Under the Canopy

Episode 148: A Forest Classroom For Curious Kids

• Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network • Episode 148

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A kid points at a tree and says, “What is that?” and suddenly you’re talking about pollination, fungi, water, carbon, and how a forest quietly runs like a living system. We head to Millbrook Elementary School for a hands-on walk with grade three classes, turning a simple outdoor classroom tour into a practical lesson in forest ecology and Ontario nature.

We start with trees you can name right away and the surprising details most people miss: why many apple trees need pollen from a different apple variety, how bees and wind move pollen, and why corn is planted the way it is. From there we get into syrup season science, including the real sap-to-syrup ratios for maple and birch, and how those numbers connect to effort, price, and what it means to harvest responsibly.

The forest floor opens up bigger conversations. We touch on acid rain and Sudbury’s history, why limestone can help neutralise acidic lakes, and how environmental damage shows up in rocks, water, and wildlife. Then we explore everyday plants with real uses, including dandelion, plantain, stinging nettle, cattails, and sumac. That naturally leads to mushrooms, chaga on birch, what mycelium is, and the “secret language of trees” idea of underground fungal networks connecting plants.

We also talk practical outdoor tools and observations, from bird ID apps to why stormwater ponds use fountains to reduce mosquito breeding, plus what woodpeckers are really doing when they hammer on trees and even houses. If you care about outdoor education, nature literacy, conservation, foraging awareness, and the science of forest health, this is a rich listen that stays clear and grounded.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next walk under the canopy, and if this helped you see the woods differently, share it with a friend and leave a review. What’s one “common” plant or tree you want to understand better?

Network Open And Fishing Intros

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Back in 2016, Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.

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Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.

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Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.

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Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.

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The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing, it's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie, and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together. Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures.

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Tight lines, everyone.

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Find UglyPike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

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As

Jerry’s Chaga Story And Mission

SPEAKER_01

the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear. But they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Oulette, and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as Chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest, use testimonials, and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession. And I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully, we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy.

Grade Three Forest Walk Begins

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so this morning we're doing a classroom tour and walk through the uh forest that they have here in Millbrook at the Millbrook Elementary School with uh grade three classes. And Ms. Johnson is the teacher, and I want to thank her for giving me the opportunity to be out with the students and answer as many questions as I can, but some of them uh well with kids they want to know everything, you know. I don't have it all, but before we get to that, I want to thank all our listeners as usual in Canada, around the world. And if anybody has any questions or comments, don't be afraid to reach out to us. As always, we try to do what we can. Now I had one question that was being asked of me regarding the tea, the chag of tea, and using boiling water or not. Vitality magazine, and I think it was 2016, 2018, came out with a article on on that with a doctor that did research, and it said, try not to take it above 140 degrees Fahrenheit when you're using your water for it because it might destroy some of the benefits. However, as I've mentioned with Chaga before, I've got over a thousand studies worldwide, and a significant number of those studies all use boiling water to extract the material out of the Chagas for its testing. So it's hard to say it's six of one half a dozen of another, whether it's actually having a negative impact or not. And as always, if uh people come and show up on the Tuesday market in Halliburton or the Thursday market in Lindsay at Wilson Fields and mention Gunner's name, my chocolate lab, who likes to get his teeth brushed and is actually a pretty good dog, um, I will give them a free package of tea once, only once. I'm not gonna do it every week, or if the same person shows up at Halliburton and then in Lindsay, that ain't gonna happen because uh I'll do what I can. But uh, anyways, if people show up and mention Gunner's name, I'll be more than happy to. But we're going into the class and we're gonna talk to the students, and we're gonna go out into the forest one and forest two and talk about a whole bunch of different things. Okay,

Pollination And Syrup Ratios Explained

SPEAKER_01

we're just heading out to Millbrook School again, this time with Mrs. Jimiti in her class. So the reason we stopped here is because we talk a little bit about trees and I'll talk about things like that. So, does anybody know what kind of tree this one is right here?

SPEAKER_07

Apple tree.

SPEAKER_01

That's correct. What was your name? Charlotte. Charlotte, that's an apple tree, correct. And so apple trees produce apples, obviously. But did you know, and what what pollinates the flowers to make the apples? Yes. A bee. A bee, correct. That's one of the things, but there are other things that'll pollinate as well. You can even get wind pollination with certain things, and things like corn, uh, maybe. Uh corn, you know that they plant corn in squares rather than like two long rows, they plant it in a square because a lot of corn is wind pollinated. So when it's in a square, it'll pollinate everything inside. But probably what you didn't know was that apples, the pollen from this tree, can't pollinate the flowers on that tree. You have to have a different apple tree, a different type of apple tree, pollen to pollinate these flowers to make apples. So, bees, you need them to fly around to find other apple trees and they have the pollen on their bodies when they come and they go get the they get the nectar from the flowers here, then they pollinate it with pollen from a different type of apple tree. And it could be a crab apple tree, or I'm not sure what this is, a Macintosh, it could be a honey crisp or a gala. So the apple tree over there could be the one that's giving the pollen to to make sure that this one can produce apples. Now, the other reason I want to stop out here is the the tree right there, what kind is that? The one on the corner. Yes, sir. A maple tree. That's correct. And the tree over here, what kind is that?

unknown

Um pine tree.

