Tales from Easement Acres
Nothing truly stays dead in the plant kingdom. The late frost, which I suspected had killed my basil, had only slowed it. In keeping with the saying that it’s only a weed if you don’t want it, basil would very much be a weed indeed were it not so tasty. Behold, the two plants I had started in December:
And like my Evil Morning Glories, I have applied a new taxonomic designation. When I make pesto from these, they will grant me regenerative properties.
–Simon
I don’t know what it is about fungi, but it’s creepy. It fits into it’s own kingdom, neither plant nor animal, and that makes it plain weird. Plants too have widely varying degrees of toxicity, so why are mushrooms so terrifying? They strike some odd form of primal fear, evidenced by the fact that there are multiple X-Files episodes wherein the ultimate “villain” turns out to be an unknown fungus. Personally, I think I was scarred by my trenchfoot experience. If you’ve ever had parts of your skin rot and fall off, then break out in these circular fungal formations which turn into holes several millimeters deep into your dermis, then you know what I’m talking about. Do not Google trenchfoot.
But their allure has captivated my daughter, who likes to point out any mushrooms that appear in our yard. There must have been a lot of trees on the lot once, because every time it rains, we get these odd paths of toadstools that pop up, presumably along old roots.
So I, iPhone in hand, and Wikipedia at the ready, decided to record and catalog them:
Wikipedia advised that this species is “doubtfully edible”, which doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence–not that I’d base the decision to eat a mushroom off of Internet knowledge anyway. So many seem to have amatoxin, which leads to renal failure. I’ll pass. I told my daughter to wash her hands.
Next on the list is what I think is an Amanita bisporigera. It looks like something in the Amanita genus anyway. It was kind of hard to get a definitive identification from pictures. Still, more amatoxin, somewhat implied by the fungus’ common name: Destroying Angel. Subtle.
I still have some nightshade in the gardens, despite my weeding campaign. I dunno if it’s the deadly nightshade, but it does concern me a little. So I have natural sources of amatoxin, atropine, hyoscine, and hyoscamine apparently. Of course, I also have lye, gasoline, antifreeze, bleach, insecticide, and even tea tree oil around the house. Being a parent can be a little scary at times.
This next one was hard, but I’m going with Pleurotus ostreatus, although it looks like a polypore too, so I’m probably wrong.
This one is supposedly edible, but I’m not confident with the identification.
The last one was very easy to identify though, Trametes versicolor. It’s not only edible, but apparently medicinal as well.
So there you go–a biology post for my family. I am not, as they seem to suspect, completely disengaged from the natural word. Especially since everything around us seems to be waiting to kill my progeny.
–Simon
As an addendum to Summertime Magic, here is a mini post. I admit, the day was so hot that I considered joining her, but my neighbors are somewhat conservative, and they have a couple teenage daughters, so it might not be appropriate for me to run through a sprinkler shirtless.
Although, Liz keeps asking me why I don’t mow the lawn shirtless too. Maybe I just can’t escape some of my Lubbock conditioning, or am too old. I do see a lot of old men mowing the lawn in slacks and sweater-vests; I guess that’s my future. Anyway, I digress–here’s a child’s joy:
–Simon
With the first year of school comes the first official summer break. And that means that I get to watch a little girl’s first experiences with the wonders that the magic of summer break have to offer…with some minor guidance of course. Captured below are two of these such moments.
She asked me to get her a drink. I was busy, so I suggested the novel idea of drinking directly from the hose. She stared at me blankly, considering that proposal. It had never occurred to her before that she could do that. Eventually, she decided that sounded fun, and off she ran. I found her in the front yard with the hose. Her eyes were bright with glee as she held the hose to her face, cute little nose crinkled as the inefficiency of hose-drinking drenched everything in the area.
Every kid enjoys being a know-it-all, especially to authority figures. At one point, someone had taught her that she could eat clover flowers, which has become a regular activity to taunt her teachers–guardians who are necessarily concerned with their charges eating wild plants. Now, with the herb garden installed, a banquet of edible plants sits in the yard, begging for a child’s destructive attention. So after she freed the remaining fishing worms into the herb garden, decided to sample the cuisine. Admittedly, it was fun to teach her about the different plants and let her build culinary associations. I’d have her taste a leaf first, then ask if she could identify it. She was pretty accurate with the more obvious ones, correctly identifying chives, mint, and basil. She’s not a mint fan, but loved the chives. Forestry merit badge earned.
–Simon