Tag Archives: central Virginia

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El Niño impact on SAFF this summer

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Loblolly pine surrounded by Amanita jacksonii overlooking the cultivar seedlings planted last Fall at the bottom of North Trail.
Asimina triloba fruit hanging from the pawpaw tree at the bottom of the hill and across the waterway on the old clonal colony.

It sure has been hot and humid in Virginia these past weeks with near daily opportunities for thunderstorms. The heat index has been in the low 100s on most days. Saint Andrews Forest Farm has had a few good soaking rains. It’s not enough to offset the severe multi-month rainfall deficit and drought conditions. Nevertheless, we are beyond grateful. Until the onset of El Niño, we weren’t getting much rainfall. Since El Niño patterns began shifting the jet stream, we have had consistent moisture and opportunities for storms. Virginia feels more and more like a tropical rainforest. With the temporary seasonal increase in rainfall, our forest grows, mushrooms we haven’t seen for two years (since the last El Niño!) are fruiting, the creek burbles and flows.

We feel encouraged to begin building a water collection system for the farm as soon as possible. Although this short term impact of El Niño’s increased rainfall feels positive, the long term picture is really unknown. Better to be prepared for a future that includes alternating wet and dry years, and best to incorporate the presumption of drought into our planning.

The old snag finally fell in a storm last week.
From across the waterway, the snag laid down pretty gently.
Phaeolus schweinitzii, Dyer’s Polypore, found along Midhill Trail.
Eragrostis spectabilis, Purple Lovegrass, found on the hillside in the clearing up top.
farming

A Sunday Workday with Mushrooms

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Cyanocitta cristata, Blue Jay feather, found along Red Hawk Road.
Lycoperdon marginatum, Peeling Puffball, found up top in the main clearing. They were small and cute. We left them for a woodland creature to snack on later.
Calvatia cyathiformis, Purple-spored Puffball, is a large edible purple spored mushroom that comes up in groups at the top of Red Hawk Trail when the temperature and rainfall and just the right environmental conditions occur. Primarily seen late summer into fall after soaking rains or wet periods. They are edible when young and completely white inside. After they change color internally, they are sporing and inedible. We were stunned by the mosaic scales they each have.
A mature Calvatia cyathiformis with an opening used to release spores. As it matures, the solid white interior breaks down into a dark purple powdery spore mass. We thought it looked like a giant sea urchin.
Multiple holes formed on surface will emit spores when wind, rain or passing animals compress the mushroom. We thought this looked like a brain.

We went over and got a few chores done. The temperature was a cool-feeling 84 Degrees Fahrenheit. We got the scaffolding up on the tiny house. We’re excited to have our plans coming together.

Calvatia cyathiformis broken open to see bugs have been eating it and the white solid inside becoming darker powdery spores.
We got 2 levels of scaffolding up and it went up quickly.
farming

Fun fungi Friday at SAFF

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A young red Russula. These are nearly impossible to identify as there are hundreds of Russula species featuring red, pink or crimson caps. Colors change under certain weather conditions. With this one species, if you do a spit test and it’s spicy, it needs to be cooked thoroughly before eaten. If not, it can be eaten raw, although you really want to cook everything you’ve gotten from the forest floor, in my humble opinion.
Russula crustosa, Green Quilt Russula, or the crusty Russula, is an edible mushroom known for its dry cracked mosaic-like cap in shades of yellow, tan or grayish green with white gills and stem. We found it up top on Dan’s Folly. It’s mycorrhizal with oaks and hardwoods.
Russula parvovirescens, Blue Green Cracking Russula is considered a choice edible for its nutty taste. The cap looks like a quilt or stained glass and is particularly striking to find lying on the forest floor.
Amanita flavoconia, Yellow patches, found near the top of A. Jacksonii Gully. Inedible as far as we know. Lovely to see.
Retiboletus ornatipes, Ornate-stalked Bolete or gold stalk, is technically edible but usually bug infested.
Boletus separans, lilac bolete, we wish we’d found a few days earlier. These are scrumptious.
Pasimachus, warrior beetles, on the south side near Black Trumpet Way. They were fighting.