SPEAKER_01

Well, no, there's what's that? Cedar. Well, there is cedar over there, but I'm not pointing to cedar, I'm actually pointing and not to the elm tree that's there. Yeah, the one right beside, or the one right here. What's the one that these people are leaning on? Um what kind is that? Exactly what I wanted to get to. So that's and this person mentioned it's a sugar maple. Well, the difference here is, see the leaves on that one? That's a red maple. This one could be a sugar maple, and the reason they call it a sugar maple is because it has a lot of a lot more sap in it. And what do they do with maple sap?

SPEAKER_09

Yes, turn it into like syrup?

SPEAKER_01

All right, and how do they make anybody know how they make syrup? Yes.

SPEAKER_09

Um, you collect it from the drink and boil it?

SPEAKER_01

Correct. So, and how much maple sap does it take to make a liter of maple syrup? Any idea? Yes, sir. Connor. Right? What's that? Do you know ratios? Are you studying ratios yet?

SPEAKER_07

We talked a bit about ratios.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so ratios is you need 40 liters of maple sap to boil down, just like this lady said, to make one liter of maple syrup. Now, did you know that there's other trees that have sap that they make syrup out of as well? Oh, you do? Well, maple tree, we talked about maple syrup, maple sap. Any others that anybody knows about? No? Well, how about birch? Oh my gosh. Birch trees have sap as well that they make birch syrup from, but the ratio there is 80 to 1. Meaning you need 80 liters of birch syrup to make boil it down, just like the lady said over here, to make one liter of birch syrup. And lately, uh, for those, anybody go to a farmer's market or see the syrup in the stores? Yes, have you seen the price of maple syrup there? Like a liter of maple syrup is like around $25 a liter. Whereas birch syrup, because it takes twice as much, is like $40 or $50 a liter for the same thing because it takes so much more to make it. Awesome.

SPEAKER_08

So I bought my grandmother's five.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, very good, and I make it as well.

SPEAKER_08

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Very good. Okay, so we're gonna go into the forest now, okay?

Acid Rain Lessons And Limestone Remedy

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so these are here. Does anybody know what these are? Rocks. Anybody know what kind of rock it is? Any guesses on what kind of rock it is? Yes, sir. Well, a boulder is the size of a rock, and it could be. Um, these look like limestone rocks, okay? And limestone is we used to have this stuff called acid rain in Ontario. Has anybody ever been to a place called Sudbury?

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, you've been to know Sudbury? Sudbury's kind of it's about four hours north of here. Okay. And Sudbury used to have one of the biggest mines in Ontario, and they used to put all this black smoke into the area, and virtually no trees at all grew. The trees only got to about as tall as you, and that was it. And all the rocks were black from the acid rain. Well, they realized, hey, this is not good for the environment or the people and things like that. So what they did was they changed it. Actually, they put a larger stack up so it's higher in the atmosphere, and they now clean all the smoke that comes out. So when it comes out, it's not black like it used to be, but it's white. So that means a lot of the pollutants are taken out. There's still some there, but nowhere near what it used to be. And limestone would be one of the ways that some of the lakes from all this acid rain that used to come down, turn all the rocks black, kill the vegetation and stuff. Limestone is what they used to put in some lakes in order to neutralize the acid in it. And I had friends that I knew that would buy limestone to lime their lake to make sure that it neutralized the acid so the fish could live in and things like that. Otherwise, and it was plastic lake, was the first place that they discovered all this acid rain, was killing all that. So they used things like limestone to help neutralize a lot of the acid in the lakes. Okay, we're gonna walk down here now, okay?

Everyday Plants With Real Uses

SPEAKER_01

So does anybody know what this plant here is over here? Sure. Dogwood. That's correct. It's dogwood. And what do they use dogwood for? Anybody know? Sure. Uh well, I'm not sure if they make a tea out of it or not, but I know a dogwood in the wintertime they use as an ornamental plant because of the red stalks on it and stems, and so when they make their bunches uh in the in the winter, they'll put a lot of dogwood in because of the red now. Now, let me see here. What do we got around here that I want to show you? Um, right over here. What's this one?

SPEAKER_09

What the heck is that one?

SPEAKER_01

What is it? Come on, you know what it is. Somebody just said it. What did you say? Dandelion. Right, dandelion. Dandelion. So, and dandelion um is can be a medicinal plant. It's like one of our. Yeah, there's lots of dandelion around here all over the place, and you can see yeah, you can see the yellow flowers with the dandelion. Actually, they use all the yellow flowers. I know some people who pick the yellow flowers, take the green off, and then they soak it in oils to make a solve for skin conditions. And it helps people with skin conditions. But also, dandelion roots are one of the things that they pick, they clean them and then they roast them and they make a tea out of them, and it's really good for people who have liver problems or kidney problems and things like that. And there's all kinds of stuff, plants out there that are used for medicinal applications that help with a lot of different things. And dandelions, as everybody thinks it's a weed, is actually one of the big beneficial ones that are out there. Are there any individuals who might be done?

unknown

It's right there.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah. So, are there any individuals who are of Italian descent here?

