{"id":484,"date":"2012-01-01T14:55:47","date_gmt":"2012-01-01T19:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kb1awv.com\/?p=484"},"modified":"2015-06-15T08:07:56","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T12:07:56","slug":"whats-in-your-backyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idlenot.com\/?p=484","title":{"rendered":"What’s In Your Backyard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s in your backyard?\u00a0 I\u2019ll bet there is more than you might be aware of.\u00a0 You just have to take the time to walk around and look.\u00a0 Sometimes it involves crawling behind bushes or stalking an animal that is all too aware (and wary) of your presence.\u00a0 You may have to venture out at midnight \"\"<\/a>when nature\u2019s nocturnal community members create the noises of the dark.\u00a0 Sometimes it involves getting down to eye level with a mushroom; how else to see the details that reveal its mighty stretch through the upper layer of your lawn?\u00a0You may even be tempted to taste that cool looking fungus.\u00a0 That\u2019s one temptation that it is better to
\navoid.\u00a0 I once took a mushroom course
\n(Field Mycology, 101).\u00a0 I soon learned that two of my fellow classmates were members of a mushroom club.\u00a0 They knew the common and scientific names of every species we collected during our daily hunts.\u00a0 I clearly recall the day they located a stash of Boletus\u00a0edulis<\/em>, or that is what they thought they had.\u00a0 No spore prints or stain test was necessary for them.\u00a0 A simple slice with a pocket knife and out flowed a stream of \u2018blue blood\u2019.\u00a0 That was the acid test.\u00a0 It was indeed the edible variety.\u00a0 Unfortunately someone had forgotten that blue blood meant just the opposite, it was the poisonous version.\u00a0 They found out the next day when each of them was suddenly hit with the urge to vomit and sit on a toilet at the same time (a
\ndifficult thing to manage with dignity).\u00a0One woman was in a bank lobby when her fungal frenzy commenced.\u00a0 After the bank employees unlocked three sets of doors she was finally granted access to the highly guarded comfort station just in the nick of time.<\/p>\n

Mushrooms are a curious lot.\u00a0They sometimes grow in a pattern that reflects the log or abandoned wood \"\"<\/a>that their subterranean mycelia are anchored\u00a0to.\u00a0 If you ever find them in a perfect circle you have found a fairy ring, mushrooms growing around the perimeter of an old buried tree trunk.\u00a0 One of my favorites is the puffball.\u00a0 When fresh and firm they are all edible.\u00a0 When old and dried
\nthey pop open explosively to spew your yard with black clouds of spores as fine as flour.\u00a0 Then there is the Russula<\/em>.\u00a0 I usually find their broad fruiting bodies with chunks missing from them.\u00a0 That\u2019s sure evidence that a squirrel has been feasting on these poisonous morsels.\u00a0 Then there are the Amanita.<\/em>\u00a0 Their bright
\ncolors, speckles, and persistent annulus (ring around the stalk) are usually enough to warn away the cautious.\u00a0 All of these and others have appeared in my yard, mostly unnoticed by the casual passerby.<\/p>\n

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\nAn Amanita on the left (quite deadly) and a\u00a0\u00a0puffball below (very edible).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Of course, there is no good reason to overlook my garden, other than the fact that it was declared\u00a0a disaster area by the FDA.\u00a0 It seems that I miscalculated the amount of sun that would fall on my chosen plot.\u00a0The result was stunted\u00a0or entirely nonproductive\u00a0plants.\u00a0 Cucumbers that were supposed\u00a0to be 10\u201d long were stretching to achieve a maximum length of about 4.5\u201d.\u00a0 They still did present a photographic opportunity.<\/p>\n

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All of my cucumber vines were suspended from above to avoid any problem caused by contact with the ground.\u00a0They were also fed and watered well.\u00a0The photograph shows you what I got.\u00a0Each one was worth two bites in a fresh salad.\u00a0 Maybe next time I will grow pickles \u2026 small pickles.<\/p>\n

Most people would like to have ferns in their gardens, but they are often difficult to grow.\u00a0 It requires the right amount of moisture and shade. If you are lucky they will appear all on their own, as they do in our yard.\u00a0 Our yard is just a little extension of the surrounding forest and as such it reflects what grows there.<\/p>\n

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There are at least a dozen different species of fern that grow naturally in Rhode Island.\u00a0 I
\ncompletely forget all the distinctions between them (I did know at one time) and am just too lazy to key out the ones pictured here, one of several in our small domain.\u00a0 Of course, where there are ferns they may also be wild orchids.\u00a0 I am speaking about the lady slipper, or Cypripedium sp.\u00a0 <\/em>The woods on the edge of my yard (basically the part of our land where the trees were not cut down) contain loads of these.\u00a0 I always thought they
\nwere difficult to find.\u00a0 They do well mostly on the east side of the property, right up to the street.\u00a0 They are always found under the shade of trees and they make a vibrant addition to the mostly green and brown surroundings.\u00a0 So, I\u2019ll let the lady slipper be my last
\nphotograph for this short guide to the yard flora in Hope Valley.\u00a0 Next time around I\u2019ll display some of the animals that visit our area \u2026 I will even try to post some of the strange sounds they make at night.<\/p>\n

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