This early fall has been a year of small-towns popping up everywhere in our yard. From my view up high, it’s not so easy to see them. My imagination runs wild, like when I was a child.
When I get down low to Copper’s level, things start to get more interesting.
I don’t know how Copper dodges all of the objects in our yard? He doesn’t really. He walks where he pleases. He does dodge specifically around where he’s done his job, poop on his feet is not his thing. Other than that, he goes where no dog has gone before, bravely out into the yonder.
He pauses a lot to sniff all the surrounding townships while he’s at it.
While he was busy yesterday, I took a closer look at the pops of color I could see. The flowers are slowly accepting fall.
And so are our trees. They have just started to turn colors and lose some of their leaves. We haven’t had a hard frost yet to kick them off into the vibrant colors of Fall in Wisconsin. That is if the rain and wind storms don’t take the leaves all off before then.
The rain has jump-started the ant colonies, they are popping up everywhere. Towering almost as high as the grass blades.
Ants are the dominant insects of the world, and they’ve had a great impact on habitats almost all over the land surface of the world for more than 50-million years. – E.O. Wilson
I remember as a kid seeking out ant hills in our yard, plowing them over with my shoe, and then sitting there to watch the ants rebuild ’em. I was a creeper I guess. They never seemed to mind.
As kids, we also liked to kick the puffball mushrooms and watch them explode, or wait until they dried out and watch as the black smoke of pores spread when they popped open.
Giant puff balls 30.5 cm in diameter can produce 7 trillion or more spores that are perfectly adapted to wind dissemination. In calm air, spores fall at a rate of 0.5 mm per second. – USDA Field Guide to Common Macrofungi in Eastern Forests and Their Ecosystem Functions; Michael E. Ostry, Neil A. Anderson, Joseph G. O’Brien
When puffballs are young, they are edible. We’ve had a lot of those in the yard this year. We didn’t eat any of them.
We have lots of these little button mushrooms. I dunno if they are edible or not, but I wouldn’t try eating them.
Then I noticed a new pinkish one. This is the mushroom that drew my eyes to the pop of color in the yard.
I’m not a mycologist, but I do find all kinds of mushrooms fascinating to look at. I imagine being a small bug crawling under it for shelter from the weather, which reminds me of the Thumbelina book I read when I was little. I still have it, it was my favorite book to look at. I enjoyed thinking about being a small tiny human and the photos were intriguing to me.
There are many mushrooms in our area that are edible, Morels are delicious. Unfortunately, we don’t have any of those in our yard. And I’m pretty darn sure the one above isn’t one of the edible kinds, it is likely highly poisonous.
Just as I was ready to move on and find Copper, I thought I saw something crawling out from under the mushroom. Was it Thumbelina?
Nope.
I did see something! A lonely Opiliones (Daddy-Long-Legs), aka, Harvestmen. Yay – they eat small slugs and ticks, two creatures we really don’t enjoy having in our little ol’ neck of the woods.
HARVESTMEN ECOLOGYAverage harvestmen eat a wide variety of foods, including: aphids, caterpillars, beetles, flies, mites, small slugs, snails, earthworms, spiders, other harvestmen, decaying plant and animal matter, bird droppings and fungi. – BackYard Nature
I let him be, to do his thing and eat the creepy things he finds edible. It was fun to travel along with the bugs for a few minutes to enjoy the wonders of life under mushrooms.
Then I was off to check out the new package that arrived in the mail…
Stay tuned – we’re super excited about the package and how Copper is doing with his first few bites of it!
Post-Inpiration – Amy at Lens-Artists #64 Countryside and/or Small Towns (I sure hope she doesn’t mind my twist on the prompt!) and Terri over at Sunday Stills – Signs of Autumn (ditto to her, hope she doesn’t mind my twist to her prompt too!). Let’s blame Hans for my creative inspiration today!
PS – How about you, do you like to eat mushrooms? Have you tried Morels? Did you read Thumbelina when you were a child? What do you have planned for your Sunday?
Lovely series, Shelley. These mushroom captures are remarkable and the close up image of flowers are beautiful. Thank you!
Thank you, Amy, I appreciate your feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed the photos!!
I have bunches of them growing in my yard but not going to eat them. Our dog ate them and they didn’t make her sick
Wow – I don’t think Copper has ever eaten any of the mushrooms. Glad your dog was fine.
I had some tiny mushrooms growing in my potted plumerias and promptly pulled them out. How cool to see those anthill up close, I’ve never seen those kind, Shelley!
LOL – no room for shrooms at your house, eh?! The ants keep marching and building these houses here in our yard. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!
I love mushrooms! And your not the only kid who enjoyed stomping out those little ant mounds and wait to see what happens! I hope Copper does better on this new food guys, poor little dude!
I’m starting to take a fascination to the wild mushrooms. Our sprout loves them. I’m glad I wasn’t alone in the attention to ants I shared growing up.
Yes, Copper is doing incredibly better already – I’m so excited and so is he!!
That’s so wonderful Shelley! Pets are totally helpless and fully dependent on us when it comes to food and water aren’t they?
I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
Cool looking mushrooms you’ve found out there. So many different kinds and all interesting to look at. We only eat those we buy from the store.
Those spiders are nice. I always wonder why they like to be in the house, usually up around the ceiling corners. There’s no food for them in here! 🙂
I’m going to have to try getting down to Benny level once in a while. You get such interesting shots! If only it wasn’t so hard to get back up off the ground…! Happy Sunday, Shelley.
I bet Benny would show you some great spots. Maybe use a selfie stick to get down low with the camera?! Happy Sunday/Monday to you!! Hope you had a great weekend.