SPEAKER_10

I guess my husband is.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, Italian descent. So in in Italy they call it Chicoria, and it's uh they use a lot of the leaves to make salads with because it's very popular there. So now we talked about ants here. So has anybody ever been bitten by an ant? Yes, okay. Okay, me too. How about a bee? You ever had a bee sting? Yeah. Okay. So a bee sting in an ant bite, um, you get this pain from it because of something they have called formic acid. Okay, and formic acid can actually be found in one of the plants out there called stinging nettle, which has a lot of medicinal benefits to it as well. But if you touch up against it, especially about this time when it gets about this big, then you get all these formic acid in and it stings like crazy. That's why they call it stinging nettle. But there's a lot of medicinal applications in stinging nettle for a lot of different things, and it is very high in protein as well. And I know people who use it for arthritis, and actually, a lot of Europeans, mostly Slovak areas, which is so my mother's parents were Polish and Ukrainian, and a lot of that Slovak area there, they would take the stinging nettle plants and then brush it on, and they would kind of beat their wrists and fingers with it and joints to get rid of all the arthritis and things like that, and it used to help with that. So there's a lot of different plants that can be used for different things like that. And we're gonna walk down and talk about some more. Now everybody knows what that is again, yes? Okay, um, right, and what are these then? Right, and how do they they move around? Right, the wind. But there's a lot of other plants that look the same as this, like goat's beard and a number of other ones that uh come out that look very similar. That's how the wind spreads their seeds around as well. Okay, it's called this plant is called plantain, okay. And plantain, now a lot of them medical industry are finding out that there's hey, there's all kinds of benefits in a lot of plants out there. And plantain is one that's used in uh a product called Metamucil, the powder, and it's actually the uh the seed husks that they use in it, and it helps keep people if they can't go to the bathroom, they take some metamucil and it helps them go. And so plantain is now being used as a medicinal application, just as a different type of plant. Now, over here, does anybody know what these plants are? Cattails, correct, cattails, bulrushes, we call them. And probably about the end of this month, you're gonna see they're gonna be a lot taller, and then it's like corn on the cob. That brown thing comes out.

SPEAKER_10

Well, you can't eat it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you can. Actually, you can. You can boil it like uh corn on the cob. And if you if you add butter and salt to it, it almost tastes like corn on the cob. And actually, bulrushes, the pollen from it, after it's the bulrush has been uh the brown part is very large and has a lot of pollen on it, people will put paper bags over it and collect the pollen and use that as flour to make things with. But also, when the plant gets higher and later on in the year, the bottom of it has this um, if you open it up, it has this kind of gooey stuff that looks like you know what aloe vera looks like? Yeah, kind of like aloe vera kind of thing. And actually, it works as an antiseptic, so if you get an infection, you can use that and put it on there to take care of the infection. So, there's a lot of different things, and you can eat those, but you gotta watch out because what happens is see, bulrushes are used in a number of different ways. And I recall one place in Florida where their water was really bad, and they didn't know what they tried everything, but they couldn't take uh get rid of the smell and the taste. So, what they did was they planted all kinds of bulrushes around it to purify the water, and what that means is that the roots of this will take the impurities up. So, if you're gonna pick it and eat it, you gotta make sure there's it's pretty clean and there's not a lot of herbicides, pesticides, and impurities in the areas that can be to make it so it's you shouldn't be eating it. Yes, I'm not sure. It looks like an aspen. Looks like an aspen, but I can't tell. Like these ones over here. See, that there is a the larger plantain leaf, so it's a a broadleaf weed, as we call it, and it grows in people's yards as well. And that one there. Actually, um, I know a lot of people that'll eat that as well. What is it? What's that? It looks like chickweed. There'll be a lot of stuff in here. There's so many plants, I don't know them all, but I certainly try to find out as much as I can, particularly about medicinal plants. No, that's not poison ivy. That's what I'm gonna talk about as soon as everybody catches up. Okay, so these plants here, you see this plant here with the red things in it? That's called staghorn sumac. Okay, and staghorn sumac is actually come about September, end of August, and then early into September. They have these red clusters of berries on there, which actually have a very, very nice taste to them. It's almost very citrusy, like a kind of a sweet kind of lemon drink. And I in the fall, in the fall, what I do is I will collect those berries and then put them inside of water and let them sit overnight in the fridge, and the next day they make a great, like almost like an orange drink. Very, very tasty. It's called staghorn sumac. Yes, sir. What's that? Oh yes, yeah. I'll go into that very shortly. So, and here is some young sumac as well. Now, a lot of people get concerned about poison sumac that has white berries and grows in a different area. It looks quite a bit different, but the staghorn has red berries, and the reason they call it staghorn is because in the fall you'll see a lot of those areas, it looks like a kind of a a velvety kind of look on the plant that actually give the look of a stag's horns before it loses the the felt on the horns. Yeah, okay. So, you see this here? Can anybody tell me what these are here?

