Electronic field guide
I want to be like Davy Crockett, who, according to the ballad, was "raised in the woods, so he knew every tree."
Of course I was raised in Detroit, so my education was somewhat lacking in that regard. Now that I'm living out in the sticks, I'm trying to catch up.
As a consumer of firewood, I know my hardwoods from my softwoods. I can identify ashes and maples; black locusts beeches. I can tell a white oak from a red oak. I know enough to avoid pine, cottonwood and soft maple and other low-BTU trees.
But I'd like to know more. I'd like to be like Davy.
Recently a friend introduced me to LeafSnap, a flora-identifying cell phone app. You take a photo with your cell phone camera (leaf, bark, fruit or flower) then upload it to the app and it tells you (after you see an ad, of course) whether you're looking at a rhododendron or a peony.
I gave it a spin immediately after downloading it. I found that the app works better on leaves than it does on bark. But it's free, so I can't complain.