Crazy about Fungi

 

I cannot recall ever finding these wild fungi before. They are growing in 'gregarious' groups and solo on this ancient dying box elder tree in the Buckthorn forest.

Though we know that box elders never really die, they just send out new shoots.

I couldn't help myself since I seem to always have a little something extra in my pockets.

I believe the proper scientific name for these are: leucopholiota decorosa. I have not found a common name for them yet.

Here is a look at what a slightly older bunch looks like:

I am so fascinated by them that I keep going back to look at them. Thank goodness, they are a short walk from the house.

A bit further down the hill I found this unidentified fungi. Looks like a Slug Love Fest going on...

I found an Artist Conk also known as a shelf polypore.

Each year I bring one home and do this:

I'm not very good at drawing with sticks. I let it dry and then bring it indoors for my fall display on a little table. It feels nice and woodsy. I know, I'm a bit odd. 

Oh! And on my way back from the woods I found very fresh Chicken of the Woods. So I picked just a little and cooked it up for us to taste. 

We lived. I may pick some more and cook them up to go with our burgers tonight. 

I couldn't resist this one either. For a long time I wanted to try this with a tiny figure and even tinier tea cup.

This is my 'creative' play. It was so hard to place that cup in a saucer and balance it on that tiny fungi. It was fun trying to find a perfect spot for the little squirrel too. I must have tried about 10 angles and different spots to shoot from.

With this tiny tea set, I got tiny plates and silverware. I have to place the silverware with tweezers because my fumbly fingers won't work with such tiny items.

The 'table' is a piece of pine bark. I just made those 'shrooms out of Magic Model clay stuff. Behind them are the twigs that are now painted and have funky moss glued to them.

Rich walks by my little thing and shakes his head then pats me on the head.

More on that at another time.

In the meantime...enjoy fall and enjoy looking at the forest floor as well as the fall foliage.

Happy Hunting....

Of this and that

Well let's start out with a photo of Charlie who is so honest and so wise. He is the Zen Master of Calm unless he meets you for the first time. Then he is all wiggly and happy. He becomes calm again very quickly.

Here he is sitting and watching a vole hole next to the porch. He is listening and waiting. He doesn't kill the vole, he just observes and then sniffs at them to make them feel uncomfortable? 

He sure can be focused. He will spend the afternoon like this. I wonder if he can hear them under the dirt? I know he has done that in other parts of the yard.

Around the side of the yard under the honey locust tree that is dying I found these Inky Caps.

In a way they are kind of cool and interesting. Sort of ugly and beautiful at the same time.

Look at the one above. There is a fly on it! What a surprise it was for me to see it when I opened up the image larger.

And then they turn into inky slime. Certain strange varieties can be eaten and certain ones are poison. People have collected the goo and make an ink from them too. Thus I suppose the reason they are called Inky Caps.

I'm going to hit some trails today and look for Slime Mold and other cool Fungi. September, especially a day after a rainstorm is a great Fungi month!

The colors are also going to be amazing.

If you live where the leaves change, go out and enjoy.

My Fungi Fun

For my work out of the day...yesterday, I was supposed to go out and power walk or jog and see how far I could go in 30 minutes.

Simple right?

So I grabbed my lighter sweatshirt and Charlie and we headed off with my phone on a map my hike app running. I had my little camera with me and decided ... you know... just in case....

So an hour and a half later, I'd actually covered over a mile. But I had spent so much of it peering into moss covered logs and crawling around mule dung, rotten wood, and searching under leaves.

Cool huh? Velvety Black Earth Tongue Fungi. Eww. I saw these last year and wondered what they were. This year I went to Mushroom and Fungi book to look them up. 

Red Banded Conch. On the same log but on the underside. By the way those little fungi from my last outing? They are on this log too! I counted 4 types of fungi on one log!

While not really a fungi, these Indian Pipes are often mistaken for them. They are of the blueberry plant family and are white as they have no chlorophyll. 

