Here is an episode full of insights from Jerry Ouellette, Ontario's former Minister of Natural Resources, who shares his unexpected passion for the medicinal fungus chaga, leading to the creation of his Under the Canopy podcast. Join us as Jerry takes young students on an enlightening nature walk, emphasizing the importance of connecting with and preserving our natural environment.
Embark on an educational nature walk that unravels the mysteries of forest ecology and plant identification. Learn about the edible wonders of cattails, the peculiar behavior of spittle bugs, and the significance of the forest canopy in the ecosystem. We also delve into the identification of medicinal plants like dandelions and plantain, and explore the majestic Eastern white pine, Ontario's official tree. The journey continues with an in-depth look at various trees, the role of the first bird of spring, and even the unique process of making syrup from birch sap.
Our exploration doesn't stop there! Discover the world of medicinal plants and the intricate relationships within forests, revealing how trees communicate through root systems and mycorrhizal networks. Join us and get inspired to deepen your connection with the natural world!
Here is an episode full of insights from Jerry Ouellette, Ontario's former Minister of Natural Resources, who shares his unexpected passion for the medicinal fungus chaga, leading to the creation of his Under the Canopy podcast. Join us as Jerry takes young students on an enlightening nature walk, emphasizing the importance of connecting with and preserving our natural environment.
Embark on an educational nature walk that unravels the mysteries of forest ecology and plant identification. Learn about the edible wonders of cattails, the peculiar behavior of spittle bugs, and the significance of the forest canopy in the ecosystem. We also delve into the identification of medicinal plants like dandelions and plantain, and explore the majestic Eastern white pine, Ontario's official tree. The journey continues with an in-depth look at various trees, the role of the first bird of spring, and even the unique process of making syrup from birch sap.
Our exploration doesn't stop there! Discover the world of medicinal plants and the intricate relationships within forests, revealing how trees communicate through root systems and mycorrhizal networks. Join us and get inspired to deepen your connection with the natural world!
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Speaker 3:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by Indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy lives under the canopy. Okay, this week's session is just a little bit different and I thought I'd explain it. While I was working at a market actually the Millbrook Farmer's Market I had an individual Wilma come up to me and asked are you the person that I listen to on a podcast? And I said yes, we have a podcast and we talk about a bunch of different things. And she said, yeah, under the Canopy. And I said yes, that's us. She said would you be interested or do you come in to talk to students in classrooms and things like that? And I said I'd be more than happy to. And we worked out a time and, surprisingly, we were invited to Millbrook South Calvin Public School where we worked with a number of teachers we had Shelby and Jen and Rachel as teachers that we were able to take the students into their forest. They have a forest there and we walked through the nature trails and I explained a bunch of aspects of what's taking place in the forest there, anyways, so what we did was we recorded the episode and we've now provided it for others to listen to. Just a little bit something different about how we work with students and explaining all about nature and the great things that are out there and giving something a little bit different perspective of what happens under the canopy. Okay, thank you very much for inviting me to be here today.
Speaker 3:My name is Jerry Ouellette and once upon a time I used to be the Minister of Natural Resources for the province of Ontario. Does anybody know what that means? No, that's why I'm asking, because I didn't figure you knew. No, that's why I'm asking, because I didn't figure you knew. That meant that I was in charge of all the provincial parks, all the forests, all the game, all the fish in the entire province of Ontario. So when they set fish limits, when you wanted to go fishing, I was the person that wrote up how many fish you're allowed to keep and how many go or keep the fish hatcheries and all those sorts of things. And Ontario is a huge province. I don't see a map, but if I had a map I would show you Right over there. But I need a map of Ontario. Ontario is so big.
Speaker 3:People, did you realize that Ontario has one of the world's largest polar bear populations? Yeah, okay. So I've been right up to this point here which is called Fort Severn. It's where Manitoba, hudson's Bay and Ontario come together and there's all kind of polar bears in there. Now, my son and I, josh, when we were up there, we probably got from oh here to the picnic table from a polar bear killing us. It come charging at us, and we were with the First Nation community, the Indigenous community, there on Fort Severn, and we got charged by a polar bear. Not only that, but Ontario has huge populations of caribou and seals and walruses and all kind of stuff that people really didn't have any idea about.