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Wednesday Walk at SAFF with Mushrooms

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2 inches of rain this week! What a dream come true.
Amanita polypyramis, Plateful of Pyramids Lepidella, named after the pyramid like warts on the cap. We found these on Mary Banning Way up top near the driveway. It’s poisonous and smells like chlorine.
Chris surrounded by multiple types of mushrooms on Chanterelle Trail.
We found our first chanterelle in two years just a few feet away.
We found multiple Lactarius species including this Lactarius psammicola.
Lactarius psammicola, underside view with lactation from the gills.
Trametes cinnabarina, Northern Cinnabar Polypore, found up top on a conifer.
Sabatia angularis, Rosepink, flowering in the woods, clearings and on trails.
Amanita jacksonii, an edible found near Three Pine Trail.
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Amanitas and boletes at SAFF with smoke

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Wildfire smoke and haze obstructing the view of Afton Mountain on the drive home last night.
Over an inch of rain in the gauge. We hadn’t checked it when there on Tuesday. The rain was from last weekend. We were happy to see it.

When driving over to the farm we saw smoke from the wildfires up north settling in around the mountains and hills. We wore our masks while outside to protect our lungs from any fine particulate. We had farm chores aplenty yesterday afternoon and also took time to have a mushroom walk.

Found on Amanita Way right off of the main clearing. They turned a lovely blue quite quickly.
Because of the way it turned blue, it could be Ink Stain Bolete, Cyanoboletus pulverulentis, Sensible bolete or Lanmaoa/Baorangia.

As we drove up to SAFF, we saw mushrooms right away on both sides of the driveway so we knew we’d have to walk through the woods.

Amanita flavorubens, Yellow American Blusher, is edible after being thoroughly cooked. Foragers note it tastes similar to lobster or prawns after cooking. We haven’t tried these yet. We usually find them already nibbled on and bug infested which probably means they’re delicious. Insects and animals know which ones are safe and tasty.
Unidentified bolete with a small bite gone.
Hazy, smoky sunlight filtering through ripening the pawpaw fruit in the old clonal colony.
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Tuesday Mushroom Walkabout SAFF

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These red and yellow boletes are what began our mushroom obsession. They come up and some turn blue very slowly when touched or sliced while some turn blue as quick as oxygen hits and it’s a blue so deep it appears black. They appear to bleed. This Chrome-footed bolete does not stain blue at all which is what helped us come to an identification. Even so, we are “pretty confident” but not 100% so they didn’t come home with us.

Harrya chromipes, Chrome-footed bolete found right up top at SAFF before passing through the gate. We found a group of these infected with Hypomyces.

It’s so fun to witness the emergence of boletes again after the long drought. It’s been in the high 90’s here with chances for rain this weekend. We hope to get out to SAFF to look for more mushrooms.

Boletus separans, lilac bolete, is a choice edible that we did take home and eat. We’ve foraged it before so we recognized them right away. It’s associated with oak trees and sometimes pine. The taste is prized for its nutty flavor and pleasant odor and texture. They are delicious and we’ve found them all over SAFF.
Agaricus sylvaticus, Blushing wood mushroom, is a common edible mushroom found in groups in coniferous forests. We found it on the north side just near Three Pine Gulch Trail.
Another red and yellow bolete. This one stains quite easily, as you can see from the thumbprint. There’s red droplets on the base of the stem which looks like guttation which is an indicator of Neoboletus sp. Either Red-mouth bolete or very close lookalike the Scarletina bolete. These are both edible with precautions. It will be a while before we confidently eat these. But it’s fun to puzzle out their names and identities.
Tipularia discolor, crane-fly orchid, opening flowers now at SAFF.
Goodyera pubescens, downy rattlesnake plantain, is one of the most common orchids native to eastern North America. It is exciting to catch it flowering.
Unidentified red and yellow bolete found along Jacksonii Trail about halfway down.
Several lush mosses and a fungi fruiting directly from them. These little brown mushrooms haven’t been identified.
farming

Friday Farm Day with Rain

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About .6 inches of rainfall since last Tuesday at SAFF.
Diospyros virginiana, American persimmon, Keener cultivar pushing through the graft successfully along the main driveway up top.
Looking towards Fern Trail with some quartz the bear moved last year looking for a meal.
The connecting road we just built to the old farm road.

