Mushroom Season

Nature takes care, with the help of the mighty ant (and many other things).

Once the humidity reaches a dew point above 75%, mushrooms pop up all around town, which is magical, beautiful, and very natural. 
A beautiful orange and white cap turned brown in a day, then became a feast for an opportunistic colony of ants. An enterprising army of them made a hanging home from a sturdy leaf of grass for their harvest, creating a short commute to their job site, similar to my life here in the Hudson Valley. 

A sticky colony of ants, in a few blades of grass.

I don't particularly like dampness (if I did, I'd live in a rainforest), but the fecundity of this area is necessary to maintain its' astonishing biodiversity. I'll get by, and so will you, with or without air conditioning. Me? I've already weaned myself off of it, so that we can move forward together, by breaking our twin addictions to fossil fuels and petrochecmicals*, a chemical dependency fueled by the corruption of those who are similarly addicted at Big American Companies. 

A second orange and white cap grows by the stone wall on my commute.

White Mushroom Cap in Grass (Pearl River, July 2015).

Amen to you, during the hazy, hot, and humid weather this week. Better days are always ahead for you, my faithful. Our Father wants what's best for you, especially during this exciting Encyclical season: http://www.papalencyclicals.net/.

Flat caps and clover, perfect for bees and clover honey. What a commute!

 

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrochemical 

 

The Last of the Wood Violets

Translucent wood violet.

These delicate wood violets opened up a few weeks ago, the last of the years' flowers to blossom during the warm spell we had this fall. They were so paper thin, the sunlight shone through them to brilliant, transparent effect, imparting a fragile, see-through quality upon the already frost-threatened flower. It was a good lesson in how so easily life can be broken, like the paper-thin quality of these beautiful little petals that can tear when touched lightly. We are here for so short a time! Let's enjoy it, together.

Sunlit wood violets.

In contrast to the whisper thin petals of the last wood violets are these hardy, bulbous mushrooms that sprang up almost overnight, after we finally had a good few days of soaking rain. Alien looking, aren't they? They're a cluster of big beech mushrooms growing out of an old stump. Please, do not pick and eat any mushrooms without consulting an expert first! Edibles can be very tricky to identify correctly.

Cluster of round-topped beech mushrooms.

And lastly, we have the gorgeous striated caps of the Mycena mushroom. Again, please do not pick or eat any wild mushrooms without an expert present, especially varieties with with prominent gills. Snap a picture instead, like any good ecological tourist would do. That's what I do!

Wild Mycenas and morning dew.

Beautiful Mushrooms and a Gorgeous Feather

I love collecting beautiful samples during my daily walks around town, sometimes shooting a bunch of images that go together well. So, instead of an individual Instagram and/or Twitter post (which you should totally check out for different content I publish on there, too), here's a bevy of natural beauties that are out there on G-d's green earth, just like you. Enjoy the last warm breath of summer this week!

Everyday magic, in a Fairy Bonnet mushroom.(Coprinellus disseminatus)

The mark of a fearsome predator, the Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).

Wild Mushrooms

Mushrooms grow out of decay....

.....or from underneath a rock; such is the power of life.

Nature: Life and Death

Fallen bird's nest

Mushroom cap in grass

Mummified squirrel

Mushroom cap in pine needles

Baby bird fallen from nest

Mushrooms

Speckled specimen.

I've always loved mushrooms and their shapes. They bring to mind fantastical fairy tales about leprechauns, those whimsical shapes that capture the artistic mind with a naturalist bent. I had a yellow polka dotted, painted wood cutout of a mushroom on my wall as a kid, decor that was sought to match the bright walls. I also loved the scene from Fantasia with the dancing oriental mushrooms. What kid didn't? The very first piece of art I did at Oneonta State (a SUNY school, enough said) was an Alice in Wonderland piece of psychedelia with a giant 'shroom that I put on our front door. It went with the giant tie dye tapestry we bought for about $15 (we haggled with the hippie who went door to door) that hung from the ceiling. We also took a tossed couch by the side of the dorm with no legs, put it on top of a tipped over bookcase, and covered it with a black and white cowhide I bought at a farm goods store in West Texas.

Me and my best friend were the first people to get "written up" (cited for partying) on campus, in the very same dorm her older brother was an R.A., and we're chicks, so overnight we became infamous. Within a few days, the sorority girls from Long Island, in their matching Champion sweats, slouchy socks, and top knot ponytails, wrote nasty remarks about stoners on the drawing, and then someone jacked it. In retaliation, we spray painted cracks about them in hairspray on the mirrors in the common bathroom (our commentary about their dependency on beauty products and their cliched 80s hairdos), and then lit them on fire so they would be visible in burnt scorch marks, a brilliant piece of impromptu performance art that was angry, hilarious, and true, which was our punk ethos at the time. We made the scene, and the best guys around wanted to hang out and party with us, which made us even bigger targets, but by then, we'd already surpassed the dorm in hijinks, so we were golden. It kicked off one of the best, funnest, fruitful, and most stable parts of my life, but more about that in the future. Suffice to say, whenever I see a cute patch of them, I still think the same thoughts: they're funny, sweet, cheerful, happy and also edible, but please don't go foraging without an expert. The difference between an edible one, a trip to Mars, or a slow, agonizingly painful death can be a minute one, so don't do it. If you're interested in mycology like I am, check out some resources on the subject, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/The-Pocket-Guide-Wild-Mushrooms/dp/1620877317/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382549928&sr=8-2&keywords=Skyhorse+mushrooms.

Mama and baby 'shroom.

There's also a bunch of nature hikes with guides you can take in the area New Yorkers, so have at it you freaks, and I mean that in the best, warmest way possible: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/.

Live life, and prosper.

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/nature/.