Speaker 3:So I've been asked to come here today and we're going to walk out in the forest. I'm going to show you all kinds of different things and if you have questions at the time, don't be afraid to ask. I can try to answer a lot of questions. We'll talk about the trees mostly, some of the plants, some of the aspects. Now, not only that, but I also have. Does anybody know what a podcast is? Okay, I'm a podcaster.
Speaker 3:So right now we're recording a podcast that we'll see if we can use as one of the podcasts for my podcast, which is called Under the Canopy. And if you have questions, don't be afraid to ask. I'll repeat them and we're going to go out into the forest and I'm going to show you all kinds of different things that you may not have known. When you just walk through a forest you need to see a bunch of trees, but there's a lot of things that the trees tell you the age of the forest and all those kind of different things that I can give you information about. That's really kind of cool. And there's all kind of stuff in Ontario that people don't even realize that we have. Did you know? We have elk in Ontario and deer and moose and bear and all those kind of things, and you can find a lot of those right in this area, right here.
Speaker 4:But I think, yes, you have a question, sir. Did you control?
Speaker 3:the well, we set game limits. So what happens was there was hunters that go out and there's a large population of, say, use, for example, for deer, and when there's a lot of farmers around that lose a lot of crops because of deer or because there's a lot of car accidents with deer, then the province increases the number of deer that hunters are allowed to take in order to reduce the damage on the crops or the car collisions that cause, because people can die in a lot of those accidents. So we would set limits as to what the hunters can harvest and how they harvest them. Any other questions before we head out? No, so I've kind of gone through this morning. I've done a bit of a walkthrough already. I've kind of gone through this morning. I've done a bit of a walkthrough already. I've cleaned up the trails and I've got a bunch of things to talk about that will give you some different ideas that I think are kind of cool, that you might find interesting. And, as this gentleman has a question, don't be afraid to ask questions. Okay, sound good. Okay, let's head out out. We'll start right here. Okay, now.
Speaker 3:This is the only apple tree that I found here in the forest. This apple tree right here Now it produces apples, and the way it produces apples is you got to make sure that it's pruned back, otherwise, if there's too many branches, then there's not enough nutrients to be able to stimulate the growth of apples. Ok, but most of you probably don't realize this, but the apples that are pollinated usually by what pollinates the trees Exactly. Not only do they pollinate apple trees and flowers and everything else, but they also pollinate maple trees, like this maple tree right here, and you see all the little keys, the seeds on it.
Speaker 3:Bees would pollinate those as well, but apples are very unique because the pollen from this tree cannot make apples. What they have to have is another apple tree somewhere around, either a crab apple or another apple tree, and the pollen from that tree will then pollinate this tree to produce these little apples that you see on there. That's something a little bit different. Apples, like a lot of different things, are fruits that we provide for ourselves, and it's something interesting that most people don't know. You can't use the same pollen from that tree to pollinate the tree. But let's go inside.
Speaker 4:Okay, friends, so there's one fact that you could put on your peacekeeper for your job later on tonight.
Speaker 3:Okay, these are two trees here, and these are an elm tree is this one here? And a maple tree. What do they do with maple trees? Does anybody know? Sure, yeah, they make sap out of it. They take sap from the tree you want to quit? Yeah, so what happens is when this tree gets big enough, like the maple tree in the corner there, they would put a little hole in it and they put a tap in it. It it's called, and they can take sap out of it, and that's what. Then they boil it. Yes, with the boiling, it usually gets rid of a lot of the bad bacteria, and so it takes 40 liters of sap to make one liter of maple syrup. Okay, and when we're in the forest, I'm going to show you another tree that makes syrup as well. Most people don't even know about.
Speaker 4:Okay, let's take a walk down through this way, we'll go into the other forest now, perfect, okay, all right, can I jump out the lead?
