Spring Nautilus

The Nautilus is considered to be a living fossil and has little changed in the past 500 million years.

Its chambers on the inside of its shell form a spiral if you cut it in half.

This spiral is one of the oldest known symbols in written history and you will find it appear on rock carving at a time when man first started to write.

The Nautilus is also a symbol of perfection and beauty. After all, it has remained unchanged for centuries. Each chamber of the Nautilus follows the Fibonacci sequence, with the shape of the shell approximating a Phi spiral, which is considered an important aspect of Sacred Geometry. The Nautilus also represents the golden mean: 1.6180339…, which goes on until infinity. Source

So, when I was out walking this morning I spotted these fiddleheads and the first thing they reminded me of was a nautilus.

And lo and behold the fern is considered a living fossil as well.

Not as old as the nautilus, the fern is only 360 million years old but in my backyard, it’s just a couple of weeks old.

As it every so slowly unfurls its fiddleheads it looks exactly like a green version of the inside of a nautilus shell.

But unlike the nautilus who remain the same, this is just the first phase of their lives.

Tomorrow they will be open a little more and by next week it will be a brand new fern waving its fronds in the breeze.

This one lives in the roots of a maple tree and will flourish there until winter.

In the fall it will release its spores that have grown over the summer to perpetuate another year of ancient forests.

But did you know, that now is the perfect time for fiddleheads.

For humans that is and for animals as well such as deer and rabbits.

Merely cut off the curly tentacles of the fern as they make delicious eating.

Saute them in a little butter and you have a cross between an asparagus and spinach.

Just another spring vegetable that one can add to their plate before the garden produces.

It’s called foraging, just like our ancestors.

Jigsaw Puzzle

If you need help with instructions click here.