggressive plants that can take over whole fields. ashy sunflower seeds are a great way to fight back against them and help increase biodiversity.

Cardinal flower. This one is endangered so its great that it's doing well and even spreading where I worked.

Common thistle. This one is unfortunately losing ground to invasive Canada thistle (not actually from Canada) and isn't very popular, but bugs love it.

Black-eyed Susan (left) and sweet black-eyed Susan (right). The latter is larger and doesn't tolerate shade as well.

Continued in part 2

[eopederson]

Late autumn reverie, Emmitsburg, Maryland, 2020.

Taken on a rare outing during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[ahedderick]

I've been posting garden 'progress' pictures every month on the 25th since my husband planted the first things in March. How can six months go by so damned fast and also seem subjectively like two years? Things are close to wrapping up, now.

Beets, carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are all still in the ground. I need to dig them, but they're happy where they are and low on my list of priorities.

The bell peppers produced exuberantly. My husband took a bin of them to a church with a food giveaway last week. They may produce more, or may decide they hate the wetter weather and give up.

Kale, chard, basil, zinnias, and tons of unwanted weeds just going to town, here. As soon as my oven is fixed I'm making a big tray of kale chips and another big tray of roasted root vegetables.

I - don't know what this is. It volunteered in the asparagus bed. There were small, decorative gourds in there last year, but this is quite a bit bigger. Winter squash? Gourd? Hybrid monstrosity? Who knows, certainly not me. As long as they don't start walking or talking, I'm fine with them.

[abalone-n-seashells]

I’m baaaack from the mountains 😂 didn’t get eaten by a bear or lose any limbs. I’m definitely going through some post trail depression though which sucks. Here’s some of the sights I saw that changed me ❤️

[vandaliatraveler]

Winter made an encore appearance to the Central Appalachians this past week, with some locations above 3000 feet receiving a foot or more of snow. By Friday, all that nasty cold and freezing precipitation had moved out and spring returned with a vengeance today, with temperatures in the upper sixties to low seventies. It was a perfect day to explore the ancient sphagnum bog at Cranesville Swamp Preserve, whose boreal wetlands community owes its existence to the cool temperatures provided by the frost pocket in which it nestles. From top: small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and eastern teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens) grow from a sphagnum hummock; lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium); eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) growing in a damp spot near the bog’s edge; fringed polygala (Polygaloides paucifolia); dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius); goldthread (Coptis trifolia); and downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea).

[crumb]

Dahlgren Chapel, Maryland (1977)

[histhoughtslately]

The Other Side

📸 @histhoughtslately