Speaker 3:Okay, we'll stop right here for a sec. Gentlemen, does anybody know what these are called? I'll wait till the other students catch up with us. Yes, cattails or bulrushes? Very good, yes, so these are cattails or bulrushes, okay, and in about two, three weeks time, they're going to produce this little brown thing that comes out of it. Okay, that's right Later on. That's the seeds for it. That's what's seeded, okay. But if you come over here with me, I'm going to show you something that's really kind of cool. Okay, see this one here. I'll wait till the other students catch up. So this is a cattail, and this here is what comes out, which will eventually turn into that brown thing that this gentleman mentioned that kind of goes flurry. However, when it comes through and it starts to break out so in about two weeks this will be it'll start to come out and it's actually something really good to eat. You can cook it like corn on the cob, you boil it and then you add butter and salt and you just eat it like corn on the cob and it's really, really tasty. Yeah, and those are something a little bit different.
Speaker 3:Now let me show you something else. You see all this here? No, it's not. See all that kind of white foamy stuff there. Okay, that's called a spittle bug, okay, and it's an insect that protects itself, requires a lot of moisture, so it spits out this foamy stuff to protect itself, and inside the middle of it you'll find a little bug. It's called a spittle bug, and that's how it protects itself from the environment when it's really dry by keeping it moist and producing all that spit to make it a spittle bug. Yeah, neat, eh, okay, now I'm just going to take you over here for a sec. Okay, if we look at the forest here, there's something called the canopy. The canopy means the top of the forest, and yes, sir, I have a canopy.
Speaker 4:It's like something that protects you from the sun right.
Speaker 3:So it's the same with the forest. The top of the forest is the canopy and if you look at a lot of the trees here, a lot of them are pretty much the same height. And there's a reason for that Because in nature, when you get strong winds or rain or snow or sleet and ice coming, what happens is the trees that get higher. They get a lot more stress on them. So the canopy remains the same for all the trees because it reduces the amount of interaction with the wind and things like that. That'll protect a lot of the forest. So we have a large canopy, but you'll see some of the trees that we get into that are quite a bit different and they're taller for reasons, reasons, but we'll talk about that when we get down the trail. Any questions? All right, let's go for a walk. Okay, stop right there. What is that?
Speaker 4:it kind of looks like a spike plant, but it's not. It's a dandelion.
Speaker 2:You don't eat those.
Speaker 3:Okay, so we have a plant right here. Okay, you can't see it. Okay, maybe we can't do. Use that one. Anybody know what kind of plant this might be Right here? Dandelion, dandelion, that's right, okay, dandelion, actually, dandelion, dandelion, that's right, okay, dandelion, actually, dandelion is a medicinal plant that indigenous peoples use for a long time for a lot of things like blood purifiers and things like that. What they use is the roots from dandelions to make medicine from. That's just one of the other plants, and there's a lot of other plants out there that we can show you. Maybe plantain is another one that has a lot of medicinal applications as well. But come on into the forest. We're going to do a talk in here, okay, well, I will explain it. Can anyone tell me what the official tree for the province of Ontario is? Maple yes, sir, maple. No, not maple. Cedar no, not cedar. Sap tree, sap tree there's not really something called a sap tree. A lot of trees produce sap. Yes, sir, pine, no, okay, one more, anyone else? Yes, pine, you are close. It's an Eastern white pine, and these are Eastern white pines right here. These are the official trees of Ontario. Okay, and they will live. Anybody have an idea how long a white pine tree will last? How old, actually? They'll go up to 450 years old. Okay, the average tree when they harvest is about 200 years. Now you see what's happened here. Somebody's taken the bark off and the bark kind of works like our skin. Okay, so what takes place is right here, in this area here, when the bark goes all the way around the tree, the goes up up on the inside of the bark and feeds all the leaves and things like that, and then in the winter time the sap will go down into the roots and store it there, and then that's how they get maple syrup is. When the conditions are right, the sap comes up from the roots up the tree. Same thing here. But when the bark is gone, then this area here, the sap can up from the roots up the tree. Same thing here. But when the bark is gone, then this area here, the sap can't go up it, so it goes around the tree. Yes, there's holes. Yes, there's holes in it because there's bugs eating in there. Okay, now some of the things you can tell is like this tree here. See how smooth this young white pine is and how rough this one is. That's because this one's much older. Okay, this is a much older tree, and the older the trees get, the more the bark gets, like this. Okay, so you can tell. And if you look, they're up past the canopy because they're now growing much higher than the canopy and these other trees are cedar trees in here. Okay, now these ones here.
