HOOK

elight in for- aging wild Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms in the Hud- son Valley. Where na- ture is wild is always the best and healthiest. Mushroom enthusiast, Victor Gelman's (HooK 2023 spring) makes it a family affair with his wife and three children in their enjoy- ment of nature. Plan to forage safely by taking a local foraging workshop.Website for wild mush- room foraging: newyorkmyc.org. (use cau0on as Parks and the deC s0ll use pes0cides). D Studies in Scotland show that the ear- lier balance of nature—both wolves and red deer— was necessary for the ancient forests. The wolves in effect kept the deer out of the woodlands, but deer were free to feed on the nat- ural grasslands. Colorado's 1990's reintroduc5on of the wolf into Yellow- stone has been successful to rebal- ance the overgrazing of elk. As the original balance of nature has been restored, forests and forest plants are regrowing, providing homes for birds and smaller mammals. Similiarly, we should be wary of mass poisonings of the very ground in our own parklands—the prac5ce of elimi- na5ng insects, crawling species, and so on— is upse7ng the balance of nature too. Nature has infinite intelli- gence — man may not comprehend, but can gain growing awareness of the balance and intricacies of nature. The forest needs the en5re balance of plants, animals, insects, water, and air to keep it alive. Once animals leave we are le& with more 5cks and mos- quitoes… and they are even spraying those, so what will be le&. HOOK 2023. Photo HEALTHY YARDS, healthyyards.org zx- cvzx- ccv The Lungs for humanS & Our Eco-System HOOK 2018 "that it is a dark and cold world we sit in if we will not open the inward eyes of the spirit to the inward flame of nature." Fechner Wetlands HOOK 61

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