For North American, and probably northern European members, it is now hunting season. This morning when I was walking my dog in a the graveyard across the street, I noticed two deciduous trees I hadn't spotted before. The cemetery is a sea of maple trees, all around the same height and age, and I assumed that was all I'd ever see there.
Instead, there was a non native English oak, and a native red oak side by side up a less travelled path. They will be ideal for leaf collecting in a couple of months, when the dead brown leaves can be harvested for use as tannin sources and as fish shelters. I find that if you gather them before they hit the ground, they last better and decay more slowly.
So now is the time to get yourself a dog and go walking. You can look for oaks and know where to go to gather their leaves for a year's supply of effective botanicals, for free. Then, after you fiind oaks, you can spot sources for alder cones, another useful autumn harvest.
Instead, there was a non native English oak, and a native red oak side by side up a less travelled path. They will be ideal for leaf collecting in a couple of months, when the dead brown leaves can be harvested for use as tannin sources and as fish shelters. I find that if you gather them before they hit the ground, they last better and decay more slowly.
So now is the time to get yourself a dog and go walking. You can look for oaks and know where to go to gather their leaves for a year's supply of effective botanicals, for free. Then, after you fiind oaks, you can spot sources for alder cones, another useful autumn harvest.