DRY CRIK Journal

California Buckeye
Greasy Creek
November 11, 2010

Poison Oak
Greasy Creek
November 11, 2010

Terribly allergic to Poison Oak, I don't know much about these little balls, whether or not they are seed pods. I do know that this particular climbing species is more potent, can cause more severe rections, than the standard rockpile variety that looks more like willow limbs this time of year. 12-15 feet tall, the base of this one is about four inches in diameter with bark like an oak. Stay clear!

Poison Oak in Manzanita
Greasy Creek
November 11, 2010

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 5:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

California Buckeye
October 12, 2010
Greasy Creek

I love the Buckeyes this time of year as the leaves turn redder and begin to drip off the branches. The late spring tassels have been transformed to buckeye balls that encase a huge seed, about and inch and a half in diameter. The husks will begin to crack and drop these seeds at their feet - on the slope they roll. If eaten, the seeds can be extremely hallucinogenic to humans.

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 27, 2010
Greasy Creek

Weaning calves this past week - bovine music at every corral, weather cool.

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 5:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

California Buckeye
Greasy Creek
August 30, 2009

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Cottonwood
Dry Creek
April 6, 2009

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Western Sycamore
Dry Creek Crossing
March 29, 2009

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Willow
Dry Creek
March 29, 2009

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Valley Oak
Dry Creek
March 24, 2009

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interior Live Oak
Greasy Creek
March 23, 2009

Live Oak in bloom
Greasy Creek
March 23, 2009

Native uses: acorns ground into a flour, flour leached, then baked in an earth oven into a bread. Adding ashes would make the bread rise.

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blue Oak Woodland
Paregien Ranch
March 20, 2009

Native uses: acorns soaked, shelled and dried - meats ground into a meal or flour that was leached in sand several times over. Cedar and Fir twigs often used in the leaching process as a sieve and for flavor. Soup, pudding and bread were made from the flour. Mold from the flour was cultivated and used to heal boils and other inflamations.

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

California Buckeye
Paregien Ranch
March 20, 2009

Native uses: flowers poisonous to bees; crushed unripe seeds used to stupify fish; ripe seeds bitter and poisonous; leaves steeped into a tea for relief of lung congestion and varicose veins; ripe seeds were buried in swampy, cold ground during winter to release bitter and toxic aspects, then boiled and eaten in spring.

Posted by John Dofflemyer at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)