SPEAKER_08

Grasshopper spit. No.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Does anybody everybody see what that is? I'm gonna pick this one. Okay, does everybody see what that is there?

SPEAKER_09

The white stuff?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the white stuff. Yeah, but where does it come from?

SPEAKER_09

Uh an and something.

SPEAKER_01

No, it's actually called a spittle bug. And what it does do is it creates its own environment to live in. So it takes it and it makes it all this protective coating to keep it moist so it doesn't drive out, and inside there is a little bug that makes that, and it's a spittle bug. Okay? Okay. Now, this lady here, do you know what you have in your hand? Anybody have a guess what that is? Yes, sir. No, it's not a pine needle. Okay, that's actually called horse tail. And horsetail has a bunch of medicinal applications that we'll go into inside when we're in the forest as well. Okay? Now, did you know how do you tell the difference between a spine, a spruce tree, and a pine tree? Anyone know? Connor?

SPEAKER_08

Because pine trees are more pokey and the spruce trees are more that's a cedar tree.

SPEAKER_01

I mean okay, pine trees have long needles, spruce trees have short needles. Okay? Yes.

SPEAKER_09

There's like stuff at the bottom of this one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, the uh dandelion. Actually, I see the rabbits in my yard eating those stems all the time. What kind of surprises me. I didn't know they would, but they come along and eat the dandelion stems all the time, which really surprised me. Plus, they also eat my black-eyed Susan's, so I don't have any anymore and it drives me crazy.

SPEAKER_10

What's this white? Oh, really? The white stuff at the bottom of the white stuff.

SPEAKER_01

That's just the natural juices that's found inside the plant. Okay, we're gonna go into the forest now. Oh, you're um now we stopped here for a reason. Can

Ontario Symbols And White Pine Facts

SPEAKER_01

anybody tell me what the official bird is for the province of Ontario?

unknown

Blue Jay?

SPEAKER_01

No, it's not a blue jay. Although they come close last year to winning, right?

SPEAKER_07

No!

SPEAKER_01

That's exactly it. A loon. A loon is the official bird for the province of Ontario. Can anybody tell me the official flower for the province of Ontario? No? Yes. No, it's not an awe. Any guesses? No? Nobody knows what the official flower is for the province of Ontario? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_09

I know what it is, but I forgot.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay. Yes.

SPEAKER_08

Um, it's called a trillion.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. It's a trillium. It's a white trillium. Okay. So what's the official rock or gemstone for the province? Anyone know? No? It's amethyst.

SPEAKER_08

Oh, and my birthday's in October.

SPEAKER_01

October? Well, amethyst is January.

SPEAKER_08

My sister's so close. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

So, okay, and what's the official tree for the province of Ontario? Sure. Nope, it's not maple. Anybody have a guess what the official tree is for the province of Ontario? No, not cedar. Yes. That's hard. A pine tree? Well, yes, but what kind of pine tree? Yes? I'll tell you, it's a white pine. Okay? This is a white pine tree right here. Okay? That's that's sap. Okay. So that's a sap, and that's a white pine tree. Now here's a red pine tree here. See the difference? Look at the color of it. Okay?

unknown

Maybe because of the pine.

SPEAKER_01

Well, no, actually. And then this one here is actually a fir tree.

SPEAKER_08

It looks a little sad, that one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So, and then see these over here. So, what that's sap. So, there's another white, these are white pines here. This is a white pine, and that's a white pine tree there as well. Does anybody know how old a white pine how long a white pine tree will live?

SPEAKER_08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Actually, go ahead.

SPEAKER_08

Uh hundred years.

SPEAKER_01

Actually, it's even more than that. It can be hundreds of years.

SPEAKER_08

Two thousand.

SPEAKER_01

Some white pines, if there were conditions and everything's right, will last like four four hundred and fifty years. So when the European settlers came over to North America, they used to see all these huge white pines like this one right here. And you know what they used to use them for and take them back to England and in Europe for? Firewood? Actually, no, they got a lot of firewood there, but they used them for masts on sailing ships because they're so straight and tall. So they would take them back.

SPEAKER_14

And white pine was one of the key ones that they used to really bring in for a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges?

Lodge Teaser And Chaga Testimonial

SPEAKER_14

I'm your host, Steve Nitzwicky, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials, tribulations, and inspirations. Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.

SPEAKER_11

Meanwhile, we're sitting there bobbing along, trying to figure out how to catch a bass. And we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing job.

SPEAKER_03

My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be more efficient than it was punchy.

SPEAKER_14

You so confidently said, Hey Pat, have you ever eaten a drunk? Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, here we are in Lindsay with Bill, who's actually this gentleman has given blood over 230 times.

