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- Dark Skies, Saffron Milk Caps, Ancient Cedar/Red Pines, Vaivén, and Some Fun
Dark Skies, Saffron Milk Caps, Ancient Cedar/Red Pines, Vaivén, and Some Fun
Eiko Mizushima
September 12, 2025
Photo by Eiko Mizushima. Moonrise on Seagull Lake, MN
Song of the Week
Listen to this song as you read to help open you up. The Sailor’s Bonnet by The Gloaming.
Updates!
I’m back from the boundary waters, the homeland of the Anishinaabe, and will be heading back there next week because September is really the only time I can go, and it’s one of my favorite places on earth. The boundary waters is dark. Dark, in a world drowning in light, which led to it’s trendy designation as a Dark Sky Sanctuary by Dark Sky International. I think they should rename themselves the Dark Sky Society, and scheme to find ways to make the sky darker, more velvety, and starlit by any means necessary.
Photo by Eiko Mizushima. My Tent!
I feel as if my soul is being rescued when I enter the boundary waters. The simple intensity this place demands allows me to touch a medicinal part of the world and myself that is hard to access at other times. I love tying knots to hang the raccoon/bear bags, lassoing a crusty lichen covered branch, slipping into the cool soft water whenever I please, paying exquisite attention to the curves of each island to see if it matches the thin lines on the map, gossiping all day about how the clouds and temperature shifts determine our plans for the rest of day. Don’t get me started about the moss and lichen, or I’ll have to enter a poetry contest, or reveal how much of a sap I truly am. Though you probably already have a sense of that.
One night my friends and I were chatting about how cold we were, it dipped to around 38 degrees and we were not prepared. I jokingly said something akin to how I must love enduring pain, to take time off to be so chilled, drenched by a massive storm that had left us cowering under our tarp. My bones were starting to creak and I could barely uncurl my clawed hands long enough to do anything other than watch in amazement at their inability to move like the hands I knew. My discomfort illuminated a more real truth, which is that regardless of the pain I was in, I just keep coming back to this electric land. I love being there, no matter the weather. It is nice to be warm enough though, and the cold was becoming a safety issue, so we came back early to the comfort of Seagull Outfitters and our nose-ringed, sunshine-human Dwight, who entertained our every fancy.
If you ever have questions about preparing for the boundary waters, let me know. Helping people get here is one of my favorite things to do.
Trees in the Boundary Waters Are Older Than They Look!
16” cross cutting of a Red Pine that is over 200 years old at the Chik-Wauk Museum near Seagull Lake.
I found out on this trip that there are cedar trees in the boundary waters that are 1,000 years old. This is my next wormhole!
Bleeding Saffron Milk Caps
Saffron Milk Cap I found on a portage. There were so many.
How I love the orange milk that oozes from these mushrooms. Apparently these mushrooms bloom with lots of rainy weather. They are also the national mushroom of Spain and the Iberian peninsula. You can find them growing under Eastern White Pine starting in August and going until October. There are some lookalikes, but since this isn’t a mushroom blog I won’t get too into it. Suffice it to say that the lookalikes don’t bleed this beautiful orange latex. I didn’t eat these while camping since I couldn’t identify them thoroughly until I came home.
Bright orange color that stains bright orange when cut
When bruised, the color fades to green.
Are found growing with coniferous trees only.
When cut, the mushrooms will drip an orange latex, or juice
Schedule With Me!
OTR/L, BA, MHP, LMT,
she/they) Integrative Therapies
I offer trauma informed somatic therapy, craniosacral therapy, Swedish massage, Thai bodywork, myofascial release, group workshops, and healing through art, play, and connecting to nature. Free 15 minute consultations can be booked on my website if you’re intrigued or have questions.
For Fun!
Community Events
FREE EXHIBITION | Vaivén: 21st-Century Art of Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora
Date: Sep 09 - Dec 06 Time: 11:00am Location: Katherine E. Nash Gallery, 405 21st Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 Price: Free About the Event: A multidisciplinary exhibition and series of programs spanning twenty-five years of Puerto Rican artistic production from forty-three artists working in Puerto Rico and its U.S. diaspora.
Artists in the exhibition include Candida Alvarez, Genesis Báez, Sula Bermudez-Silverman, Ricardo Cabret, Melissa Calderón, Rodríguez Calero, Nayda Collazo-Llorens, Gisela Colón, Cristina Córdova, David Antonio Cruz, Maritza Dávila-Irizarry, Larissa De Jesús Negrón, Ada del Pilar Ortiz, Estrella Esquilín, Mónica Félix, Cándida González, GeoVanna Gonzalez, Ivelisse Jiménez, Juanita Lanzo, Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, Olivia Levins Holden, Ricardo Levins Morales, Nora Maité Nieves, Héctor Méndez Caratini, Colectivo Moriviví, Javier Orfón, Josué Pellot, Joey Quiñones, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, Elizabeth Robles, Amber Robles-Gordon, Jezabeth Roca González, Shellyne Rodriguez, Luis Rodríguez Rosario, Raúl Romero, G. Rosa-Rey, Juan Sánchez, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Amarise Deán Santo, Edra Soto, Bibiana Suárez, Nitza Tufiño, and William Villalongo.