Speaker 3:When the Europeans first came to North America, they used to use white pine trees as masts for the sails when they're sailing ships. So they would come and harvest these white pine trees and take them back to England a lot of times in order to be used them as masts for sailing ships. Most people didn't know that. But come on into the sitting area for a little bit. Okay, have a seat for a sec. I'm going to show you something. You stay here and I'll be right back.
Speaker 3:Okay, anybody, can anybody guess what that is? Go ahead, well, sort of Somebody over here. Well, a mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus, ok, so if you look at the mushrooms or some of the conchs or other things, if you compare it to an apple tree, a mushroom has something called mycelium, which we equate to the roots of a tree, of an apple tree, okay, and then the apple is the fruiting body, in the way a mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus, okay. And then inside the apple are the seeds and inside things like this are spores Okay, and that's how mushroom spreads through the forest and other areas is through spores. Now, this is this very special mushroom. It's called chaga, and First Nations indigenous people have been using it for thousands of years as a medicine. People use this because the dark exterior is anti-inflammatory, high in antioxidants and all sorts of things. But it takes a long, long time to grow Like that one. There is probably about 15 or 16 years old to get that big. That's how long it takes to get that big, and there's a lot of different mushrooms. I'm going to show you another one later on in the forest when we go through our walk, okay. So I'm just going to put this back so I have it for other classes and then we can continue on.
Speaker 3:Now you hear that bird singing, that bird right there. Anybody know what that bird is? Yes, that is correct, that's a cardinal. It's a male cardinal singing, and a lot of times they sing and do that to mark territory. So this is my area. Other cardinals stay out of my area and so that's how they mark a lot of territory and different birds react in different ways.
Speaker 3:Okay, come on with me, we're going to walk through the forest and see some other stuff. Okay, something here. Now, does everybody see how there's an opening in the canopy so the light can get down through? And that's the reason that these plants are growing right here is because the light can get down through the canopy. But if you look at a lot of the other parts of the forest, you'll see that the light can't get down through the canopy, so it's not able to feed the nutrients, so plants can make their own food.
Speaker 3:Can anybody tell me where the soil or the dirt comes from? What makes it? Yes, exactly. Exactly. What makes it? Yes, dead plants, exactly. So what happens is the leaves or the parts of, in this case, cedar trees. These parts here, like this, would fall to the ground, okay, and then bugs and stuff like that would eat them and then it would go through their systems and then it would make, eventually make dirt. It's kind of like composting, but it's the way it happens in nature In a lot of places. The forests are some of the key ways of producing the leaves and all that to make soil for the ground. Okay, come on down, okay.
Speaker 3:So here I want to show you something a little different. So we saw the white pine tree earlier on, but there wasn't any needles low enough to show you. But I'll show you if I can find some. The pine needles are very long needles, okay. So a lot of the pine trees you'll find have long needles.
Speaker 3:Now the spruce tree have and this is a spruce tree here. Okay, this is a spruce and this is a spruce tree here. Okay, this is a spruce and this is a spruce. If you look at the way the needles go on these stems here, you'll see that the needles go all the way around. Okay, that'll tell you it's a spruce tree. Now, this here is a fir, and if you look at the needles here, you see how they're very flat. Those flat needles will tell you that it's a fir. Okay, and this is a spruce and this is a fir. And the pine. So now you've seen a spruce fir and pine tree, and when they build houses and things like that, they use something called SPF. Anybody guess what SPF stands for? Yes, anybody guess what SPF stands for? Yes, well, okay, spf stands for spruce pine fir, s for spruce, p for pine, f for fir, and those are the type of materials they use to build a lot of houses with the two by four, the two by sixes and things like that. They come out of spf spruce, pine, fir, and that's some of the big, the number ones. Now we're by a little bit of the swampy area here.
Speaker 3:Can anybody tell me what the the real first bird of spring is in ontario? Robin? No, it's not a robin actually. No, it's not a chickadee. Yes, sir, no, it's not a blue jay. So I'll let you know. And the reason it's not a robin actually, no, it's not a chickadee. Yes, sir, no, it's not a blue jay. So I'll let you know. And the reason it's not a robin is because, okay, go ahead. Nope, not a cardinal.
