Tag Archives: central Virginia

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Pollinating SAFF Old Colony Pawpaw Patch

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We found male Asimina triloba flowers and brought them to SAFF to hand pollinate what we believe is a clonal colony of nearly 400 trees of varying sizes. We had maybe 50 or so female flowers that were ready to receive pollen today.

We were able to hand pollinate the old colony pawpaw trees at the bottom of SAFF. Notably, this is the first time with novel dna so we hope they set fruit and stay put instead of dropping early as in prior years when we pollinated them from one tree to the next not knowing they were a very old clonal colony all arising from a large root system with identical dna.

It was raining lightly and getting cooler while over there in the forest. We also shored up the tiny house as the rain began and worked on construction of temporary stairs out of concrete blocks.

A ladybug and an ant crawling from a flower with pollen from the pawpaws stuck on them. They’d fallen asleep in there together and came out groggily leaving in separate directions. Off to pollinate the highest flower buds we hope! We saw lots of tiny flies and insects in the pawpaw patch. We hope for success with pollination. We dream the pollinators will spread the novel dna from pollen outside of the clonal colony to the highest reaches of our Asimina triloba canopy down there. Some of the trees are about 15 feet tall and we couldn’t get to the buds to hand pollinate.
Before we built the temporary stairs from concrete blocks. We will get a pic of stairs when we’re out next. It was hard to climb inside! 😂
We want to write a children’s book about the ant and the ladybug.🐞
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SAFF Tiny House Delivered

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We finally got it on the pad.
Brian backed it down the driveway.

We met the designer and builders and Brian, the tow truck driver yesterday morning at 9:30 am in Troutville. It took us a while to get everything loaded up and ready for traveling to Buckingham County. We were nervous and excited. The most nerve racking part was whether or not it would fit under the train trestle with 13 feet and 4 inches of clearance stated on side.

The builders of the tiny house, Taylor and Kaitlyn, followed us to be sure it fit under the trestle that had been lowered after they built it.
This is just after Brian left with the tow truck.

It took two hours for us to drive to Buckingham. We went about 45 mph with the house. Once we got to the farm, it took about an hour to get it into its place. We are going to head back over today. We have to finish leveling it and shore it up against the weather.

The beginning of the journey was clearing this 13 feet 4 inches train trestle and we all cheered as it passed through.

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SAFF Invasive Tree Removal

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We trimmed the driveway up to 13.5 feet to accommodate the new tiny house being delivered.

We spent the weekend taking down and processing the large paulownia trees up top in the main clearing. They loomed over the driveway and pad where we decided we’d place the tiny house. It felt like we were dismantling a giant whale carcass. These trees were messy, seedy and dropped limbs off during any storm. They take over native forests and choke out beneficial plants and trees for our Virginia wildlife. They were very fast growing as well which is why we put off cutting them down. They were a big bunch of hard work!

The truck parked in the spot we cleared for the tiny house this Wednesday. It looks so much better without the paulownias. We are pleased with our decision.
The first paulownia tree we cut down earlier in the week and then came over Saturday to cut it into smaller pieces. This was the largest. It took all of our Saturday farm day.
Hole in the middle of the paulownia is not a sign of disease but an inherent characteristic of the Paulowniacea family of trees. It is called pith and creates a water highway for the tree to support its rapid growth. This hollow bamboo structure runs the length of the trunk. This is one way this tree can take over quickly. Similar to ailanthus, Callery Pear, Mimosa and White Mulberry in its destruction of forests in the eastern US. Kudzu in tree form.
The second and smaller of the two paulownia trees we took down and cleared it yesterday (Sunday).
We are going to need a wood chipper!
Paulownia tree debris around the pad. We will find a use for these logs. It is lightweight and fire and rot resistant. We picked a lot of great walking sticks and fishing poles out of the rubble and sorted into useful and non useful piles. We brought the long dead pieces home to use as fire starter. They burn for a long time and are as light as paper. It’s really very interesting wood. Too bad the tree isn’t adapted to playing nice in our environment with its native cohorts.

We stayed focused on creating our space for the tiny house for the most part, but ran down to the old colony pawpaw patch last night just before leaving SAFF for the weekend. The buds are still tightly closed. We are happy with the slow moving progress of the buds as we have only found female flowers out in the wild so far. We continue to look for the older male flowers with pollen. We will use this to pollinate our female flowers when they open. We are watching the pawpaws develop along the Rockfish River on our drive to the farm and we see them covered in buds. They are all still female with green flowers instead of more purple male flowers that face downward.

Female flowers at Edible Landscaping on Saturday in Afton Virginia.

View of the clearing and pad without the paulownias.

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Afternoon walk around SAFF on Sunday

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We started our walk down Red Hawk Rd and made a new trail from the bottom at the roundabout to down to Fern Trail.

