I really enjoyed finding out more about birch trees for the Tree Year September Challenge. I had known that birch trees and bark were used to make canoes and baskets, but didn’t know if there were any parts you could eat. Turns out that the inner bark and leaves of the birch are edible. The bark can be eaten as it is, and long ago it was made into tea to treat all kinds of illnesses. The sap of the tree is also edible, although it’s not very sweet, so probably not what you want on your morning pancakes!
There haven’t been a lot of changes going on with my tree. I think it’s slowly sinking further into the pond, and has broken off a bit more from its roots, but in all, pretty uneventful. The tree has had quite a few visitors lately though. I saw seven ducks hanging out on the trunk one day, and managed to catch this one another day.
The weed that was growing up between the two trunks sprouted these lovely orange flowers.
The sky is getting to be a beautiful shade of blue as fall takes over. I love the puffy white clouds between the branches of the tree.
Some days there is a lot of algae that collects along the edges of the pond. I don’t think it’s terribly good for any of the aquatic life that lives in the pond, but the green swirls are really beautiful. The dark, round spot between the two branches was made by a skittish turtle jumping back into the water.
small matters 
October 9, 2011 at 1:41 am
oh and btw I read some where that the birch sirup is only produced somewhere in the mid-north of the US and into Canada. It seams to be very different from the maple sirup in the ration of water/sugar – but they said it’s much smoother, too. I’ll have to find out once I’ll find it somewhere…
October 9, 2011 at 1:38 am
the color combinations are beautiful – yellow, blue, green!
October 6, 2011 at 6:39 pm
wow, really beautiful and inspiring.
September 30, 2011 at 8:46 am
Beautiful series. What a great idea – to shoot the passing of time. Love the clouds caught in the branches.