SPEAKER_00

233, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

233, that's amazing. And you've had some success with Chaga. Uh tell us what you're dealing with and what you did and uh how you um what you used.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I had mild uh high blood pressure, mild high blood pressure wasn't very really high, but I was on medication for a few years. And then I uh quit drinking coffee and started drinking this tea. Uh the combination tea, the green and the chaga. Right. And uh my medication is gone. Your medication's gone? It's gone. And you couldn't give blood during the other times? Yeah, I could. Oh, you could? I could, yeah. Yeah, so but uh a few times uh the machine kicked me out.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So, but now it doesn't anymore. So you think uh the the green tea in the chaga was uh helped uh normalize your blood pressures? Oh yeah. Oh, very good because it wouldn't be just stopping coffee, it would have to be something else.

SPEAKER_01

And that's the only thing you did differently. Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we're thank you very much for that. My blood pressure is probably that of a 40-year-old man, and I'm 71. Oh, very good. Well, that's good to hear.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you very much for that.

SPEAKER_00

No problem.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

Limited Discount Code CANAPY

SPEAKER_01

We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about, and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, Chaga Health and Wellness.com, place a few items in the cart, and check out with the code CANAPY. C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package, and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening. Back to the episode.

Spruce Sprigs And Mushroom Basics

SPEAKER_01

Okay, remember I said about the pine and the needles? See how long the needles are there? Okay, so right now, this time of year, you'll get spruce trees out. Okay, and I make something with spruce trees that's kind of weird. Now, and the spruce trees come out, they get these new new growths on it at the end of the branches. And I didn't see any spruce trees around here, otherwise, I would show you. And you can actually eat the little spruce, they're called spruce sprigs. Okay, and spruce sprigs are really good to eat, they have a lot of vitamin C in them. And when they said that the Europeans first came over, they used to get scurvy from a lack of vitamin C, and this was one of the things they gave them to boost their vitamin C to get rid of the scurvy. But I also make us a spruce honey. So, what I do is I take these new sprigs and they're like really light green in color. Like, let me see. I'm trying to look for the color around here. Maybe like this person's green on the shorts, the light green, kind of like that. And actually, you just pick those and you fill a pot, and then you boil, and then you fill the pot with water, and then you boil it for like 40 minutes, half an hour, 40 minutes. And then, okay, and then what you do is you strain out all the spruce sprigs and you take the what's left over, and then you add you can add sugar or maple syrup or honey to it, or do a bunch of different sweetened things to, and then you boil it till it becomes very, very thick, like a syrup, and you can make it make spruce honey, which is a really good flavor to it. So, spruce this time of year, and that only comes out when it's new. So, now one of the other things is anybody know what this is? That's correct. Do you know what the kind of mushroom it is? So, do you know what a mushroom is? What is a mushroom? A mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus. Okay? So let's talk about apple trees. So, apple trees, how do apple trees get their nutrients?

SPEAKER_08

From its roots.

SPEAKER_01

From its roots, right. How does a mushroom or a fungus get its nutrients? Yes. Well, this one is a tree one, yes, but there's a lot of ground ones. It says something, the roots of a fungus is called mycelium. Okay? And mycelium actually is the way that funguses get their nutrients from. So they the mycelium or the roots of it, take it in, and then you have, if you use, you know the white mushrooms you get in the grocery store? Okay, we'll use those as an example. Now, how does an a uh an apple tree, what's the fruiting body of an apple tree? Yeah, what is the fruit of an apple tree? Exactly. What's the fruit of a fungus? A mushroom. Right? Exactly, a mushroom. So, now how do you make more apple trees? With what? Yes. Apple seeds, right? How do you get more mushrooms? Well, it's not a mushroom seed, it's called spores. Okay. So you can pass that around. Take a look at it. That dark exterior on there is actually a protective coating against the environment that has a lot of medicinal applications. Now, this is the number one medicinal mushroom in the world, the highest antioxidant, plus, also that is a lot of anti-inflammatory material. So, you know what, does anybody know what inflammation is? Okay, so let me show you right here. I go like that. See it's starting to go red there? That redness is inflammation, okay? And your body gets this inflammation and it can't and it causes a lot of problems. So the part of the mushroom there eliminates the overabundance of inflammation and then lets the body heal itself. You see how it's all gone red in my arm where I rubbed it there?

SPEAKER_09

What you rubbed it in?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I just rubbed it. See that? It's all gone red. That redness is called inflammation. Okay.

SPEAKER_09

That's a mushroom.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I know. Just be careful with it. How old do you think that one is?

SPEAKER_10

Like mushrooms. Look at it. A hundred years old?

SPEAKER_01

That one's probably like 18 years old. Took that long to grow that that big. Okay. So so long as it has mycelium, a fruiting body, and spores, it falls into a mushroom class, which this does. Okay? Now see this here? These are all the impurities on it. So when I we I have a company that makes it into tea, and it helps a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. But we take all those impurity off impurities off, and it makes a very nice consuming tea with a lot of medicinal benefits to it. Now, no, there's no caffeine. So now, did you show the video or have they seen the secret language of trees?

