As anticipated, the recent heavy rains kickstarted fungi activity in the woods. Lots and lots of different mushrooms.
The one above is for me the most attractive. Here is a grouping of various ages.
And yet another pic.
Brier
I last cleared the area between the house and the road in October 2012 and worked hard to remove the bramble and brier. Three years was too long to wait and again my oak saplings were submerged below pines, poplars and snared with brambles. And again I met brier. Above the ground they look ordinary – thorny stem and leaves, but below the surface they resemble a horror film monster.
And close up they look like the jagged snout of a swordfish.
And below is the production center, or so I think, with bulging sacs of new monsters waiting to emerge.
Oak
A neighbor in our Atlanta subdivision decided to have a tree removed. I saw the trucks and heard the revving chainsaw and wandered over. What type is it I asked the supervisor? “It’s dead” he said no doubt thinking I was questioning the act. Then hearing me better 2nd time round he said it was an oak. And he said I could take as much as I wanted. So with my trolley I headed back and forth and collected a lot of logs.
They also unloaded a truck full of oak chips which I will distribute around the Atlanta yard and apply at the farm. So, I suppose, a silver lining in every cloud.