The drive over to SAFF was beautiful with fall color. We travel from the Shenandoah Valley over Afton Mountain through Rockfish Gap and Howardsville to Buckingham. We oohed and ahhhed the whole way. Here’s a quick video of Howardsville Rd.

31 seconds of trees putting on a colorful show. Sound on for beautiful jazz as well.

We unloaded the lumber we found at the Restore and checked out the pawpaw and fig trees planted up top. They have yellow leaves and are losing most of them. Then we headed down Red Hawk Road to get down to Fern Trail. We checked out the Rappahanock cultivar and the seedlings planted as well as the cluster of natives. Most have gone fully dormant for the winter, especially the native SAFF trees. A few of the cultivars and seedlings look great; fully leafed and deep green still. Gleaming. It’s more typical for them with the temperature and season to be dormant. We have not yet had a hard freeze in Buckingham, or in Staunton in the Valley—which usually frosts first. Once dormant, their watering needs will drop. Phew! 😅

Leucobryum albidum, white moss or white pincushion moss, is common here in the eastern US. It creates a habitat for amphibians, reptiles and insects, stabilizes the soil, retains water, cycles nutrients and contributes to carbon sequestration.

Along our walk we found white moss and strawberry euonymus (Euonymus americanus). We also went down to the waterway to check on this oak snag in the picture below. SAFF had high winds for several days and the last time we saw it, there was a bend and crack starting.

White moss beginning to grow.

SAFF old oak snag we check on regularly. It looks as though it will fall to the west towards the Pawpaw Peninsula.

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Pawpaw Planting at St Andrews Forest Farm

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Pawpaws we foraged under Edible Landscaping’s Sunflower and Mango cultivars in Nelson County Virginia on Sunday.

We went out to the farm on Friday and Sunday to get as many pawpaws planted before the rain comes. Thunderstorms and rain are forecasted to get started late tonight and continue until Wednesday afternoon. We planted 17 on Friday: Five in the orchard (a Kentucky State University Chappell and 4 seedlings) and another five alongside the Shenandoah and select seedlings that we planted last year. We put a Mango cultivar and four seedlings we started from foraging. Then we planted 2 on the Pawpaw Peninsula (an Allegheny cultivar and Wild native seedling from a Rockfish River foraged pawpaw). After that we put two by the pawpaw patch at the bottom of Ridge Trail and another two on the left side of the large pawpaw grove. We walked up Ridge Trail and put another wild pawpaw seedling from Rockfish River foraging near the small colony of native pawpaws growing along the south wet weather gully.

Wild native seedling planted up top.

We were exhausted after this. We had to carry water for the trees after planting in our packs, carry our equipment and the trees themselves all around the farm. It was hot and the ground was hard and dry for digging. Chris was battling each hole. (We are looking into finding a lightweight device to dig our holes, as in an auger.)

Allegheny pawpaw cultivar on the Pawpaw Peninsula with our SAFF native wild pawpaws. The wild ones are yellowing leaves and going dormant for winter since it has been so dry.

Then we went back out on Sunday to water what we’d planted Friday and put a few more in the ground. We planted 5 up top in the main clearing along the driveway and put two along the South Gully on Dan’s Folly. We put one more across next to a lone wild SAFF native pawpaw on Fern Trail. From there, we walked down the Gully and watered our select seedling planted a few days before. We were happy to see they all were still in the ground (last year, the deer ate them and pulled them out of the ground a day after we planted so we almost expected the same.) They were glowing in fact. They all appeared to be very happy in their new locations. We watered them some more.

We have another 80 or so to plant and hope to get out to the farm again soon to get a few more in the ground.

We found this lone flower along Mary Banning Trail. We aren’t certain but are leaning towards a type of Spurge. We will continue to observe it in order to further identify.
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October 4, 2024 – Preparing the Boundaries for Hunting Season

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Amanita persicina found in groups throughout the farm near pines and oaks.

We went over to put up boundary markers and no hunting or trespassing signs as well as forage for mushrooms. Hunting season begins Saturday October 5th (early archery season starts). We took down trees growing too closely together and used the trunks as a natural fencing inside the tree line along the road frontage to discourage hunters from chasing deer onto our property. We’ve also been told hunters run dogs through properties to scare up deer. We are trying to create a hunt free zone, except for mushrooms, and to keep anyone chasing animals off our land. We also will put up several more cameras later this weekend. We had technical issues yesterday but worked it out this morning.