We were happy to see everything really good and soaked yesterday. Even up top, enough rain was falling that the ground wasn’t just absorbing it all right away.

We are seeing evidence that we have a bear around the farm again this year as old tree stumps are being dug up all over.

Monotropa uniflora, ghost pipes, emerging on the north side of SAFF.
We’ve named the old farm road Neal Peterson Parkway in honor of Mahatma Pawpaw who inspires us with his dedication to Asimina triloba.
The larger fern is Ebony spleenwort which is nice but it’s the bright green fern like moss that is so stunning. Thuidium delicatulum, delicate fern moss.
The pawpaw seedling on the left is one we planted last year and this year it has another pawpaw seedling coming up next to it. We think it’s a rootsucker from the clonal colony across the waterway. We will care for this new one like the other.
Two pawpaw seedlings coming up on our trail through the Seedling Orchard. We think some seeds we spread two years ago must have washed down near the waterway.
Wild potato vine, Ipomoea pandurata, along Neal Peterson Parkway near the culvert.
The reddish maroon flower stalks of the Cranefly orchid are emerging. Hard to see.
The American hog peanuts all over are flowering and you can see how they spread out with their long stalk sending seeds a foot away. It’s a legume with the sweet pink flower.
farming

Scorching 4th of July at SAFF

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We hope everyone is staying cool and safe on this holiday weekend. This heat and humidity has kept us focused on indoor projects and activities for a week now. 102 degrees Fahrenheit today at the farm. We went over early to check on the grafted pawpaws and give them some water since it hasn’t rained. It was extremely hot and humid down there in the clonal colony. The fruits are holding on despite the drought and heat. The grafting project appears to be a success with 80% growing new leaves through the Scion wood.

Wilson cultivar in the old clonal colony across from the Pawpaw Peninsula.
Kentucky Champion cultivar on the Southside Gully near Fern Trail sprouting up through the top.
Terrapene carolina, Common box turtle, down in the main waterway trying to stay cool.
Prolific cultivar in old clonal colony shooting out through the top of Buddy Tape.
A bark inlay graft with leaves pushing out from the Scion.
Rebecca’s Gold cultivar in the clonal colony.
Asimina triloba fruit developing at SAFF.
An unidentified bolete found along Ridge Trail.
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One 2026 Pawpaw Project Complete and Another Underway!

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Just a smidgen of rain here at SAFF. Lots of rain in the forecast for the next week. We are really hoping for some of it to fall 🙏🏼
SAFF Pawpaw fruit developing in the old clonal colony after multiple years of efforts.
Fruit development in the old clonal colony. We are overjoyed and hopeful.

It took us eight days to complete our SAFF 2026 grafting project. We added many heirloom and named Asimina triloba cultivars to contribute to the development of the orchards. We added 20 to the Southside Sally Clonal Colony in the gully, 17 to the Pawpaw Peninsula and about 40 in the largest clonal colony across the creek. We now pray for rain to encourage the roots to grow up through the new cultivar and push through the Buddy Tape at the leaf buds. We will be watching closely for growth if we get some rain.

We also worked on trails. We mowed, weeded and boxed a few areas that were a bit overgrown and ticky. On the last day of working at the Southside Gully with Sally and her clonal clan, we didn’t even see any ticks. 😅 Through all of it, neither of us were bitten and we attribute it to our use of Sawyer’s Permethrin on our clothes (which is poisonous to cats when wet so take care), tucking our socks into our pants well enough, lint rollers to fend off the tiniest attackers and vigilance. Keeping the trails trimmed back and low enough so the ticks can’t get on us from the edges is important as well. We have only seen the Lone Star ticks this year yet they have been in abundance everywhere but especially in wilder spots where grasses are long. Being at the farm most of last week helped us abate the ticks some since we had the time to walk the trails and cut back overhanging trees in readiness for riding our bikes —and tractor – trailer through the widest trails. We also trimmed the grasses back with the string trimmer. Otherwise ticks would easily prevail with their constant hunting of warm blooded mammals.

