Where the Wild Leeks Grow

We used to walk in a different forest, a forest that I loved, before this stay at home time.  But it is closed to the public now.  For a while we walked the public paved trail along Georgian Bay, but it is getting busier with the nice weather and harder to socially distance from joggers and bikers.  This forced us to explore our area, to expand our thinking and our possibilities and we found one of the many locations of the Simcoe County Forest that is still open.  So, we started exploring. 

In the 1800’s, European settlers came to this area which was mostly forest, lake and stream.  Thinking that the forests were inexhaustible, they cut the trees down to clear land for agriculture and to use as timber for buildings and ships.  This went on for one hundred years.  The wood left from logging was burned and this destroyed the soil. Eventually, all that was left was barren plain.  The sandy soil was not suited to farming and what was left of it began to erode.  Most farms were abandoned.

A long time Simcoe County resident and politician, E.C. Drury became the Premier of Ontario in 1919 and he was instrumental in creating legislation that allowed municipalities to buy land and reforest it.  Between 1922 and 1927 over 1,300,000 trees were planted on one tract of land in Simcoe County.  Over the next 20 years another 10,000,000 trees were planted throughout the county forming what is now called Simcoe County Forest (SCF).  After only 26 years, all of the deforested land had been planted.  The trees stabilized the sandy soil and the land was being rehabilitated.  SCF then began purchasing land that was already wooded to protect it and to open it up to the public.  This is still going on today.  This forest is now 33,000 acres in size and it is the largest municipally owned forest in Southern Ontario.

Near the road where we parked our car, we met an older man walking his dog.  We stopped to say hi from a more than respectful distance.  He had lots of stories about that part of the forest to tell.  I mentioned that I saw a pile of stones at the base of a tree that looked like the kind of a structure that a farmer creates when he picks stones from the fields.  The man pointed towards the road and told us that the foundation of the old house was still there.  So, once we had finished our conversation we walked to where he had pointed and there was a stone foundation for a small house.  Trees now grew in the middle of the cellar, speaking of the power of the forest to reclaim the land as its own.

You can see the stone foundation behind the trees

Red and White Pines planted in rows

It is obvious, which part of the forest was rehabilitated by the municipal government because the Red and White Pines are planted in straight lines. Not much else grows there between the trees.  But, when you think about it being a thick forest two hundred years ago and a desert one hundred years ago, it seems pretty amazing to be looking up eighty or ninety feet to the tops of the trees.

Once you walk through that part towards the river, you come to a mixed hardwood bush that seems to have created itself.  This section must have been added on later, or perhaps because it is a bit wet and on a slope, it wasn’t cleared for farming. 

Wild Leek shoots growing through an old Red Oak leaf.

Like "natuel archeologists", we searched for clues.  And that is when another miracle emerged.

This is not the first time that the miracle has occurred nor I hope will it be the last.  But that doesn’t deter from its magic.  From under the dead brown maple, oak and beech leaves, life is rising up.  It started with the Wild Leeks.  We saw tiny green shoots just above the dull brown forest floor and went to investigate.  When we got close enough, we realized that they were Wild Leeks, that most coveted of gourmet wild food.  It looked like there were a few small patches of them.  But as the weeks have gone by, the leeks are growing taller and more patches are emerging.  This morning, they were a bright emerald green in the early slanted sun.  We are allowed to pick them for personal use and we have taken just a few leaves to add to our meals.  But the colour of them is what really feeds my spirit.  I stood there soaking it in with my eyes and what felt like my whole body.

A patch of Wild Leeks backlit by the morning sun

Trout Lily leaves rsing from last fall's leaves on the forest floor.

Around the leeks are the mottled leaves of Trout Lilies.  These tiny spring plants have one leaf and one bell shaped yellow flower.  So far, they haven’t flowered and there are just lots of leaves poking up that look like the “camo” gear that hunters wear. 

Their neighbours are the Blue Cohosh plants that have risen up and are ready to unfurl and spread out.  They are hard to detect because of their dark colour but in the bright morning light, they became visible. 

The Sharp-Lobed Hepatica are flowering already.  Their white petals shine out in the sun.  And then this morning, for the first time this spring, we found Trillium leaves just opened above the leaf litter with flower buds in the centre of their three leaves.  We also saw one single Bloodroot leaf, still curled around it's stem poking up.

Blue Cohosh stems and leaves unfurl.

Sharp-Lobed Hepatica flowers are the first flowers to emerge.

                                                .

The tri-leaf of Trillium witha flower bud in the centre.

We know from other mixed hardwood forests that we have spent time in, that Wild Leeks, Wild Garlic, Trout Lilies, Blue Cohosh and Trilliums are part of the same community.  And so, we are imagining that as the Wild Leek leaves finish creating sugar for the bulbs and the flowers, they will die back.  Their green will be replaced by the green and white and perhaps red of thousands of Trilliums.  All of this will happen before the trees get their leaves and the sunshine becomes less available for the forest floor dwellers.  And then we know that the fresh green of Maple and Beech leaves will create a bright green world in the forest when the sun shines.

We are new to this particular forest, but not new to the community that lives in part of it.  We expect to see May Apples Jack-in-the-pulpit, Spring Beauties Mayflowers and perhaps Baneberry appear in a little while as well.  Somehow, this new forest feels like home to us. We have watched the parade of plants for years now.  The predictability, the normalcy of it is like medicine.  And, as we spend time in this forest, getting to know this place, all the life that lives there will get to know us as well.  We will form relationships with the trees and plants there, with the Sturgeon River that runs through it and with the insect life as it returns, hatches and swarms. We have heard many woodpeckers and a few other birds.  This morning we surprised a Red Squirrel doing its rounds.  There are deer and coyotes there as well but so far we haven’t seen them. The gentleman we met near the foundation told us that the river is high enough for salmon to come up the river to spawn.

Flowering Wintergreen leaves and berry

And there are surprises as well.  Much of the forest floor near the river and in the plantation area, is covered by Flowering Wintergreen pictured here with a berry.  We have seen that before elsewhere but never the flower.  Our research tells us that it has a showy flower which gives the plant its common names "Gaywings" or "Bird on the wing".  So now, when we visit, we will be watching for those.

In this time when we can't be so many places, we are getting to know the land near our home.  She is happy to have company and has no end of delights to share.  We know that we are not alone in this.  We know that we are connected not just to the forest, but to all the people who are spending this time getting to know nature better.  Although we are physically distancing, we are in good company.