Coral fungus
A family of Amanita jacksonii, American slender Caesar, we brought home and processed for eating.
Top of A jacksonii
Younger A jacksonii
An A. jacksonii just emerging from its volva. These are the most delicious.
Eastern fence lizard, Sceloporous undulatus, we found hanging out on a black cherry stump up top in the clearing.
Amanita spreta, commonly called the Hated Caesar, is an inedible variety. They were large and showy found in the north side near pines.
We continue to find these blue staining boletes and have narrowed down their identification to four different species. For now, they remain unknown.
Unknown blue staining bolete.
Inocybe lilacina, Lilac fibercap, is a poisonous mushroom found on the north side of SAFF.
Suillus salmonicolor, Slippery Jill, found everywhere on SAFF near pine.
Suillus, slippery jacks, associated with pines.
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October 1, 2024 – After hurricane Helene at SAFF.

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Chicken of the woods, Laetiporus sulphuric, found on the way to the farm. We took this older specimen over and left it to spore on some of our dead and dying hardwoods: Mostly black cherry trees and tulip poplar.

Today was a mushroom hunter’s dream. It’s an understatement to say they were everywhere. We’ve had an enormous amount of rain in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. We’ve had flooding at the house but finally, after all of this rain, the water table is restored at SAFF from our prolonged summer drought. All of the springs are flowing and the waterways are moving. We saw water flowing in the wet weather gullies in the north and south. It’s a beautiful sight.

Amanita persicina, Peach colored fly agaric, were found all around the farm where pines are growing. These were large and brilliantly decorated with vibrant orange. The larger of the specimen were 8 inches in height and 4 inches across. They are showstoppers.
More A. persicina along south trail. We found them mostly in big groupings up top and along the trails. These are my new favorites.
Leccinum longicurvipes found on the north side in the pine forest. The scabers (rigid projections) along the stalk identify them as Leccinum within the genus Boletus.
Genus suillus, slippery jacks or sticky bun, found anywhere we saw pines. They were all over the farm today. We hadn’t seen them before so it’s a wonderful surprise. It forms symbiotic ectomycorrhizal associations with pine trees by enveloping the underground roots of the tree with sheaths of fungal tissue. Rather than gills, it has tubes extending downward from the underside of the cap.
Ramaria stricta, Upright Coral fungus, found near southern waterway along Ridge Trail.
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September 24, 2024 – A Rainy Fall Day at SAFF

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Mushrooms were everywhere at Saint Andrews Forest Farm since it has been raining for days and the temperatures are in the 60s at night and 70s during the day. The rain is wonderful and much appreciated as the water table is still very low.

We saw these tiny Mycenae and Coprinellus growing together.

Saprobic fungus thriving with the moisture and temperatures in the perfect range for them to break down forest litter.
Stereum complicatum, crowded parchment, growing on multiple stumps and dead hardwood throughout the farm.
Chalciporus piperatus, Peppery Bolete, is reported to be edible when thoroughly cooked. It is very peppery so it will spice up a dish. It was a surprise to find a bolete with the weather being cooler.
Pawpaws leaves yellowing as part of the trees natural process of going dormant for winter. It makes them very easy to locate right now. We found a few more clusters of pawpaws near the wet weather gully on the south side.
More pawpaws going dormant for the winter across the waterway.
Amanita bisporigera, Eastern North American Destroying Angel, are found in multiple areas of SAFF this fall. These are deadly.
Terrapene carolina carolina, Eastern box turtle, on the north side looking for food.
Calvatia craniiformis, Brain puffball, found just off the top clearing in a group of seven.
Lycogala epidendrum, Wolf’s milk, found at the gate to SAFF. This is a slime mold instead of a fungus.
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September 18, 2024– Shrimp of the woods and Honey Mushrooms

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Entoloma abortivum, shrimp of the woods, found along the stream at the bottom of the slope. A choice edible for us.
Dacrymyces chrysospermus, orange jelly spot, grows on dead conifers. It is edible but flavorless.
Armillaria mellea, Honey mushroom, an edible mushroom found growing in groups up top in the pines.
More Honey mushrooms

We took a walk in the rain around Saint Andrews Forest Farm yesterday and saw plenty of fungi to our delight. The animals had eaten some of the Honey mushrooms. These are highly nutritious. We were fascinated by the fairy ring of Honey mushrooms up top which showed this Armillaria to be maybe 15 or 20 feet in diameter. Most of it is underground mycelium.

We’d been waiting for these to emerge along with the Entoloma abortivum which are actually honey mushrooms parasitized by Entoloma. Each year they show up together and it is a helpful identification factor. They are delicious and we are having them for breakfast this morning with our eggs.

They are best when browned well. 😋

We also found a few more patches of pawpaws growing along the southern wet weather gully! They are easily spotted right now as they are beginning to go dormant for winter as evidenced by their yellowing leaves.

These shrimp of the woods are growing on roots and dead wood along the sides of the waterway. They are decomposers.