Tag Archives: wild mushrooms

farming

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.

farming

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.