Rubus flagellaris, Common Dewberry, found on Orchard Hill Road near the Seedling Pawpaw Orchard. It supports native ecosystems as a valuable food source for birds, small mammals, insects and people. It’s a source of nectar for pollinators like bees and butterflies. Fruit turns black when ripe.
Ruellia caroliniensis, Carolina ruellia, or Carolina wild petunia, is an excellent pollinator attractant found in the old clonal colony pawpaw patch.

We are also in the middle of the 2026 pawpaw seeds opening and being transplanted into deep tree trainer pots to keep under our deck in the shade for the summer until we plant them at SAFF in the fall. We’ve potted up about 45 so far and have three big pots to go. It feels like new babies are being born and it’s a festive time with a lot of gratitude in abundance. The miracle of life is a beautiful thing to witness in any context. A new flower is as beautiful and miraculous and a tree is something you can watch grow for a lifetime. There’s a sweetness in watching each of them grow, that’s for sure.

Another pawpaw related project is the Annona cherimola. We’d heard of cherimoya as it’s related closely to the American pawpaw. We couldn’t resist the description of a custardy blend of banana pineapple papaya and strawberry. It is truly delicious and like pawpaws a tropical creamy textured treat. We are saving the seeds of our heart shaped dragon scaled fruit and have one sprouting and potted up already. These won’t be cold hardy trees so they will be kept indoors or in a greenhouse in the winter in order to survive the freezing temperatures in Virginia. We have lemons and avocados already so these cherimoyas will join them in our annual migration indoors.

Cherimoya fruit we will grow trees with and overwinter inside.
A baby Liriodendron tulipifera, American tuliptree, found at SAFF literally everywhere. This one was in the south end near Three Sister’s Overlook.
Pomegranates at Edible Landscaping yesterday afternoon on our way back from the farm. They are beautiful shrub like trees with bright flowers.
Mydas clavatus, Clubbed Mydas Fly, a mimic of spider wasps was striking in its beauty.
The Mydas clavatus is beneficial feeding on nectar and larvae preying on other insect grubs in soil and decaying wood making them pollinators and natural pest controllers. And beautiful!
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Rainy Sunday Grafting Pawpaws

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Chris grafting a Cawood cultivar onto the native SAFF Pawpaw Peninsula Asimina triloba.
Maria’s Joy at the tip of the Pawpaw Peninsula.

On Sunday we went straight over to the Southside Gully to begin grafts on the native patch. We got 7 done before a downpour stopped us. We grafted Nyomi’s Delicious, Maria’s Joy, Rebecca’s Gold, Cawood, Tallahatchie, sunflower and Pa Golden #4. We were glad to get out of there as we lost count of all the ticks we caught crawling up our pant legs. All were Lonestar Ticks, Amblyomma americanum. Personally, the experience may help me be less preoccupied with my anxiety since I saw them and got them off without freaking out. We had no bites. They hadn’t dropped from anywhere. They were just crawling on our shoes and pantlegs. Anyway, we waited the rain out in the car while we had a snack.

A bit of our walk through the Southside at SAFF in the rain yesterday.

After the rain stopped, we headed down Central Trail through the cultivar and seedling orchard. They looked good we were pleased to see. We made our way to the Pawpaw Peninsula across from the Old Clonal Colony. We grafted 10 more onto the native wild SAFF pawpaws. We grafted Rappahanock, Tallahatchie, Marias Joy, Nyomis Delicious, Prolific, Rebecca’s Gold, Cawood, 166-66 Canary and PA Golden #4. It drizzled some while we worked.

No baby bear sightings yesterday but we looked for them everywhere. We did find this Amanita jacksonii, Jackson’s slender Caesar, a choice edible and all around beautiful fruiting body. It was growing underneath a big loblolly pine on a small bluff overlooking the cultivar seedlings on Poplar Hill Trail.

Chris doing a cleft graft with Rebecca’s Gold on Pawpaw Peninsula wild native SAFF.
Grafting Southside Sally and her gang in the gully with 7 different cultivars.