A Fairy Forest
I took a last minute trip to the coast with my oldest teenager to spend the day with him before he had archery class. We walked around my favorite coastal forest and found Hydnellum peckii and the little mycoheterotroph, Hemotomes congestum. Our forest exploration led us to the sweetest little fairy forest someone had built out of forest debris next to a cluster of H. congestum. We explored their little village and spent all the time we had building on to the village.
Drawing on Ganoderma seems to be one of my favorite past times when I am by myself in the woods. I found a small flush of them on a conifer stand and took one of the more mature ones to document and draw on. The pored surface will stain brown when bruised, so it makes the perfect drawing surface. It is even possible to shade things if you don’t press too hard on the pored surface. After my teen took a picture of me with my mushroom, he wanted to do one too. So he grabbed a smaller one and wrote on it. He said, “Mom, this is so cool. I can’t believe it just stays when you draw on it!” Sometimes the information I know just clicks with this kid. I have been drawing on mushrooms for a while now, but this seems to be the first time the teen noticed. This is why one-on-one time is really so important.
A little further down from the Ganoderma stand, I stumbled upon the Hydnellum peckii, or the Strawberries and Cream mushroom. It is one of my all time favorites to find and still makes me so excited to see it. This patch was in various ages from the pink velvety older ones to the younger bleeding specimens. I stopped for a while an took more photos and then made the teen take a video of me describing this mushroom.
Just before we left the forest, I smelled the pungent anise smell heavy in the air. I looked around and sure enough found Hydnellum suaveolens, another toothed mushroom. These beautiful mushrooms have bright blue stipes and smell so good. I quickly photographed them before rushing out of the forest.
Art of the Day
“My Bleeding Heart” digital photograph by Autumn Anglin
