Book: Gathering Moss - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Wild Green Memes for Ecological Fiends is a Facebook group I’m a big fan of “with a focus on humorous wildlife and pro-conservation content.” A while back someone asked for book recommendations on #nonmemesunday, which was how I came across the moss book.

It is a gentle book about the power of tiny things, big things, and people. It made me curious and more observant of things up close.

A few chapters in, we went in search of a loupe. Eventually finding one in SoLow, a store that sold everything and nothing. It was a little before Halloween, so my memory of the experience is marked with periodic cackle from the skeleton greeting new customers.

It’s been really fun pausing and looking at moss during walks. Noticing different types of lichen on the same blop of fence. Making the discovery that random bits of moss on the stairs leading down to the bike storage is likely thrown there by jackdaws doing their morning foraging.

Two things:

p.83

I’m told that the Chinese character for catastrophe is the same as that which represents the word opportunity.

This is probably referring to 危機, see this wikipedia article<.

p.146

The indigestible fiber of mosses has been reported from a surprising location—the anal plug of hibernating bears. Apparently, just before entering the winter den, bears may eat a large quantity of moss, which so binds up their digestive system that it blocks defecation through long winter sleep.

Also known as fecal plug, the North American Bear Center has an article on it (they managed to snag bear.org :o). I also did some digging and found this book: Bears of the North: A Year Inside Their Worlds (links to bit about bears’ first spring poop).

Books I would like to read this year, may or may not be related to the moss book: