Category Archives: farming

farming

March 9, 2024 Wet weather and Morel hunting

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Witches butter

We’ve been going over most days this week as the soil temperature has been above 50 degrees Fahrenheit which is when morels begin to pop up. We have not found them yet but are delighted to continue our search. We’ve been looking especially near tulip poplars, oaks and beech —and near the waterways.

Ink caps, usually one of the first mushrooms to appear in early spring.
Wet weather gully along the southern side of SAFF during a rainy day.

We’ve also been going over often to be sure our neighbor at our southern border isn’t hunting on our property. He built a stand and a bridge and also cut down 30-50 trees all on our side. He’s confused about the unambiguous property line that runs right along the electricity line. We are planning a fence and have sent him letters. We will engage with the sheriff’s office next. Yesterday, we found deer bones on that side and we mourned for these creatures and wish he would contain himself to his land at the least.

Water was collecting everywhere up top and along the slopes.
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February 23, 2024 SAFF on a drizzly, cloudy winter day.

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Bryoandersonia illecebra,
Millipede hiding out among the Stereum complicatum or common named crowded parchment.

Today we startled a rabbit as we walked through the woods in the misty rain. Somehow we caught him by surprise, crunching up the hillside behind the shed. He startled and panicked, ran 50 feet away, then stopped, stretched his legs and shook it off.

There were a few puddles of water collecting in depressions up top in the clearing.

I just heard on NPR that as of today, there’s no county in Virginia in a drought. This is as a result of the wet month we’ve had.
Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Wettst. – Jelly Ear Fungus.

 Mainly seen in winter and spring. It grows on dead elder trees and on fallen branches, but occasionally you may also find it growing on other kinds of hardwood. Jelly Ear is sometimes used in cookery, where it provides an interesting texture but is nothing special in terms of flavour. Young fresh fruitbodies (above) are generally considered the best. We have not tried it although we hear it’s good in soups and adds nutrients.

We’re excited to report we’ve almost finished insulating the shed. We cut down a few more black knot infected black cherry trees and some other standing dead trees. We have so much work to do in the forest. The ground was wet and squishy in areas especially down at the bottom of the slope and around the waterway. We found a few more downy rattlesnake orchids. The leaves on the beech trees are showing buds. We went across to look at the waterfalls in the wet weather.

We pulled out vines, found mosses, worts and lichen in abundance. Even in the wintry weather, we found the jelly wood ear and crowded parchment fruiting bodies.

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February 21, 2024 Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm

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Waterway at bottom of slope where we saw tiny minnows swimming today.
Eyelash lichen with hairs growing from it down by the waterway.
Oyster mushrooms sporing on a tulip poplar stump.
Running cedar in the paw paw grove.
Another downy rattlesnake orchid spotted right off of the main clearing up top.

We went over today and we are almost finished insulating the shed. We also chopped up several trees we had felled a few weeks ago and brought them home to burn. One was a black cherry with black knot fungus and the other was a standing dead tree. We walked down North Trail and around the bottom. We crossed over the waterway to explore some in the paw paw grove and up the Ridge Trail. It was a gorgeous day. We were very pleased to find the tiny minnows in the waterway.

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February 11, 2024 Insulating the Shed and a Look Around

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Stereum ostrea, false turkey tail, at the top of North Trail.

It was drizzling rain and the high temperature was in the 50s. We saw many plants on the forest floor greening up. As we walked through the woods, we pulled out vines or cut them to kill them and stop them from strangling the trees. We took down some standing dead trees as well. We walked down from the top by the driveway and wound around the southern wet weather gully to the waterway at the bottom of the slope. We followed the waterway around to the wet weather gullies on the north central slope. It was lovely out. We also found a cluster of oyster mushrooms.

Pleurotus ostreatus, oyster mushrooms growing from a buried stump.

We were able to get most of the insulation in the shed completed.

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February 3, 2024 A Visit to the Farm

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A fern moss
Deer lichen in the sunshine and New York scalewort on the log in the shadow.
A small fern found along the north side of Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm. They were abundant throughout the forest and along the wet weather gullies.