Speaker 4:The first bird of spring. Oh, it's here.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I'm going to let you know. So the first bird of spring isn't a robin, because robins remember I showed you that part of Ontario way far north where the polar bears are. Robins live up there all summer long and in the wintertime they'll fly down here and stay here. Actually, the very first bird of spring in Ontario is the red-winged blackbird, because all the red-winged blackbirds will fly south. Wing blackbird because all the red wing blackbirds will fly south, and when you start to find and see red wing blackbirds, that's the first sign of spring. Okay, we can walk through.
Speaker 3:What I wanted to show you here is these large trees right here, these ones right here. These are poplar or aspen trees. Okay, poplar is a family and everybody calls them poplar. It's actually an aspen tree and these are matured out. You see all the dead branches up there. That means that this tree's life is coming to its end. It's almost. It's matured out now and when forest companies go through, they would harvest a lot of trees like this to use it for.
Speaker 3:Does anybody know what they use? Poplar for sure, no, they don't use it. That's spf. They use a lot of poplar, well, actually a lot of the new. You know the. The knives, forks and spoons that they use those are actually made out a lot of poplar as well. Yeah, the new metal of the new. You know, the knives, forks and spoons that they use, those are actually made out of a lot of poplar as well. Yeah, the new wood spoons.
Speaker 3:Okay, now this here. Actually, they make a lot of paper with it. So the paper companies in Ontario harvest a lot of poplar to make paper with it, but the other companies will also use birch as well, so they are called pulp and paper. So they use a lot of poplar to make paper with it. Now we got a birch just up to it, and I'll talk about that in a sec as well. Okay, let's go up just a little bit farther. So here's some birch trees here. Now some companies actually use birch in their formulas to make paper with as well, but most of the paper come pulp and paper comes from poplar. But something else that I mentioned to you remember I mentioned another tree that produces a sap that they make syrup out of.
Speaker 4:They actually the way you use cedar.
Speaker 3:No, they use birch trees. Birch will produce a sap as well. It runs later than maple. So your maple trees start to, the conditions are right, and the sap will go up from the tree and they tap it and they extract it and then they boil it down, as one gentleman mentioned. But they also use birch trees to do the exact same, and birch trees though with. It was 40 to 140 liters of maple sap to make one liter of maple syrup. It takes 80 liters of birch sap to make one liter of birch syrup, and that's just because of the sugar. Contents in the trees are very much different, so it's a lot more boiling. Ok, let's go through here.
Speaker 2:Hi everybody, I'm Angelo Viola. And I'm Pete. Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's. Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right.
Speaker 6:Every Thursday, Ange and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio.
Speaker 5:Hmm, now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 1:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 6:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
Speaker 6:We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing.
Speaker 5:To scientists. But now that we're reforesting and letting things breathe.
Speaker 1:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 6:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 2:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.
Speaker 3:Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness. Okay, we've got Rob from Hamilton here, who's had some success with the Chaga cream. Rob, can you tell us about it?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I've used it on blemishes, cuts, just basically all around healing Anything kind of blemish. It speeds it up really quick. Great Speeds the healing process up really well. It leaves no marks and doesn't stain.
Speaker 3:It smells okay, thanks, rob, appreciate that. You're welcome. We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, chagahealthandwellnesscom, place a few items in the cart and check out with the code CANOPY C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening Back to the episode.
Speaker 3:Everybody see this weed here. We call Right in through. Here is all plantain. Okay, actually, plantain is another medicinal plant that's used for a lot of different reasons and you can use it, make a poultice, which is kind of you kind of scrunch it up and get it all wet and then you'll put it on things and it helps with taking away the itch of poison, ivy and things like that. But plantain is another medicinal plant that people use. Now we're going to cross the road and go down the other part of the trail, because I want to show you one thing on one of the trees in the other trail, okay, okay, okay, here's a birch tree here. Okay, and, as one gentleman pointed out, here there's something growing on it.
Speaker 4:Yes, Whoa, look at that.
Speaker 3:Right, well, it's a mushroom. Okay, and you see the one up there.
