Looking by the sides of paths in the Forest, something else is green and stirring.
Rather at home in the salad bowl or cheese sandwich, Garlic Mustard, also known as Jack-by-the-Hedge, is a bit of a troublemaker. Not here in the Forest, but across the Atlantic. It was taken over by settlers because it was a useful plant. People had come to like its strong flavour, and Alliaire, Look-zonder-look, had that in abundance. Rich in vitamin C, it helped prevent scurvy, so it was both tasty and practical.
But, like the settlers it accompanied, it soon found a way to disrupt the established order. Without its old companions, the specialist insects and fungi adapted to blunt its chemistry, it did what any successful colonist does when unopposed. It spread fast, altered the soil to suit itself, and forest floors that once ran with trillium and spring beauty became monocultures of garlic-scented green.
It had a colonial skill set.
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐜
Conqueror of the forest floor,
Breaker of fungal alliances,
Destroyer of spring flowers.
So…
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲 and 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧-𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 www.bobwalks.eu ?
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As always, I post about what you could actually find in the Forest right now. I love reading and replying to comments so make me happy. It’s free :-) A share would be great too.
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