The Beauty of a Bog!

  So many folks take things for granted.  "If it is in a store, we will always have it!" is the understanding of a lot of misguided people.  Buy, buy, buy!  Yep, it matters not where the thing originated...just buy!  We have got to have it!  Take, for example, all of those lovely garden helps that we just NEED!  Even things as lowly as peat moss.  Yep, peat moss actually did originate somewhere besides that plastic bag sitting on the shelf in the garden center.  Somewhere, that moss started out in a lovely bog as a living plant.  Once it is in that bag, it has been harvested, killed, sprayed (with who knows what?) and bound into bales.  It sits there waiting for someone to snatch it up and use as a wonder nutrient for their gardens.  I know.  I use it, too.  It is good stuff.  But...

  If you have ever had the inclination to take a hike back in some wooded area where there is a creek or even a boggy area, you might see the loveliness of peat moss before it is peat moss.  Sphagnum moss is a most interesting plant if you do not mind getting your spiffy shoes a bit muddy.  It is different than other mosses as it has branch clusters that sit up like leaves.  Sometimes the mounds look a lot like a soft, mushy pillow! (At least to me!  Not that I recommend taking a snooze in a peat bog but the stuff is rather soft and cushiony.  A bog might also be home to a few snakes and a bunch of bugs that might make your nap a bit uncomfortable!)

  Elizabeth and I were tromping through the woods the other day when we came to a creek bed.  As with any place that was relatively untouched, branches and logs crisscrossed the creek like a network of little bridges.  Under those "bridges" was an acre or so of the prettiest sphagnum moss.  The sun filtered through the canopy above dappling the moss with its rays.  I was down on my knees photographing the green layer.  When she queried my actions, I excitedly told her that it was sphagnum!  Peat Moss!  Her eyes lit up as well.  She is just about as bad as her mom when it comes to finds like this.  We decided right then and there that this peat bog should be protected.  No, bulldozers or tractors will ever plow through our bog if we can help it!  Why can't others see how important it is to leave some places just to Mother Nature?