Speaker 4:That one's called birch polypore. Now't know this. Yes, you have a question.
Speaker 3:Yes, they used to use birch bark as paper, but they also used to use it for a lot of different things they actually make. In russia they make insect repellent out of it from the birch bark. So they'll steam it and it produces a black material that chases bugs away. But what happens in a tree's life? When a tree starts to get sick, its immune system breaks down, and then you can tell when a tree is old or it's sick. It's because it'll start to produce. It allows mushrooms to grow or produce or fungi to get in it.
Speaker 3:Now the birch polypore that one up there actually has quite a bit of history. There was a person who was a hunter 6,000 years ago in the Austrian and Italian Alps, who fell into an ice, into a crevice in a glacier and was perfectly frozen for 6,000 years. And in that person's pouch they had a pouch where they carried things actually was birch polypore that they used as medicine. And they believe actually the person was so well preserved that they looked, it appeared that they had Lyme disease and they were using the birch polypore to help with the Lyme disease. Now the other ones this is another birch polypore, and over here, this one, here is another different type of called mushroom. This one's called hoof conch.
Speaker 3:Okay, and the hoof conch is another mushroom, and actually I've never tried it, although I have relatives who tell me they've used it. What they do is they take it and then they smolder it and it'll chase bugs, black flies and mosquitoes away. So people use a lot of that stuff as a mosquito repellent, just from the smoke that comes from it. So that's how you can tell a tree is mature. It's immune. Compromised is because you'll start to see a lot of mushrooms growing out of it. Now, the chaga I showed you earlier grows on birch trees as well, or at least we only harvest off birch, because that's where all the medicinal studies are. Yes, you have a question. Yeah, so there's a bunch of holes in the tree as well, and the holes would be insects that birds and things like that are trying to get out of there as well. Okay, you have a question. Sure, kay, you have a question.
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 3:Well, that's some of the reasons that different trees have different strengths, and birch is not one of the strong trees and so when a branch breaks or when another tree comes and scores the tree like breaks the bark, then that allows like fungus or spores to get in and start to break down the tree. Like breaks the bark, then that allows like fungus or spores to get in and start to break down the tree. Strong, healthy trees can fight them off and their immune system in the same fashion that we have our immune system and helps us. Now we're going to head back down and show you some things along the Definitely not.
Speaker 3:Nope, Okay, this plant right here. And there's another one, right, oh, just back a little farther. This one's called mullein. Okay, Now, mullein is another medicinal plant that they used to use because for chest infections people who get a lot of infections in their chest they use the leaves from mullein to make a tea out of it. What they do is they take the leaves, they dry the leaves and when they're dried, then they'll crunch them up and they'll make them into a tea and then they would drink the tea to help, because it helps clear a lot of lung issues out. So that's mullein. Now we're going to go down a little farther and I'll show you some others. Okay, anybody tell me what this plant is. Yes, it has a lot of prickles on it. This one's a milk thistle Okay, a milk thistle. Okay, and milk thistle is another medicinal plant that people use to help cleanse their liver and kidneys out. Okay, and that's a protective thing to keep things away from it, and they would use this plant for a lot of liver issues that people have.
Speaker 4:Yep, why does it hurt when you touch them?
