Water Closet for October 24, 2014

The morning after a good rain the Council on Aging/Conservation Commission Friday morning hikers rendezvoused at Mortalo [pullquote]”Thank you trees for your leaves.  Thank you wind and rain for spreading them on the ground.  Our yards have never looked so nice or sounded so crispy and crunchy underfoot.  Don’t rake or noisily blow this gift fertilizer away.”[/pullquote]Landing on the Ipswich River and then  proceeded east southeast on the old Essex Railway bed.  The maple and hickory foliage show was at its peak and best viewed from the fields flanking Gregory Street where in the late 19^th and early 20^th century J.J.H.Gregory and Son raised plants for seeds to sell.  After Gregory, Danvers State Hospital patients and their supervisors farmed the fields.  Now Richardson Farm grows fine alfalfa and corn there for its cows.  The animals foraging there this fall have been Canada geese looking for corn debris left by the harvesters.  The geese visit Richardson Farm fields around town daily and return each night to sleep on Middleton Pond.  People living below lines of flight hear their pleasant choruses going and coming.  On crossing a field of wet alfalfa we came across four browsing turkeys in fine fall plumage.

Animals however were not the main attraction.  The trees circling the lovely fields were.

Trees in October finery beyond a sunlit field – Judy Schneider photo

Changing leaves ranged in glowing colors from dark red to bright yellow and all mixes and shades in between.*  Most oaks were still green.  Residual clouds from the storm that left three-quarters inch of rain drifted northeast and the sun was soon upon us reflecting off damp leaves.  Light jackets were removed.  It was another Indian summer-like October day as walkers with soaking feet descended slowly from the rail bed and turned west-southwest across the large field.  All was right with the world if we ignored Hogan Regional Center visible to the south across the field where in dim TV lit rooms very sick people suffer.  Condos on Hathorne Hill rising above the scene to the east have largely replaced Dr. Kirkbride’s famous Danvers State Lunatic Asylum.  The hill, a classic drumlin, is largely covered with mature trees on its slopes.  The sugar maples on the hill and throughout our area were in fine fall dress.  In a week we’ll look out for the more somber but richer browns, purples and deep maroons of the oaks.  We are always at a loss even after hearing what the botanists have to say when trying to explain the colors.  Why are trees of the same species side by side different colors?  The glib easy answer is “genetics”.  Day length, temperature, moisture, genetics, soil chemistry, wind, frost, sunlight are all involved in our leaf color shows.  We in the Closet yearly discuss the causes; explanations we’ve read are not very convincing.  Most folks don’t try to name all the fall colors; they just murmur “wow” or say nothing with smiling eyes.  Friday’s hikers agreed that this year’s show so far has been outstanding.

Field framed in fall colors off Gregory Street, Middleton, where Danvers State Hospital patients, we like to think, once worked away their blues – Judy Schneider photo

Back again across Gregory Street we continued southwest toward the river.  Our path was a shaded alley with 10-foot high corn to our right and mature trees down-slope to our left.  The corn crops in the area this year have truly been “bumpers.”  Almost every seed planted sprouted and then grew to full height with two heavy ears per stalk.  We hadn’t yet had a frost so the corn was still August green.  Seven inches of rain in July at just the right time might account for this year’s crop and the many still green trees.  In another month the oak change season will be waning and starker colder times will provide some calming from an almost too showy time.   Water in the form of snow will cover the ground around bare deciduous bushes and trees.  The white pines will provide dark blue-green for color and after storms the winter skies will be clear blue.  In forests our distance visibility will increase tenfold.  The winter woods will be all shades of gray and browns above the snow.  Not really, can you see our words for colors just don’t work?  After storms, frosted trunks, branches, and twigs will sparkle in the morning sun.  Many cold challenged folks will flee south; we winter lovers teasingly call them “wimps”.  Traffic on the roads here may slack off a bit.

Later when even the hardy tire some of snow and slush, the returning birds and buds will provide color.  Those of buds and tiny leaves, unlike in fall, will be subdued and from a distance be seen as painters’ washes on our hills.  The tanned Snowbirds may return about the time of the male red-winged blackbirds.  By late spring most plants will be green again. May, June and early July are the tree growing months.  How good the seasons are.  We could not stand the stimulation of Yankee Autumns for long.  Here there is always something to look forward to.

Thank you trees for your leaves.  Thank you wind and rain for spreading them on the ground.  Our yards have never looked so nice or sounded so crispy and crunchy underfoot.  Don’t rake or noisily blow this gift fertilizer away.

* The major plant pigments are green chlorophylls, yellow carotenes, red anthocyanins, and brown tannin.  Get out your paint set, mix these pigments in various combinations and see how many colors you can get.  Carotenes in the leaf cells all summer are masked by the chlorophylls.  When the chlorophylls break down the carotenes become apparent.  The anthocyanins form in the fall under certain conditions.  Upon cell death tannin is made.  Released from rotting fallen leaves soluble tannin turns our stream waters light brown.

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WATER RESOURCE AND CONSERVATION INFORMATION

FOR MIDDLETON, BOXFORD AND TOPSFIELD

Ipswich R. Flow Rate(S. Middleton USGS Gage) in Cubic Feet/ Second (CFS):

For Oct. 21, 2014   Normal . . . 12 CFS                       Current Rate  . . . Unavailable

*Danvers Water Filtration Plant, Lake Street, Middleton is the source for actual precipitation data thru Sept.

**Middleton Stream Team is source of actual precipitation data for Oct.

Normalsdata is from the National Climatic Data Center.

THE WATER CLOSET is provided by the Middleton Stream Team: www.middletonstreamteam.org or <MSTMiddletonMA@gmail.com> or (978) 777-4584