Walking the Walk (continued)

I started out in Springport, Michigan at 7:35 this morning.  Mrs ERJ dropped me off.

Mrs ERJ dropped me off in the parking lot of this church.  They clearly take John 21:15-17 to heart.  Notice the round bales on the right side of the picture.

Even the Amish are getting into the World Cup.  I don't know if anybody told them the US got knocked out of the competition.  It is not like they watch TV.

I made a bit of a game to see how many edible plants I saw along the way.  This is salsify, aka, oyster root.  I did not harvest any.

Lambsquarters (Chenopodium sp.)  I did nibble on some of this.

Some Jackson County (Michigan) corn.  Chin high.  My walk nipped the corners of Jackson and Calhoun Counties and through a chunk of southeastern Eaton County.

Feral Sweet Cherries.  They were OK.  I also ate some mulberries.  I did not encounter any trees bearing fruit with earthshaking quality.  I still sample.  It costs me nothing and is entertaining.

Daylilies (Hemerocallis)  You munch on the long green-bean looking buds.  Fear not, the common, orange daylily of ditch and meadow is a sterile triploid.  It bears no seeds and your munching will have zero effect on the population.  These are quite good and would be sold commercially if they had any kind of shelf life.

Many hazelnut bushes spotted along the walk.

This looks like a down year for hazelnut production.  You can see a cluster of nuts just a freckle above dead-center oft his photo.

Here is a close-up to show what a single nutlet on a hazelnut looks like in Michigan in early July.

Thriving livestock enterprises used to be scattered all across the mid-West.  Consolidation in the slaughterhouse industry made these farm unviable and the families found themselves with stranded assets.  This barn is a beautiful building. It is empty.

Yup.  He planted corn down the length of his driveway.  I don't know if he will make back the cost of his seed.

Still works.

Typical Southern Michigan farm pond.

It took five hours and four minutes to walk the 14 miles.  I dilly-dallied about and took a few pictures and ate a few berries along the way.  I drank less than a half liter of water per hour at the start but a bit more at the end when it was warmer.  The camera works OK. 

The bottom line is that a +50 year old guy who is forty pounds overweight can walk 12 miles in less than five hours....at a cost of some sore feet and some fantasies regarding cold beverages.