Speaker 3:Well, that's the way it protects itself to keep people away from it, and there's things like poison, ivy, that the juice from it causes a lot of irritation as well. So plants protect themselves in different ways and this is one of the ways to do it. Okay, I'll show you another plant here. What does that plant look like? Can anybody kind of guess? No, yes, well, no, anybody guess? Okay, this plant is called horsetail. Okay, and this plant is used as a medicinal plant as well. With people who have bone problems, osteoporosis and things like that, what they use is this plant to make a tea from, or they they'll actually even make a bath from it and use horsetail as something to help people with bone issues. So, as you people grow up back oh, maybe even 100 years ago they would use horsetail when your growth plates are causing all kinds of problems, to ease a lot of that, the joint problems that people get while you're growing up older, when you're getting older. So this is horsetail, another medicinal plant, and we're going to head back through now. Okay, see these young trees here, these ones here. These are young poplar trees, and actually the beaver. It's one of their favorite foods. The beaver likes to consume a lot of young poplar. So you'll find large beaver concentrations in areas where a lot of poplar trees trees around, because it's enough food to allow their families to expand and continue to grow. So beavers consume a lot of the poplar as one of their favorite foods. So I had a a lot of people ask me questions about those red things in the trees that are over there. Those trees are actually called sumac, okay, and sumac. In end of August and into September. Those are actually very, very tasty to eat. Does anybody know what sweet tarts are? Do you know what sweet tarts are? Everybody know what sweet tarts are? No, yeah, it's a candy that's very kind of sharp and tart and actually the sumac tastes like sweet tarts, is it? Yes, and very high in vitamin C, and it's very popular all over the place. It's used as an ornamental plant. These are female ones here that have the fruiting body, which is those seeds. Yes, so I can go over there and take a bite out of it. Not right now, this time of the year they lose their flavor, but in August and September, when the new ones come out, they will have a very, very sharp taste. And if we were to do this in the fall, I would let everybody try it, but you don't try it if you have allergies to pistachio. It's a nut, yeah, because it's the same family and people who have nut allergies shouldn't have those. Okay, this here is a hawthorn tree, okay, and they have these really sharp needles in them as well, and they have these really sharp needles in them as well. Now, hawthorn is another medicinal tree that people with heart conditions or blood pressure or heart issues would use the berries and the leaves from this to make teas with for the hawthorn, and this is a hawthorn tree.
Speaker 3:Now, some of the things with the forest that we're in. If you look at the amount of trees that are in here, as this forest grows, a lot of these trees will they compete with each other and the weaker ones will die off and the stronger ones will continue to grow and get much larger. Now, when a tree if you look at the rings of a tree, that's how you tell how old the tree is. Tree. If you look at the rings of a tree, that's how you tell how old the tree is. So, when the tree is cut down, like those ones that are lying there, if we look at the end of it. You'll see all these rings on it. Those are growth rings and every year they get a new growth ring and you can tell when the tree has a lot of stress on it. It's like, oh, I'm in, okay, stress on a tree, it's a very tight growth ring. And when there's no stress on the tree, then it's a very wide growth ring. So you can tell when it's a lot of trees and actually, when trees start to touch other trees and the leaves and that and the branches touch other trees, it causes a lot of stress on the trees and then it'll produce tighter growth rings. And that's what happens to those trees yes, lot of stress on the trees, and then it'll put produce tighter growth rings. Yes, and these ones here will be it's called, it'll be, uh, self-thinning. So a lot of the ones like this one right here has died off. A lot of these ones will die off and slowly it'll fall to the ground.
Speaker 3:Now can anybody tell me what you use cedar for? What's that? Well, a lot of the wood can be used as fires and what happens is now you see the way these branches are laying down right here. Okay, that indicates that something kind of came through like a blow down and move, move those branches that way, but cedar a lot of them. They'll build log homes out of it or they'll build decks out of it, because it's very weather resistant, okay, and they make docks out of it and things like that, because cedar is very good for those purposes. Other questions? No, okay, we can go and continue on and walk a little farther, okay, okay.
Speaker 3:So some of the other things that when you're in the forest and when you take a walk in the forest, a lot of times you'll find that fox and raccoons will actually follow your scent trail, because when we're walking through the forest, we're leaving a scent trail and they will follow you to find out did they throw any food out? Did they find anything? And I know a lot of times when you find little bird's nests on the ground, if you go back there, it's not going to be there, because a fox or a raccoon will have followed your tracks, found that nest and consumed the eggs. This is the way nature is Now when we walk through the forest. A lot of people don't know this, but there's something called when we talk about the mushrooms, there's mushroom relationships or fungus relationships that the trees actually communicate with each other. Okay, it's called a mycorrhizal relationship, and what happens is it's connecting and it connects all these trees. So when, for example, something starts to happen or a bug starts to eat some of the trees, some of the communication goes through and those other trees start to release components that deter those bugs from eating those trees, and you'll find that that takes place with a lot of plants as well, and there's been quite a few studies.
