Early January

Well... it's not as if I didn't get out at all in January! 

These red pine trees have been planted in dramatic rows.  The area in which they grow is being re-forested as wildlife habitat.   Sometimes when you see trees planted in this fashion they are a remnant of the government work projects created during the depression era.   These trees, I think, are not old enough to fit into that category and I guess they have been planted to aide the habitat creation efforts.  

These red pine trees are very bright orange indeed and are so abundant that the whole forest takes on a strange orange and pink hue.  Red Pine is not mentioned as a source of food or medicine in any of my books.   I do think, however, that in a pinch you could use the needles as a tea and I would bet that they contain a decent amount of vitamin C.  

I believe that the squirrel to whom this pile of acorn shells and pine cones belongs would disagree, and finds the red pine to be a highly nutritious sort of tree.

I am not sure what this plant is - it was growing in sandy soil - but I thought it was deserving of a portrait.