A very busy weekend – Martha and David and Ali came to visit, and our kids came too. But I did get a few walks, saw some neat fungi, and did one useful project.
Martha and I went up to the top fields to explore the big rock pile – the place where farmers have been throwing rocks for years. There are lots of rocks with holes in them, and many with crystals, and some that she thought looked like flint. We took lots of samples – some for my display shelf, and some for her to puzzle about and see if she can identify.

The rock pile is just above the area that has Wild Ginger growing, and I discovered that it also has some interesting fungi. One kind is bright blue – it’s called Blue-Stain Fungus because the mycelium stains the wood blue or green. The latin name is either Chlorociboria aeruginascens or Chlorosplenium aeruginascens. It doesn’t produce fruiting bodies very often, so I was lucky to find some.

The other fungi were mushrooms – I don’t know what kind, but there were lots of them, very tiny, in a tight little mound.

It rained hard on Monday, but I went out after the hardest rain was over, and cut down burdock and pulled Queen-anne’s Lace in the mowed area on top of Indian Grass Prairie. It was beautiful and misty – and the sun came out for about 5 seconds. It’s very easy to pull weeds when the ground is so wet, so I got a lot done.

It looks nice – very open and savanna-like.

Looking south from the opening