Speaker 3:More and more this is something new that's taking place in finding out more research about how they interconnect with each other. Not only that, but things they're calling mother trees, like this pine tree here. Its root system will have these arbuscular mycosal relationships with other trees and it can send nutrients to other trees to make sure that they continue to grow as well. So there's relationships in the ground, and actually one of the books that I was given on Saturday talked about quite a bit about that. So it's called the Secret Language of Trees and how they talk to each other and how they communicate to each other and how they send information to other trees in the ground. So those are some of the things that we don't even know. So when we take a step are some of the things that we don't even know. So when we take a step, actually the ground is the mycosal or the mushroom kind of fungus in the ground, lets it know that we're walking through and sends messages to others as well. It's kind of. There's some research out there and I can show you some of the videos that your teachers can look at that you find very, very interesting.
Speaker 3:Now, one of the last trees that we have here, this tree here is called an ironwood tree and the reason it's called an ironwood tree is because it's so dense. It's almost as strong as iron, okay, and a lot of them. You can tell kind of looks a bit different, but ironwood is a very dense tree that they use and it's actually one of the. You can tell kind of looks a bit different, but ironwood is a very dense tree and it's actually one of the. For people that mentioned fires, there's something called BTUs, which is British Thermal Units of Energy, and ironwood is one of the highest BTUs producing trees. So when you have fires in a fireplace or a wood stove, that's one of the woods that last a long time and provide a lot of heat, but very, very dense tree and very slow growing. Okay, any other questions we have?
Speaker 4:okay, I have a question for you today. Why do you think we have jerry and today to talk about all these features in our forest? Why do you think that we've asked them to come today Kind of explain some of these to you? Friendly, one is because we're learning about plants, absolutely, and soils We've talked a lot about that in grade three, quinn To care for nature, to care for the nature right. It goes back to what we talked about with Melody Crowe yesterday Our forest. Some friends haven't been so kind to it. That's why all of our branches are breaking and things. So we're hoping that you guys, the grade threes, can kind of be our stewards and help make our forest a little bit more healthy again by respecting it, so doing things like not climbing on the trees or breaking the branches. Yeah, what's your question, carly? What is the difference? Like when I got poison ivy, we looked at the difference between, like poison oak and sumac, poison sumac and poison ivy. But how do they all do different glasses, but they're all poison.
Speaker 3:Well, okay, so some of those ones, like for, poison sumac, is different than the sumac that we looked at. Poison sumac is white berries and found in swampy areas where the sumac we looked at that which is called staghorn sumac. Those are the ones that are good to eat, but poison ivy it's the juice inside it that gives off, that causes a reaction, and you can use things like jewelweed or the plantain or some of the other things to counteract some of that, those reactions, so you'll get rashes from it as a way. Now there's actually some plants called stinging nettle out there, which is another medicinal plant, but stinging nettle it's. It feels like a bee sting when you touch it, and it's the same with ants. If you get bit by an ant, there's something called formic acid in there that causes that reaction with it, and some of these things like that are some of the ways that the plants protect themselves against being eaten by deer all kinds of different things that consume plants, being eaten by deer, all kinds of different things that consume plants. So it's just a protective way that the plants protect themselves.
Speaker 3:Okay, yes, you have a question. That one there. We talked about it earlier. That's the official tree of Ontario. That's an eastern white pine, and remember the bark, because it's not a lot of smooth bark you can tell it's an older tree and that tree will live up to about 450 years old. Well, it's hard to tell because there could be a lot of factors, so it's probably, I would say, at least a hundred years old. Yeah, a long time, long time to go to go.
Speaker 3:Yes, you have a question. Well, I don't know is that some of them can't? So the question was how come some plants can be used as medicine, some can't? It might just be that there are other and they haven't found the medicine that it's used for yet. So, some of the plants that are out there there's lots of plants out there and there's all kind of them. We only spoke about a few of the ones that I know and what they're used for, but a lot of the other plants that are out there can probably still be used for a lot of medicines as well.
Speaker 4:Okay, my friends. What do we say? We're a big fan of you.
Speaker 6:What brings people together more than fishing and hunting? How about food? I'm Chef Antonio Muleka, and I have spent years catering to the stars. Now, on Outdoor Journal Radio's Eat Wild podcast, luis Hookset and I are bringing our expertise and Rolodex to our real passion the outdoors.
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