Summer Pitfalls

Kate Carter

All I can say is thank goodness for elastic-waist pants, because I've been on a course of prednisone and you all know what that means: weight gain! I've gained two pounds a day since I started the regimen!

In case you're wondering why I'm on this dreadful drug, it all started when I signed a book contract to write and photograph Wildflowers of Cape Cod and the Islands. As many of you know, I've already published Wildflowers of Vermont and Shrubs & Vines of Vermont. I'm now expanding beyond the state and covering a new territory that I hope will have great appeal to a wide audience, resulting in the sale of thousands of books. It will be the same format, size, and presentation as the Vermont books, turning my earlier efforts into a bona fide series. Countrymen Press in Woodstock is the publisher, and we are on track to come out with the book by Christmas.

The Cape has many of the same plants we have here in Vermont, and quite a few that we don't, such as prickly cactus, yucca, beach pea, and many other members of the pea family that thrive in sandy, acidic conditions. They also have an overly impressive and persistent crop of poison ivy. Someone once asked me what the understory consists of on the Cape and I said, "Poison ivy!" The insidious plant grows everywhere, from woodland paths to sidewalk borders, to beach dunes. It grows right in the middle of people's yards. It comes in both vine and shrub form, and I've seen shrubs as low as five inches and as high as five feet.

I have extremely sensitive skin and have been vigilant about not touching the plant. I always wear high socks, long pants, and a long-sleeved shirt when I'm in the field. But that's not enough. I probably should wear Carhartt overalls and knee pads. You see, in late June I visited an old cranberry bog near Provincetown, in hopes of finding some unusual bog plants. Lucky me, not only did I find cranberry in bloom, but I found two orchids: rose pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) and grass pink (Calopogon pulchellus). I was so darned excited that I set up my tripod, dropped to my knees and started shooting, completely forgetting my surroundings. When I stood up I realized I had knelt right in a patch of poison ivy. As soon as I got back to my car, I washed my arms and legs with a soapy washcloth and hoped for the best.

Forty-eight hours later, I started to itch. Through my pants, the poison-ivy had found it's way to my left knee and ankle, both of which erupted into blisters that oozed and drained for a week.

The poison in poison ivy is a resin-like oil called urushiol (oo-roo-she-all). It only takes one nanogram (billionth of a gram) to cause a rash, though the average is 100 nanograms for most people. One-quarter of an ounce of urushiol is all that is needed to cause a rash in every person on earth. Urushiol oil will stay active on any surface, including dead plants, for up to five years. All you need to do to get poison ivy is to come in contact with the oil, whether it's on a plant, your clothes or bedding, a pet, or by rubbing it from one part of your body to another. You spread the rash only if urushiol oil is present.

Contrary to popular belief, a poison ivy rash is not contagious and breaking a blister won't spread it to other parts of your body or to another person. I suspect this myth was started by mothers to scare their children into not scratching. The ooze in the blisters is your autoimmune system kicking in, sending fluid to protect the area and provide a buffer.

I let my rash run its course and eventually it dried up and scabbed over, but when I began to break out again two weeks later, I'd had enough. There are many over-the-counter remedies that are mildly effective, but the best way to get the poison out of your system is a round of a corticosteroid, such as prednisone, and weight gain is one side affect. A side benefit is that it can clear up other skin blemishes, so I'm looking forward to having the skin of a younger woman for at least a few weeks this summer.

For future Cape excursions, I've stocked up on a product called Tecnu, a liquid soap that dissolves urushoil. Apply it to affected areas, wait two minutes, then wash it off with regular soap and water. It can be used on clothing, bedding and pet fur. (Be sure to wash it off completely from fur.) Of note: Tecnu is also supposed to work on skunk spray.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder why so many people flock to Cape Cod, a.k.a. Cape Tick. Besides the ever-present poison ivy, Cape Cod also has the highest rate of Lyme Disease in the country! Since I travel with two dogs, this is a major concern. My vet recommended I use Advantix, a controversial product among dog owners because it, too, is a poison. I decided the risks of Advantix are nowhere close to the dangers of Lyme Disease, so both dogs get a monthly application of it, along with garlic and brewer's yeast tablets, which supposedly repel ticks. At the end of every day we have "tick check." A tick has to be attached for 12 hours for Advantix to kill it, while it takes 24 hours for Lyme to transfer. I usually find a tick or two during "tick check," but they've always been dog ticks, not the deer ticks that can carry Lyme Disease.

Between the poison ivy and ticks, my trips to the Cape have been a combination of pleasure and fear. It is always a relief to return to Vermont, where I don't have to watch every step I take, even though it's become a habit to keep an eye out for poison ivy. We do have some at low elevations, especially along riverbanks, and we do have the occasional tick. In fact, I pulled one off my Phoebe just the other night. Here in Vermont I can mostly relax about the two. Instead, I go to battle with other insects and some slimy critters: mosquitoes, gnats, deer flies, lily leaf beetles, snails, and cabbage worms, which multiply in size by ten overnight. Sort of like my waistline...