Cellars
By Dr. Everett Vreeland
In the northeast most all of us have cellars and they are mostly used in similar ways. In mine, which is the usual collection of practical things, there is a radical change in ambiance and usage with the advent of an active wood stove. It becomes a haven for me to warm myself away from enemy winds and sneaky drops in temperature. Wood fires are acceptably good things to stare at. #1 is a camp fire, #2 is a fireplace at home, in a bar, or when visiting beautiful friends, if they don’t talk too much.
During the parts of the day when the sun, at a low angle, shines through ground level windows to light up areas rarely observed, it shows me that fungi grow actively on the logs I have stored; it highlights webs fashioned by a very special cellar spider; it exposes the now used trails of winter visiting rodents and also reveals set-aside jobs I forgot to finish but are welcomed now as productive work.
The spider I spoke of is a special fellow with a long abdomen and relatively long legs. They are numerous and, when threatened, set up violent gyrations in the web meant to terrify intruders. I was curious to see what they lived on and stumbled on the fact that there are numerous, very small winged insects living and reproducing all winter in the cellar. They can be found at most cellar windows and living on - who knows? It may be that I contribute to this world by bringing in wood every season.
The rodents are entertaining in my world but when they invade upstairs are decimated by the warring huntress I have married. I have always admired the reproductive capacity of those critters that are food for foxes and falcons alike. They function like minnows in a river or herring in a sea.
Deer and raccoons head the road kill list currently and in addition, many deer are going down to the hunters’ guns this month. These methods function well except that deer remain a problem in the counties to the south where firearms are feared and horticulture admired. The people there would do well to welcome the archers with food and fanfare.
The deer I have seen are robust and healthy. It is later in the winter that losses show up as some very young don’t learn to browse and some very old can’t quite make it any more and starve due to bad teeth or are dragged down by predators, including dogs.
Take a closer look at your cellar as its value is often under done and it is a critter place of interest.