What a good idea! Never thought of that. I am usually listening to music while we walk so by the time I turn the camera on, he’s moved on!
I do not know the validity of this but I have always been told that the granddaddy long legs is one of the most poisonous spiders but that his mouth is too small to bite humans.
Love your ‘shrooms. We have them everywhere here as well this year.
The website I read about the Harvestmen stated they aren’t poisonous to humans. Do you remember as a kid trying to catch them and a leg would break off? LOL. I stayed far enough away from it, just in case it wanted to check my camera out.
Yes, this is the year of ‘shrooms!
Never read Thumbelina, but I remember Danny Kaye singing about her… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDbWeYRT7wo
Oh, my, goodness…I had never seen that clip, but I remember my mom singing that tune to me!! That’s adorable, thank you for sharing, John!!
I love your take on the prompt! And wow – imagining the mushrooms exploding made me almost want to sneeze!
And liked see the small town quit vibe from cooper’s angle –
Thank you, Yvette, glad you enjoyed the post. Yes, it was important to remain upwind from the puff of smoke they throw off! 🙂
Very interesting post. Good take and excellent photographs.
Thank you, Indira, I appreciate your feedback!
Welcome, dear.
I enjoy mushrooms but I’m only brave enough to eat ones from the store or a local grower. Love your nature walk through your yard and I had the same interactions with ants too when I was a kid. 🙂 A fun post!
I’m with you on the mushrooms. My daughter and my brother like to pick them in the wild and eat them. They are good for you when you pick the ones that are edible, so they say.
Ant piles and kids, such fun memories! Glad you enjoyed the post!
I’ve never picked mushrooms but I do know there are plenty of places to pick ’em.in Michigan and people do it as a hobby too. Hope the new diet works for Copper – fingers crossed it does the trick.
Picking ‘shrooms is fun apparently, I’ve not done it either. I bet you have plenty of places to pick them in Michigan.
So far, so good on the diet change over!! :-)!!
Yes, we do and I used to work with an attorney who big on ‘shroom picking. He was always talking about going to different locales around here picking Morel mushrooms. Thumbs up for the diet changeover. Next the cats will rebel and want a new diet too!
Apparently, Morel picking is a big thing. They do taste wonderful when prepared properly.
Busted – we’ve ordered some for the cats too. We’re hoping to transform the finicky one and the redundant fluff one into model cats. It shall be interesting here!
Oh boy – it will be a long Fall at your house, but it might be a big hit too. Carol was cooking her own at one time to protect the finicky stomach – she tried everything. Her cats are the kids she never had.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this being a big hit. Copper’s progress gives me such hope!! Poor Carol – that’s devotion, her kitties are lucky.
That is great news. Yes she is devoted to her own and the ferals she fosters on her back deck – in the Winter she has wooden shelter boxes, straw, heated pads, and heated water and food dishes … she lives near Buffalo and frets over them when the snow blows and gets high.
Beautiful pictures, could you become a devotee of mushrooms: mycophile or a gourmet: mycophage?
Brittlegill for the red ones, I guess. As for the white one: Brittlegill or Milkcap, did you see any milk or liquid when you cut it?
Aww, thank you, I appreciate your feedback/input/encouragement! I didn’t pick them, wasn’t sure if they were poisonous or not, just by touch – so I didn’t see if any liquid or milk was present. You sound like you know your ‘shrooms!!
As for the last one, I don’t like trying to find the name of the little thin brown species, lot of them are toxic…
Thank you – we have a lot of these arachnids in our yard. I like that they eat ticks, I don’t like ticks! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, much appreciated!
I was speaking about the last brown mushroom, sorry. Normally pore mushroom are less toxic than tube mushrooms.
Some small, thin, brown ones could be Marasmius or Milkcaps (Lactarius camphoratus, rufus..) but Cortinarius or Galerina,… among those some are very toxics, letal… So go on with pictures only pictures …
Wow – you know a lot about ‘shrooms! Yikes – there are too many variables for me to know what to pick or not, I’m goooood with just pictures!!
(correction: pores and tubes mushrooms are fine to named, but lamellae, blades ones often could be mingled, I mean unrecognized.., so to be avoid)
Thank you for clarifying!
Love the muchrooms!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed them!
Hi, Shelley. It was fun exploring the world from Copper’s point of view. Your mushroom shots are fantastic–especially the macro shots.
Hi Patti – thank you, I appreciate you stopping by and checking the photos out – your feedback is much appreciated!
I eat mushrooms but not really love them. I grew up seeing them cultured by my mom from dried banana leaves if I’m not mistaken. I love your first photo of mushrooms. And I love the story of Thumbelina. 😉
I’ll eat them occasionally – Mr. loves them so they find their way to our meals often. My youngest loves pickled ones. Yuck. Thank you for your feedback, glad you enjoyed the photos. It is a fun (kind of creepy too) story. I re-read it to see if I still enjoyed it, and I did.
Oh! I did not they can be pickled. I have to take your word for that lol. You’re welcome, Shelley!
Wow, interesting! Loving the shots!😊😊
Thank you!!!
Lovely, Shelley! And I love mushrooms, but is a bit too uncomfortable with picking them myself. I have to pick only the safe ones…My father is a great fan of them though, and when I ask him, he says: Just never pick a white one, and you’ll be safe!
Thank you, Anne-Christine!! Your dad sounds well-versed in the ‘shrooms. I have little clue on what to pick or not, so I don’t either!! 😉
Beautiful. Love the closeups! Ant hills and daddy long-legs. :thumbsup:
Thank you, John, I appreciate your feedback!