Hello, I am sending this postcard from my visit to this patch of moss from a southern Ontario town (photo taken in May 2023). One time I visited a friend of a friend's rural property and spent the entire afternoon looking at moss and internally screaming WOW LOOK AT ALL THESE DETAILS.
My perspective on moss comes... mostly from one podcast from Ologies ft. the incomparable Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer - most famously known for Braiding Sweetgrass, but she's also a moss specialist and has a book called Gathering Moss too. Please listen to the podcast if you have the time!
When I saw your picture of the berries, I instantly thought you would be a great fellow-moss enjoyer, if you are not one already! I hope you can take a moss walk. Here are some tips.
You just need your eyeballs, but optionally a moss-appreciation toolkit could include:
Mosses remind us that entire worlds exist on a smaller scale, thriving in the shadows of what we normally consider grand. They are forests in miniature!
Mosses quietly dwell on surfaces - stone, bark, forgotten places - making homes where others cannot. They are the masters of noticing opportunity in the margins, the unseen. What seems like a simple green carpet is, upon closer inspection, a breathtaking array of stems and spiralled leaves designed for their scale! MOSS IS SO COOL.