SPEAKER_14

No, uh no, we didn't. Actually, last year we read the one with the fungal channels, but no, we didn't read it this year.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. So in here, in the ground here is all kind of mycelium, which is the roots of a fungus. Did you know the largest living organism in the world is um is actually a fungus? It's I think it's an organ, and it's like so that would be like 10, 20, 10, 15 kilometers big. That's how big this thing is.

SPEAKER_09

What? How big the roots are?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because it goes everywhere. So now one of the things that uh they've they've studied is that trees can actually talk to each other through its roots, and it's because of a fungus. Now the fungus actually does it two ways. It wraps itself around the roots and then it connects to the roots of another tree. The fungus goes all the way, say, from this white pine to that white pine over there. And they found that in some ways, if, for example, this white pine is getting more light than the one over there and it's producing more food, it can actually transfer food from this one to the other one to keep

Mycelium Networks And Talking Trees

SPEAKER_01

it sustained. So they're finding out that it's and it's called, you can see it on YouTube, it's called The Secret Language of Trees, and it shows some really neat stuff that make you think. And it's all through the ground. And one of the things, do you watch any of those kind of weird TV shows? Have you seen uh The Last of Us? Oh uh, but there is like um so there's a book that's like The Last of Us Zombies for So what happens is in the TV show called The Last of Us, it's a series. Oh yeah, I know, and what happens is they actually have a mushroom called cordyceps that mutates with global climate change, and now because cordyceps actually live on insects, and it has a lot of benefits to it that has a lot of energy and things like that. So athletes use a lot of cordyceps and things like that. But in the TV show, it mutates and can now grow on people and spreads to people. So those are just and we get a lot of different things in our body. Like, do you know how we digest our food?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

How?

SPEAKER_08

No, we chew it, we eat it.

SPEAKER_01

Well, we chew it and then eat it, and we swallow it, and what happens?

SPEAKER_08

It did it like it disappears, like it goes where?

SPEAKER_01

How does it feed the cells in your body? Right, it goes into the stomach, but then what?

SPEAKER_09

And then it goes into the stomach acid.

SPEAKER_01

Right, and what does the stomach acid do?

SPEAKER_09

Like it just like melts the yeah, basically.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it melts it, it breaks down the food, and then these various components in our body, like a lot of enzymes and a lot of different things like that, will then take all the nutrients through it to all our cells. How what do you think regenerates the forest here? Well, look, see all this? That all breaks down to make food for for for future generations of the trees that come in here. So all these needles and all the leaves and things like that, they actually break down, and actually a lot of insects eat it, and when insects eat it, they go to the bathroom, and that bathroom works as guess what? Fertilizer. So you get a lot of different things. Now, the other thing is when you look in this forest, how come there's nothing growing under the ground? How come? Why is that? Like what's going on there?

SPEAKER_10

Yes, because there's so much trees, and the trees are taking all the nutrients.

SPEAKER_01

Well, the nutrients is one thing, but there's one key thing that it's taking that hasn't been brought up. Yes. Well, it takes up room, yes, but actually what happens is the light. The plants need the light in order to live. And the light can't get down to the ground because the canopy or the treetops, that's what we call the canopy, is so dense that light can't come through to let other plants grow. And that's how plants grow. It comes in, the light takes it, and not only that, but what do plants do for us? Anybody know? Come on.

SPEAKER_09

I don't, I know, I know they give us oxygen. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, air, yes. Food, Jackson. Jackson. Jackson got it right, it gives us oxygen. But how do plants give us oxygen? Yes.

SPEAKER_10

By the trees?

SPEAKER_01

Well, the trees, yeah.

SPEAKER_10

From the from their nutrients.

SPEAKER_01

Well, what sort of kinda, yeah. From the nutrients, yes. From the leaves? Well, but from the leaves, but okay, so what happens is people breathe in air, just like was mentioned over here, and then we breathe it out. When we breathe it in, our body takes out the oxygen from it, mostly, and then sends it through all our systems to provide nutrients for ourselves. Okay? And then we breathe out. What do we breathe out?

unknown

Carbon dioxide.

SPEAKER_01

Carbon dioxide, right. And what do plants breathe? What do they breathe? Yes. Well, yeah, how about they breathe air? But what like we we we need oxygen, they need air. Carbon dioxide. So plants breathe carbon dioxide and they breathe out oxygen that we need. So we have this symbiotic relationship that help them and they help us. So did you know that some places actually they have greenhouses where they pump carbon dioxide into the greenhouse to get the plants to grow better?

unknown

Really?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And you know, one of the number one ways that carbon and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a bit problematic. But you know, one of the number one industries that contributes because of the process, and the byproduct is carbon dioxide, is cement making. The byproduct in cement making is carbon dioxide. So I tried to get the greenhouse industry to work with the cement industry to take the carbon dioxide to feed it into his greenhouses. Because actually, in some of the greenhouses, they actually have to wear breathing suits apparatus to go in in order to breathe when they pump carbon dioxide in so they don't die because they got no oxygen.

