We often come up with mind games to pass time with our grandkids on extended road trips, and being the Christmas season, we recently played a guessing game that involved plants and animals associated with Christmas. It was interesting enough that I decided to share the list and researched how certain plants and animals became synonymous with Christmas.

Christmas Tree: Germany is credited with starting the tradition of Christmas trees as we know it back in the 16th century but using evergreens for winter decorating goes back to early Roman times. Initially, trees were decorated with edible ornaments such as apples, nuts, and other foodstuffs. Candles were later used to mimic stars on a moonless night, which later went electric. It might interest you to know that in a survey taken in 2004 concerning favorite smells, real Christmas trees in the house came in 8th place.
Holly: the bright red berries and green foliage during the drab winter months helped holly become a colorful decorating tradition.

By Steve Roark

Winter browse is a wildlife term that refers to food in the form of woody twigs and buds found on trees, shrubs and vines. Since more nutritious and palatable food is available during the growing season, browse is usually only consumed during the leaner winter months, which makes it very important in maintaining a population of wildlife. Animals that utilize browse in our area include deer, elk, beaver, rabbit, mice and many others.

For many years we have had to endure a home invasion of ladybugs that are determined to make themselves bothersome houseguests. They are beneficial creatures, feeding on other bugs that damage farm crops, but indoors they drive you nuts buzzing around lights, dive bombing into drinks, and smelling bad.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

White-tailed deer are widespread in our area and can be often seen along wooded edges or making a mad dash across the road. Even if you don’t see them, there are signs to look for when hiking in the woods that show their presence.

By Steve Roark
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Volunteer

After the thrill of autumn coloration is gone, those who have yard trees must deal with the bushels of leaves when they fall off. An acre of trees in a forest can produce over two tons of leaves each year, and I think my yard trees can beat that estimate.

Trees and spookiness kind of go hand in hand, and you won’t have to try hard to think of movies with a scene of a terrified person walking alone among trees with branches swaying in the wind like arms with long grasping fingers. Scary looking trees show up a lot in artwork, especially clip art caricatures that often give a gruesome face to the tree. I got to looking at these scary tree silhouettes and scratching my head, because they looked familiar. Then it hit me….. they all in profile look like a black walnut, a common local tree that produces very tasty nuts that are dropping from the branches as we speak.

With a nod to the season of Halloween, I’ll share a tale about something that has creeped people out for centuries. A superstition that came across with settlers from Europe and established itself here in the eastern U.S. It involves death and a bug.

Back in the day people did not die in hospitals, but in their own beds, and it became a tradition to watch over the dying until their end, and this became known as a death watch or vigil. During this time the house was kept very quiet, with limited activity and conversations held in a whisper. With the house this still, a tapping sound could often be heard that seemed to come from all over the house and occurred often enough that the sound became synonymous with impending death, and superstitions arose as a result. One thought was that the tapping sound was the grim reaper tapping his bony fingers impatiently waiting for the loved one to die. Another was that it was the sound of time ticking off the dying person’s last moments. Records of the phenomena date back to the 17th century, so it was a spooky occurrence that’s been around a while.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer Interpreter, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Fall coloration of trees in our area is a much looked for event. The presence of vast forests having brilliant fall foliage is more unusual than you think, as the only other places in the world with a similar abundance of foliage colorations are northern China, Korea, and Japan. A common question this time of year is: will the colors be good or not? The answer is meteorological.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

The most common forest type we have in our area is called Oak-Hickory, meaning those two trees are commonly found in the forest mix. There are several species of both hickory and oak, and one of the easier oaks to find and identify in the woods is Chestnut oak.

With autumn comes the nostalgia of the apple harvest, a fruit whose history goes back a long way. Legend and art have made the Tree of Knowledge that led to the downfall of Adam and Eve an apple, but the Bible only refers to a fruit. What follows is more apple knowledge of this famous fruit than you probably care to know.