And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for July 8, 2026, the twenty-seventh Wednesday of the year, the third Wednesday of summer, the second Wednesday of July, and the one-hundred eighty-ninth day of the year, with one-hundred seventy-six days remaining. Wannaska Phenology Update for July 8, 2026 Blue Cohosh Caulophyllum thalictroides — bezhigojiibik, in Anishinaabe — is a species of flowering plant in the Berberidaceae (barberry) family, now sprouting green berries in Wannaskaland. A medium-tall perennial with blue berry-like mature fruits and bluish-green foliage, the common name cohosh is probably from an Algonquian word meaning "rough". The Greek-derived genus name Caulophyllum signifies "stem-leaf", while the specific name thalictroides references the similarity between the large highly divided, multiple-compound leaves of meadow-rues and those of blue cohosh. Indigenous peoples traditions centered around the use of blue cohosh by tribal mid...
While driving my usual 2000 mile summer trip I started to notice something. It seems like every farm that we passed, and we passed a lot of them, has a slew of old, broken down farm machinery tucked away. Some of them are right in the yard, others are out in the middle of a field, and some are scattered in forested areas. I assume that the machinery is left where it either becomes unusable or breaks down. That is just one theory of how these relics end up all over the farm. Another postulation is that they are decorations. It is like the whole farm is a giant evergreen tree and each piece of slowly rusting machinery is a piece of garland or tinsel. I do remember my Aunt and Uncle holding onto different pieces of machinery to use for spare parts. This had a double benefit. When you took off a piece of a parts unit you learned a little mare about how it worked and (hopefully) how to put it back together. And it was much cheaper t...