SPEAKER_07

Like scuba divers above the water.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. So, yeah, so what the plants industry does is it feeds a lot of these greenhouses carbon dioxide in order to get them to produce to produce better plants, so for us, and then this byproduct comes out in oxygen. So some of the things is as well is the mycelium that goes through the ground, you know, where we talked about it, that goes from this tree to that

Canopy Light Carbon And Forest Health

SPEAKER_01

tree. And actually it'll work between other species of trees as well, but some will and some will not. You can actually the tree actually knows when we're walking on the ground, the mycelium can sense that and knows that we're actually walking on the ground and communicate to each other. Yeah, so if you get a chance, and I'm not sure, that uh that uh video uh the secret language of trees.

SPEAKER_13

Yeah, I can picture the book, I think. I have it on my it's kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so yeah, so I brought a couple of books. If you pass them around, you can take a look at it. But some of the things that we talked about that were out there, like the um dandelion, okay. So it says here in this book they use for uh work for uh the liver and blood purifier and kidneys, and helps with a lot of different things, like that. Or the plantain that we spoke about also has a lot of different things, and and golden seal or lemon balm, and you can take a look. There's a lot of different plants out there that that we just take for granted that we don't really know about, but they have a lot of different applications. You can have a look and pass it on, like the horse tail, it talks about horse tail in there. If you look under the H you'll see horse tail in there, and it talks about that. But just because somebody wrote a book about it doesn't really mean that it's somebody's opinion could be, but you need to find research. So I usually get some different books by different authors to make sure that the information is correct. And I have dozens of books that talk about various health things like this. So, so those are some of the things that we um we talk about, and and if this forest were to be what's called thinned, what that means is you you take out a lot of like this dead tree here and that dead tree there and those dead trees, it'll open up the canopy and let light down in, and you'll get more growth growing in the forest, simply because the light's coming down through. So, are there any questions? Anybody have any questions? Yes, it's called a chaga, okay, and the uh the Latin name is Innotanus oblicus, it grows on birch trees, and about one in ten thousand birch trees will produce one. It does grow in other trees, but birch is where all the medicinal applications are, so we only harvest off birch. You have a question? No? Anyone else have a question? Yes. Um, if you knew what root beer tasted like, because root beer, actually the burdock, the thistle, the roots of it, if you make that into a tea tea taste like root beer. Other questions? No? Okay. So I think we're gonna go for a bit of a walk and we'll talk about some different things. So, but before we move on, one of the things is that some trees lose their leaves every year. And do you know what trees lose their leaves and what trees keep their trees leaves mostly? Oh, okay. Well, deciduous trees lose their leaves every year, and most coniferous trees lose their roots or leaves every year. Okay. So we are talking about the forest, and what happens with a like a monoculture like this, where the light can't come down to the ground, so other plants grow and grow up. So it makes it very difficult for small animals. Like do you think a rabbit could live in the forest like this very well? Or a grouse? How come?

SPEAKER_08

There was a grouse nest right there.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. So that's because there's no food in here for them. Okay, you'll find that some later on in the year, like rabbits, will eat bark of some things. But if there's no food forage base, then they don't have a tendency. But if you open up the canopy and let's Light through it does a couple things because what happens with trees is every time a tree branch reaches out and touches another tree, it puts it under what's called stress. Okay, and when it's under stress, they have a tendency to try and grow up to compete with each other. Now, when trees are growing, the first 15 to 20 years of a tree's life are the most carbon-converting to oxygen. It's just like kids when you get to be teenagers, you start to eat like crazy because your body's all requiring all these nutrients to grow. And it's the same thing that trees do, 15 to 20 years of their life, that those first ones, they need all the carbon dioxide they can get in order to grow. So they that's when they do the most carbon converting. Now, once the canopy opens up, you'll get more light in, you'll get more growth, and you'll get you'll get a far more diversified environment to live in. Okay, so we're gonna take a walk now. We're gonna take a walk down the path, and we'll talk about some of the things on the path. Okay,

Horsetail Bird App And Bird Signals

SPEAKER_01

so remember what we said about the monoculture and everything else? How come you think that we've got these plants growing along the side over here? And how come it's only on this side on the ground that we see these plants growing? No guesses? Yes. Exactly. So the sun comes in and there's not much on this side here, but on this side there's a lot more sun. So over there you've got some plants on that side, the sunny side, but nothing on this side here. So, and over here, you get more sun in everywhere, so more plants have a chance to grow up. Okay, here's a plant here. I'm gonna pick it. Anyone know what that plant is? No, that's called horse tail because it kind of looks like a horse tail. Okay? And horsetail is another medicinal plant that has benefits to it as well. Now, and the old prospectors, when they were going through looking for stuff, they used to say, if you find some horsetail, there's gonna be some gold in the area. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's just the story they used to say. But that's horse tail, that's another plant. Now, does anybody have cell phones that they use elsewhere? Okay. So there's an app out there that's really kind of neat. It's called Merlin. It's free. The bird app. Exactly. So you know Merlin, do you? Do you have it? Uh no. So it's free, and you can get it in the app store, and it tells you what birds are singing at what time. Now, when I went through here earlier, there was quite a few different birds. There was the grackles, the robins, a um northern house wren, and a morning dove, or just some of the birds that I could listen to. But it's a free app that you get that's really kind of neat to listen to. Yes.

