Mushroom Lace

I was enchanted by the backs of these mushrooms in the winter woods.    A little winter lace on a cold, cold day.

[I was so enchanted that I forgot to look at the fronts to identify them.] 

Chicken of the Woods

This tree is on the road where we take our daily walk and one day a few weeks ago it sprouted these beautiful mushrooms.

It looks like Chicken of the Woods, a highly desirable edible fungus.

It's really pretty, isn't it?

Here's a better look at the tops.

And here's a better look at the bottoms. 

Pretty much the entire tree was full of them, mostly on the shadiest side of the tree and down at the bottom, which was situated in a low spot and heavily shaded with other growth.   

This is easily a 15 foot stretch of trunk covered with them.

Unfortunately, there was a large quantity of poison ivy growing around there, too, so we let it be.    I've heard these are really tasty and someday I'll find some without the poison ivy and I'll get to try them.

January Mushrooms

We had the Big Snow.

Then it got warm and rained and it all melted.

Then it was 60 degrees and rained a lot more, hard, all in one evening.   We had a big flood during the night.

When we went out to check the damage the next morning, we discovered this on a willow stump next to our creek.    The temps were back down in the 30s by then, and it was gray and cloudy.  This thing glowed!

I think it's a fungus called Chicken of the Woods.  [Here's more on it.] It's supposed to be choice and delicious.   We're not very brave with our local fungus - morels and chanterelles are all we'll eat because they're all I can reliably identify.   I've heard of this one, and if I can get some trustworthy verification, I'll try it. 

It sure is pretty. 

Turkey Tail

We see two types of turkey tail out here in the boonies.   The first is the kind that grows on a  turkey.     Gobble, gobble, gobble.

The second is the kind that grows on a dead log.   This is that kind.   It's pretty.   It's abundant.

You're supposed to be able to dye with it, but I haven't figured out how to get the dye out of it.  If anyone knows how, let us know in the comments. 

Cedar - Apple Rust

Our cedars get weird parasites.    Once in a while we get bagworms.     This year I noticed some weird galls.

They look like brains.

I looked them up and the news is not good.

They are the cedar-apple rust.    They start in cedars, and then in the warm spring rain, they sprout orange jelly-like 'hairs' out of each dimple.   The rust sends out spores looking for apple trees, which we have.   This might explain why we've never had good luck with apples.    Ever. 

Check out this site for some other good pics of this fungus.   

Now I'm going to have to decide whether or not to cut down those cedars or to cut down the apples [two of which aren't bearing anyway].     Feel free to weigh in.