We took a quick trip over and found more mosses, lichen and worts. No mushrooms today. It’s just too cold. We trailbrazed some through the dense trees. We cut back vines. We repositioned the trail cam to catch images of the red fox family. We also dreamed about building log cabins, more trails and meditation spots in the forest. We stayed in the north central area and passed by the culvert with the shoe lasts.

We strengthened the internal structure of the shed some more by adding hurricane clips and other strong ties. Next time, we will insulate and put up interior walls.

The tiny black cup fungi, Urnula craterium, hiding among the pine needles and lichen caught our eye when we looked twice!

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December 29, 2023 Trailblazing East, reinforcing shed and creating inlet trails near waterway and springs

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Tremella mesenterica, yellow brain or golden jelly fungus are a few common names. It is most frequently found on dead but attached and on recently fallen branches, especially of angiosperms, as a parasite of wood decay fungi in the genus Peniophora. The gelatinous, orange-yellow fruit body of the fungus, which can grow up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in diameter.

We went out to the farm to do more reinforcement of the shed with 2 by 4s and to also take a walk. We started walking east where we saw the young bear. No sign of him today. We followed the wet weather gully east and then south until we reached the North Trail. We used loppers and laid our stick trees down beside the trail. We heard crows and hawks as we walked. We recognized a large loblolly and knew we were nearing North Trail.

We found this tree with holes bored into the tree trunk and the bark on the ground and think maybe the pileated woodpecker was looking for a meal of insects.

Evidence of a large woodpecker looking for insects. We hear a pileated woodpecker often and were visited by this large creature back in the early fall.
Fallen bark. I wonder what insects the woodpecker found.
Apioperdon pyriforme, or commonly called the pear-shaped puff mushroom, a saprobic fungus present throughout much of the world. Emerging in autumn, this puffball is common and abundant on decaying logs of both deciduous and coniferous wood. It is considered a choice edible when still immature and the inner flesh is white.
Mycena capillaripes, pink edge bonnet, is a saprobic mushroom found growing in pine forests. We saw it everywhere there were pine trees. Thousands of them. They are tiny.

We did not check the new trail camera. We will remember to do it next time we’re out to Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm.

In order to begin to minimize the spread of the black knot fungus, we are going to be mindful of how we manage the infected branches. When possible, remove them, burn them or cover them from wind and rain to inhibit growth of the fungus.
As we closed the gate to leave, a squall came blowing through bringing wind, rain, ice and sleet. Our truck and Saint Andrew’s Road as well as Howardsville Turnpike were covered in ice. The weather forecast did not predict this.
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December 28, 2023 A walk through the woods and reinforcing the shed

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The rainy days have been nice for the waterway at the bottom of the slope.

As we walked through the forest, we heard the crows and the hawk calling often. It was a warmer day and it smelled of fresh earth and moisture even up top in the clearing.

We looked through the woods and found multiple individual Laccaria up near the front gate. These are edible although we’ve not foraged any as of yet. Animals or insects have been eating them as quickly as they grow.

A video of the waterway at the bottom of the hill.

We can see through the forest better now that it’s winter. We can see the contours of the landscape since the trees have lost their leaves. While we walk through, we plan and think about how to improve the health of the forest. Lately we have been noting the black cherry trees which have succumbed to black knot fungus. We read that this needs to be cut out and if it’s the whole tree, it cannot be saved. We are planning how to get these trees down and removed from the area. Rain, wind and cool weather assist the spores of the black knot fungus. Black knot fungus impacts cherry and plum trees. Until we have managed this, we will not plant trees susceptible to this fungus.

Mycena. Found where pine needles are laying in the ground.
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December 24, 2023 Christmas Eve SAFF Walk

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Laccaria found along the driveway. Edible mushrooms that arrive in cooler weather.

We went out to Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm on Christmas Eve to take a walk in the woods and look for mushrooms. So far, since the heavy rains, we have seen mushrooms up top along the driveway and in the mostly pine forest near the road. These Laccaria are growing in clusters near the gate and along the driveway in the clearing.

