Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Magic Mushroom

Magic Mushrooms

They dot the mountain sides this time of year in the Colorado Rockies, more specifically, Summit County. These were found just outside of Jefferson in South Park. I had never seen red mushrooms before, but apparently they are common because as I tell friends about them they have seen them.


Scientifically known as Amanita Musceria, also known as Fly Agaric


because it was once used as fly poison.


Easily recognized as the mushroom the caterpillar sat upon in Alice and Wonderland.


Thought to house fairies and gnomes.


Used unwisely as an hallucinogenic. Best to dry the caps first, they say.


Known for its mystic and religious powers.



A really interesting plant,

But deadly poisonous. 


And these little guys are cute, but I have not yet been able to identify them.

Check out this article on mushroom hunting

Novice mushroom hunters will join an organzied hunt lead by true experts who know the difference between the poisonous shroons and the safe ones. 

Me-- I'll buy mine at the super market.

And look what I found in my own garden:


This little toad abode has been in the garden getting moved from hither to yaun, so, inspired by the mountain mishroom, I gave mine a new look and a new purpose--a fairy home. The toads never used it anyway.


And more from the garden:


Our peach harvest. I put our poor little peach next to an apricot so that you could see just now small it is. But what it lacked in size it made up in flavor. The little peach tree was loaded with baby peaches, but they all fell off. A seasoned peach grower told me that the same happened to his peaches. There is always next summer. Right?




Pans and buckets of tomatoes.


The tomatoes are not very pretty, but they will make a very good salsa.



Only four potato plants were ready to dig: russet (rather small-- more water), Yukon gold, and red.


Finally from the berry patch. The strawberries are a year old now and should be producing gallons. We have 3 varieties. The  last to be planted came from Jen's garden and once they got more water, the berries started to form. The blackberries are small, again more water, but worse I found a Japanese beetle buried head first in one berry. Never had them before. Now what do I do about them?

Thank you for all of the encouragement. We tend to think that we are the only ones who don't get perfect crops. 

The university classes started yesterday without me. I had a bit of a moment, then I got over it and decided to embrace retirement  by posting to my blog on this my second day of retirement. I will stop counting the days now and start enjoying the things that I really want to do. I am thinking about signing for an online class offered by Kim klassen on using photoshop Elements II. I will let you know how that goes. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.


11 comments:

  1. That one little peach will be ever so delicious, eat it slowly. You have a great tomatoe crop, good for lots of salsa. I think it is always very difficult to identify mushrooms in the wild, most of them look so innocent but I should not dare to try one. I keep myself on the safe side and buy them at the supermarket too.

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  2. Those magic mushrooms are so beautiful...and look at that perfect one! heehee! Love your produce...hope we get a few more tomatoes! I found a Phillip Gregory book at the thrift store today and snatched it up! I can't wait to read it. I know you mentioned this author in a comment! Hugs!

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    1. Philippa! It's a woman! haha! I didn't notice that! The Lady of the Rivers is the one I found. I'm reading a couple other books now but I'll let you know when I read it! It looks good!

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  3. Interesting about the mushrooms. We planted a couple of peach trees this year, I hope they do okay, as we know nothing about peach trees :)

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  4. Sixth grade starts on Tuesday for me so if you get a hankering to grade some papers, I'll keep you well supplied. :o) Some of my tomatoes have developed weird diseases while the squirrels keep picking off the best ones and devouring them. Argh!

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  5. Thanks for stopping by to see my colour palette, definitely worth trying. Of course if you have Photo Shop, you can probably do the same with it. I've heard Kim's classes are good.
    I didn't realize the red mushrooms existed, thought they were part of fairy folklore! Strange about your peaches, but some odd things happening in the garden this year.

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  6. Some summers are great for crops, right? Our new water/drip system has helped our plants so much (also, the new dirt).
    I love knowing that those toadstools grow here. I have a picture/sticker of them on my living room wall and now it feels more appropriate.
    Do you see toads?
    Your peaches are dreamy!

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  7. Hi Ann, I have never seen that magic mushroom growing before. What a beautiful plant it is, even though it is poisonous it is still neat to look at. I have some mushrooms that come up here now and then but not knowing a thing about them I just leave them for the animals to make use of or like you say, the fairies.

    I never have luck with peaches either, not sure why but we finally took out the tree a few years ago to make room for the two fig trees. They are doing well for only being a few years old and I get around a dozen from each tree.

    Thanks for stopping by and visiting my quail couple!

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  8. Will this make you feel better...I got two handfuls of beans, who has ever seen green beans that only grow to 12 inches tall? Must have been the hail. A few cukes, and some potatoes...swiss chard is leaf miner infested, sunflowers are taking over the compost heap, and a wasp will greet you no matter which door you leave by.

    Happy Gardening.

    Jen

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  9. What pretty mushrooms. Nice to see some harvests coming in. There are so many pests that affect all our hard work; I've loads of caterpillars this year munching on mine. I think of the slogan, 'keep calm and carry on'.

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  10. Did you really not pick those magic mushies?!?!

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