THE ENCHANTED NATURE NEWSLETTER
THE ENCHANTED NATURE NEWSLETTER
Issue 11
November 2021
Greetings Enchanted Nature Community
Welcome To The Enchanted Nature Newsletter
HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON
HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah everyone.
We hope that your November has been filled with enchanting experiences in nature.
This is the one year anniversary of The Enchanted Nature Newsletter. In November of 2020, we launched the very first issue. We send a big thank you to all of our readers.
MANY THANKS to everyone that contributes to the Enchanted Nature Newsletter.
A Request: Please send us your pics, questions, and comments.
Jack Wilson from West Augusta, VA sent us some
stunningly spectacular macro pictures of lichens
Looking at these pictures, you will find all three of the major lichen forms:
Crustose, Foliose, and Fruticose
THANK YOU for these AMAZING pics Jack! Your photography is stellar!
BEAUTIFUL photography!
Please continue sending us your pics and queries: adventures@enchantednaturetours.com
You can also text your pics & questions to (540) 324-8778.
Pics from the Writers:
Trametes Versicolor mushrooms. If you're a regular reader of The Enchanted Nature Newsletter, you already know the common name of these mushrooms. If you find yourself trying to remember, you can learn more about them in our FIRST ISSUE
A stone covered in moss and crustose lichens. The large circular lichen front and center is over 75 years old, based on size.
What's In The Woods
by Victoria Vacher and Christopher Vacher
Spring, with its bounty of brilliant colors, provides immense enjoyment after a long winter. Summer has a plethora of blooms, fresh produce, and comfortable weather for adventuring outdoors. Autumn foliage is magnificent and a tourism boon to communities in the Appalachian Mountain range. The eastern hardwood forests invite people from all over the world to come and enjoy 'leaf peeping'. Winter, however, is viewed by many people as dull and lifeless. Except for snow sport enthusiasts, poor winter gets a bad rap among many nature lovers. The truth is that the forest is very much alive in the winter as well and there is an abundance of beauty to see and enjoy. The absence of leaves in the winter reveals the natural features of the landscape scenery hidden in other seasons. After a snowfall, hardy nature lovers daring to hike out are rewarded with the beauty, quiet and peace surrounding them. A brisk walk in the cold can be invigorating and enjoyable especially when hot cocoa or hot toddy's await you by a warm fire afterwards!
Here we see some perennial ferns going dormant for the winter.
However, there are evergreen ferns in the forest that will grace us with green beauty all winter long.
Above we have a Dryopteris Marginalis, commonly called a Marginal Wood Fern. It is evergreen.
Here are some beautiful and soft Sphagnum Mosses.
Below, we find a beautiful Club Moss (my personal favorite) known as Diphasiastrum digitatum
growing amongst what appear to be Hemlock seedlings.
Diphasiastrum digitatum is commonly called
Trailing Cedar, Ground Cedar, and Southern Ground Cedar. Don't be fooled by the name. This Club Moss has a range from northern Maine to North Carolina and as far west as eastern Minnesota.
There is great beauty in the winter forest to enjoy. You don't have to look for it, you simply have to open your eyes and see it.
Relax
is this month's video theme
Imagine yourself floating through the air and relaxing by a stream. You may find yourself feeling like a leaf falling to the ground. Try to breathe deep and enjoy the calm of nature.
NATURE IS CALLING, WILL YOU ANSWER
There are many proven health benefits to spending time in nature. It has also been proven that just looking at images of nature can provide multiple health benefits including: reducing depression, speeding healing, improving your immune system, preventing dementia, improving your mood, and increasing happiness. We end each newsletter with a short video of a natural scene.
Hopefully the videos will provide you with some of the benefits listed above.
Findings reported in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, suggest that keeping a few snapshots of greenery around yourself might be beneficial. When participants viewed the natural images in the experiment, their stress levels lowered, thanks to the activation of their parasympathetic nervous system – which controls certain rest functions. "Viewing green scenes may thus be particularly effective in supporting relaxation and recovery after experiencing a stressful period and thereby could serve as an opportunity for micro-restorative experiences and a promising tool in preventing chronic stress and stress-related diseases."
Please be sure to share this newsletter with your friends.
Word of mouth is the best advertising.
Please be sure to share this newsletter with your friends.
Word of mouth is the best advertising.
*Enchanted Nature News*
Give the gift of nature! We now offer gift certificates. They can be customized and emailed for any occasion. The gift certificates are available at our Trading Post
We have added a new web page called, "Our Local Friends". These are small local businesses that we support and feel confident recommending. Keep an eye on the page, as we expect the list to grow.
Stay safe and enjoy nature
If you haven't taken the time to explore our website, please do.
There are a lot of free educational resources to enjoy
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with the word, "unsubscribe"