Oyster Mushrooms

 

Yum yum

it is oyster mushroom season

in our area they grow on dead or dying aspen or cottonwood trees

I have found them in three places this week

get out and wander

 they burst through the bark and grow fairly fast, a few days and ready to harvest

These are growing in my yard on a dead aspen tree

this tree not only hosts mushrooms, 

there is a hairy woodpecker family nesting, 

bugs

bats

moss

lichen

an entire realm going on in this tree

if i had found them in the woods

I doubt I could have reached

yet here at home

a ladder and then a long rake

did the job

~

*

 

 

Spots and Dots

a week ago

I found this mushroom rising through the earth

a splash of dirty color:

I visited it and photographed it every day

It took 7 days from beginning to end

it was the only mushroom around

it was a fun and interesting thing to do

out in the back meadow 

the grasses are now taller than I

and 

they are speckled with ladybugs

this is the first summer that I have seen so many of these 

little gem-like bugs

this seasons fawns are quite dapper in their spots

sharing a scattering of spots and dots 

from my forest

~

*

Happy Equinox to You

as we cross the threshold of a new season

we have glimpses of summer and autumn both

 change and mysteries tend to be tangible at this time

the spots on fawns

are fading

I found a moth's cocoon

will it survive being buried under snow all winter

a mix of leaves cuddle on the pond

sunsets 

after rain

offer their own special drama

here and there 

a mushroom can be found

Happy New Season to you!

~

Do you have a favorite image from above?

~

*

Tiny Puffballs

few flowers grace our world

as we enter the fungi season

(so glad there is always something to enjoy)

these are tiny fruiting puffballs

found at the base of my mountain ash tree

photographed on a smoky day

giving them an even richer color

I find each one to be a work of art

a small treasure to behold

Then one morning 

I woke to find a squirrel had eaten them all!

That is the task to enjoy the mushrooms before someone eats them. 

Most puffballs are edible for us and the deer and the squirrels

and

who knows who else. 

~

*

Summer Begins

I headed to the mountains for

Summer Solstice 

enjoyed 

patches of tiny twinflowers

frothed-up plant sap

made by the froghopper bug

quit magical looking up close

the clouds

appeared and disappeared 

throughout the day

moody or bright

larkspur often look as though they are dancing

to me

these flowers, dogbane,

seem to be celebrating life

spring did not offer many mushroom sightings

yet

there were a family of these

on an old dead log

love how they came up through bug holes

heading home....

one poppy bud this year

it bloomed on Summer Solstice!

Exquisite!

~

Lovely Summer to you All!

~

*

Montana Summer

drenched in light

adoring the teeny tiny world

if we travel high in the mountains

we can find flowers that have come and gone at lower elevation

a bit like going back in time

an interesting find

I have never seen growth on the bottom of a conk

have you?

a tiny nest

full of treasures

don't you love how this bird lined the nest with a layer of feathers?

this dance of clouds

appears to be celebrating this peak of mountain

~

*

Tiny Realm of Lichen and Fungi

they call us pixie cups

we are tiny 

and live in the sylvan land

we grow in fanciful shapes

i have been enjoying the tiny realm of

fungi and lichen

they grow on trees

in wonderful colors

on rocks

even the black and gray speckles are lichen!

I look forward to getting to know them better

~

*

Spring Walk, Today

walking through the woods

my first wildflowers of the year

so tiny, i almost missed them

tiny fungi, big color

(ascomycetes, perhaps)

the top of a young pine tree

(if you were wondering)

last nights raindrops adorn moss

first and only violet that i saw

i did not eat this one

 

so tiny, i nearly did not see this family of five

(perhaps a Mycena)

buds

illumined in sunlight

~

Spring is beginning to burst

still a subtle thing

but if you look real closely

it is bursting

~

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