We wanted to also check the new trail cam to see if we’d gotten any images of an animal living in the den yet we had technical difficulties but will try again in a few days.

Deceased Red-Shouldered hawk in woods. No obvious external wounds.

We found a dead hawk in the woods along Beech Trail. For native Americans, the dead hawk symbolizes courage, resilience, determination, a new beginning, good luck and freedom from the past. Also, prosperity, breaking of limitations and clarity. We were sorry to find it and hoped it had lived a long, full and beautiful life. We emailed the Monacan tribe to ask if they would like to come and collect the feathers. Hawk feathers are sacred and used in ceremonies.

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December 21,2023 Inoculating poplar logs with Hericium erinaceus and a walk around SAFF

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Poplar logs inoculated with Lion’s mane spores.
Neofavolus alveolaris, Hexagonal polypore, saprobic. Found near the stumpery just south of the clearing.

Tops of Neofavolus alveolaris. They were a bright orange.

Underneath the stumpery pile, an animal has dug a hole or tunnel. We found several other spots like this today. We received our new trail camera and will set it up tomorrow we hope.

We went to the farm today to inoculate more poplar logs with Lion’s mane mushroom spores. Once finished, we took a short walk around and found a few mushrooms. We found a polypore and a common Laccaria. These were new mushrooms found at SAFF.

Common Laccaria tops. One young specimen and one older.
White gills, orange concave cap,long brown stipe. Found growing out of leaf litter in mixed forest. We found a few singles of these as well as a cluster near the driveway and gate up front.
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December 18, 2023 Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm after Heavy Rains

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On Saturday night and all day Sunday, Buckingham got 1.7 inches of rain from a storm that moved through from Florida and the Carolinas and continued up the East Coast. We were excited to go out and see if the shed remained water-tight throughout the storm. We also wanted to see water levels in the waterways and wet weather gullies and look for mushroom development.

The view from the top of the slope.
We saw this den which could be where a fox or coyote would live, or perhaps a smaller creature, or even a three year old male bear. We ordered a new camera last night to take photos of any movement so we can know who may live here. Here are sounds from a bear den. https://ktwh.org/sounds-from-a-bear-den-shared-on-ktwh/
We found this hole near the bottom waterway which was dripping and water was flowing down. Sound on for tinkling water noises. 💦
It was cold yesterday so we wore our orange shirts over all of our clothes and coats to be sure to be seen by hunters; although, we did not hear any shots fired or dogs hunting. We have avoided this South border since hunting season began. It was a treat to walk it. We were amazed to see how much water flowed at the bottom waterway and along the sides. We have never seen it so full and wet. The ferns, lichen and moss were glowing with brighter greens. The water was clear and trickling came from everywhere.
Looking at our camp from the forest.
These tiny saprotrophic mushrooms covered the forest floor. If we looked close enough, we found them everywhere up top in the woods. There were thousands. We can’t wait until next week to see what other, larger mushrooms emerge from the rains.
At bottom of slope looking up we saw areas where pines have dropped their needles. We began to plan this spot as one area we want to clear of the thousand of sticklike tulip poplars in order to plant an orchard of paw paws, other fruits and nut trees. Just behind us, we are standing 20 feet from the bottom waterway/stream. We may apply to the https://www.jamesriverbuffers.org/ for help planting the area. We are determining our eligibility for this program. “The James River Association and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation are working with landowners across the Middle and Upper James River watersheds to restore or create forest buffers that improve the quality of local waterways.” We are checking into it and are excited to find out more.
Chris on the North Trail taking down a diseased tulip poplar. The tulip poplar overwhelm areas in the forest if left unchecked. Maples also appear to be invasive where we find them.

We were so glad we went over and grateful to know the camp remained dry in that windy and heavy downpour. We hadn’t yet imagined building a fire at SAFF even in our clearing because of the drought. This rain really replenished the moisture of the earth. The ground’s thirst appears quenched for now. It was a beautiful afternoon to visit Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm and have a walk around.