We got out to the farm Sunday afternoon and as we pulled in we saw mushrooms around the gate and driveway. We were excited to investigate these boletes that popped up quickly and without rain.

We took a walk and saw the same kind of toad near to where we saw the last (so now we have Toad Way). It could very well be the exact same toad for all we know.

Young fowler’s toad

We found a new marker down there and wish we knew what they all mean. We dropped a pin on Google maps so we know where this one is.

It was a dry week in Dillwyn last week. We walked to the North end of the creek and down the waterway to the spring. It continues to dribble water. We saw most of the cinnabar pins were gone probably because of the dry weather conditions. We heard the pileated woodpecker singing and cackling in the forest. It was very hot and humid with hardly a breeze. We walked back up the hill and noted many funnel webs. Most at the bases of trees. In some, we could see large spiders! They were everywhere!!!

We walked down the South trail just to Chanterelle Trail and followed that to where we’d stopped our last trail making. We’d cleared a good bit, about halfway to the North trail maybe. We were happy to see how much we’d gotten done last time. We saw a lot more of the large spiders in the funnel webs. We only saw two chanterelles this time along Chanterelle Trail. None on the South Trail but we did not make it down to the south side of the waterway this time.

We eyed our availability of cedars along the walk. We heard cedar is great to use as it’s insect and rot resistant. (We love the idea of insects staying out of the area!) We are going to fell some of these cedars to make our bathroom structure. They are crowding others and will need to be culled anyway so it’s a win-win to have a good use for them. They are pretty trees so we will miss them. We will have plenty left. We’ve gotten most of the tools collected and we have a plan drawn. Our next step is to get the trees cut and get them to our bathroom build site. We still need to work out a good plan to move these logs up to the top of the hill. We also have a better idea of where we will want the structure to be so we hope to get started as soon as possible.