I have no idea what these little ones are, I will have to go back and see how they change!

These? Inky Caps. At least I think so. I'll go back and see if their tops turn black and icky. That will identify them for me. I'll go back and check them out if it ever stops raining.

I don't know the ID of these either, but I am working on it.

The top photo was taken on Sunday. The bottom was taken 5 days later. 
And there still is a slug at the end of them!

Oh and for the workout? Guess I'll have to have a Do Over!

In search of ...Fungi and Fun

Finally we have had some rain! It was hard to go out and find one of my favorite things to photograph because it was SO dry! So I went to the creek before the scheduled rains and looked around for...

Fungi....
Mushrooms.....
Tiny stuff found on the forest floor.....

I did find some extremely tiny fungi growing orange and red on moss...on a log in the creek. I actually could not see the individual forms without using the Microscope Mode on the Olympus Tough camera.

These were smaller than the point of a lead pencil!

This is what I found:

Ahhh, here is the totally cool Fungi I found! I love how they lined up on the log and there is a slug that seems to be visiting!

Fungi Family:

The supervisor was checking things out from the log above me:

Of course this was before the weather turned absolutely awful. The temperatures are in the 40's and there has been a bone chilling rain for 24 hrs. .

I pulled apart our cabin heater and cleaned it thoroughly, then got it started to warm up the house. 
Brrr! I cut up a small batch of tomatoes and some apples to dehydrate.
My loyal little soldiers are protecting my lids and jars so when I start making jelly from my summer haul of berries, I will have lids.

The tomatoes are slowly ripening and not many at a time right now.

So there it is. A very dull day. But I got a lot of indoor work done. Including attacking the cob webs downstairs. 

Meanwhile, if the weather stinks...

I'll look for things to do inside....while I wait for it to warm up later this week!

Morel hunting by ... Morris

Well Morel hunting! I'll be switched. I am the expert.

Not really. I just like going to the woods any time.

There is so much to smell and pee on. Whoops. Was I supposed to say that?
I mean come on. Everyone knows a male dog sniffs and then pees on things. That is how we leave a comment.
You all have email. Or you can do the "Like" thing.

She said something about hunting for those funky looking mushrooms. Sigh.
It means lots of slow walking. I try and make Her think I am not okay with that when in truth I am.
It gives me more time to investigate things at my own pace.

She gave out a little ohhhh and an ahhhh when She ducked into the underbrush.

She found a small group of grey morels.

Then she sighed and sat back on her heels. I started eating some grass and gagged a bit. She looked at me, then her eyes widened.

"More Morels, Morris!" I looked down. Indeed, I was standing next to them.

She happily picked them and stuck them in the bag she was carrying. I tried to recall if I'd peed on the area.
Hmmm. Probably not, the mushrooms weren't wet.

However She did pat me on the head and tell me what a good boy I was for finding them.
I was just eating some grass. But hey, I'll take the credit. Perhaps she would find a dog cookie for me later.

You should watch her when She is looking for these odd things. I mean I see no value in them at all. However She gets all excited.

I'd rather find rabbit pellets or deer droppings. Less tasty in the spring than they are frozen. Now...that is a treat!

She walked on, crouching and peering and looking all serious like.

I laughed at Her.
She thought it was a yawn.
Does this look like a Yawn?

Then...
then...
all giddy She walks up to this tree and says, "A new mushroom tree!"

Oh Lady, you seriously need some help.

Then She plucks another Morel from the forest floor.

Well I will be gobsmacked. She found another one and since I was standing near, I got the credit again.

Hey Lady, cookies! I stare at her trying to drill the mind melding thought of dog cookies into her head.

She just gets up and we head towards home. She mumbles something about getting just enough for a taste.

We climb down and across the creek and use the rope to walk up the steep bank. Well...SHE uses the rope. I scamper ahead with visions of treats awaiting me at home for being such a great little dog.

The End.

And yes.
I got a treat.

And yes, She says we'll go again in a couple of days.

Until then.
Happy Hunting.