SPEAKER_09

Does it like tell you what saying? Or like do you know what kind of like it tells you what it tells you what kind of bird it is?

SPEAKER_01

But on my podcast, if you listen to my podcast, I had a bird expert from the States that actually talked about chickadees and the way they talk. Chickadees have four notes: an A note, a B note, a C note, and a D note. The D note tells other chickadees that there's a predator in the area. And if you hear a chickadee doing a D note, can anybody tell me what a D note is? I don't know what it is. Neither do I. Okay, it's a level, it's the sound. Anyways, if they hear a chickadee doing a D note, it lets little birds know that there's a predator in the area, and they will come to that chickadee to protect it against other predators, which could be larger birds or a bunch of other things that they try to. So birds communicate and they have a lot of different songs as well, and we're just starting to learn a lot of the details about it. And you can hear that on one of the other podcasts I did with one of the bird experts that I had. Okay, we're gonna stop right here just for a sec.

Mosquito Ponds And Stormwater Design

SPEAKER_01

The look behind us over there. Okay, the reason we stopped here is you see the water over here, the kind of pond? That's breeding areas for mosquitoes. Okay. So what when before Millbrick was a community, this used to be all fields and forests, and the rains used to come down, they would go into the ground, they would go, the rain would go into the ground and it would seep in, and then it would purify the water, and the water would slowly go into different like little underground rivers, and then they would come out to springs and then creeks and then flow down to Lake Ontario and go out. Now, what happens here is these areas here do some purification, but mosquitoes actually grow in here because did you know that little mosquito larvae actually breathe air? And you know, when you see these new subdivisions, they have big ponds by them. They put those there on purpose. And do you know why that they put a fountain in it? So they put a fountain in these ponds in order to make ripples in the water so mosquitoes can't breed. Because if there's ripples in the water, they can't mosquitoes breed there. They have this little thing called a provoscus, which is like a little straw, and it swims up to the top, sticks its little straw out, gets some air, and then goes back down again, and then goes back up. So stagnant water like this is mosquito breeding area very much, and stagnant water is where you're gonna get a lot of mosquitoes. So that's why they put in those stormwater retention ponds fountains in to stop mosquitoes from breeding there. Let's move along. Okay,

Woodpeckers Poplar And Paper Making

SPEAKER_01

so see this tree here, this old tree? What do you think made those holes in that tree? A woodpecker. And why is a woodpecker going making holes? Sure.

SPEAKER_10

Um like sow from live in there?

SPEAKER_01

Well, they do they most of the time a lot of open cavities, but a lot of times they go in because there's bugs in there, right? To eat the bugs, right? So, what do you think happens when a woodpecker takes its beak and starts beating on it? Can you imagine you hitting your head against a tree? Go ahead. Well, actually, they have special their brain and their skulls are designed specifically to allow them to peck on the tree so it doesn't do brain damage. But they also peck on trees for another reason, because they'll mark territory. And I was used to be the minister of natural resources, and I remember a statement coming in asking, how come this piliated woodpecker, which is about the size of a crow, a big one, was pecking on this aluminum in the side of their house. Well, the reason for that is they make noise to tell other woodpeckers to stay away. Yes.

SPEAKER_10

Um, I have a metal fireplace back by my pool, and there's a woodpecker every morning that makes a really loud noise. Yep. And it's there literally every morning.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. So the reason they're doing that and making the noise is telling other woodpeckers, this is my area, stay away from here. Now, you see this other trees, these large ones here? Those are of the poplar family. Do you know what they use poplar wood for? Anyone know? So most of it, most of the paper we make in Ontario is out of poplar. Okay. Now there are some that use some other formulas, but they'll take the tree and then they will chip it all up into little pieces, and then they put it in this slurry, and they make it, and then they use it to make paper with everybody, I'm Angelo Viola.

SPEAKER_13

And I'm Pete

Network Sign Off And Where To Listen

SPEAKER_13

Bowman. Now, you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast.

SPEAKER_12

That's right. Every Thursday, Ang and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio.

SPEAKER_13

Hmm. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?

SPEAKER_12

Well, you know there's gonna be a lot of fishing.

SPEAKER_02

I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.

SPEAKER_13

Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, all the other guys would go golfing.

SPEAKER_03

Me and Garchomp Turk, and all the Russians would go fishing.

SPEAKER_02

The scientists. But now that we're reforesting and it's the perfect transmission environment for lime disease.

SPEAKER_04

So chefs, if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated for you will taste it.

SPEAKER_12

And whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.