Settling into Winter

It has been a month of more or less normalcy, giving Charlotte's body a chance to heal after her surgery about 5 weeks ago. We've had some good solid Fall rains for the first time in years, it seems, and the fireplace has been doing a good job of keeping us cozy. We've done our best to focus on home cooked nutritive foods for the body and soul.

The garden has just about completed its transformation into winter mode. When removing the tomato plants I discovered this oddity:

A fungus-wise friend of ours, Melina, informed me it is surely a species of fungus... perhaps a "stinkhorn egg", maybe even the species Clathrus ruber (aka Basket Stinkhorn), which forms an eye-catching bright red basket shape. I reburied the specimen in the garden. A few days later I had forgotten about it and accidentally unburied it again while doing some weeding. This is what it looked like, apparently mid-way through "hatching":

Indeed, it appears to have contained a reddish fruiting body, although I think it's development was probably interfered with due to the uncovering and reburying. I set it back in the earth just in case any further growth occurs............................................................................................................. (for some reason I still can't make paragraph breaks) ...........................................................................................................................................................The rains brought a variety of fungal curiosities... Here was a cool one called Chocolate Tube Slim, apparently a variety of slime mold.

I also harvested my first Wine Cap mushrooms (Stropharia rugosoannulata, aka "Garden Giant", "King Stropharia") grown amongst the veggies in the garden. I was given mycellium of this one by a coworker this past year. They are grown in a medium of straw and wood chips and kept evenly moist and voila! It was a small harvest, but tasty sauteed with some garlic... the caps moreso than the stems in my experience.

Theodore looks on from the window...

Charlotte and I were very proud of a bat house we collaborated on as a birthday gift for her dad, Hal. We were inspired by the box my dad had made for the house here (although we haven't had any tenants take up residence in it... we think perhaps we might have better luck if we change its location, perhaps further away from tree branches).

Charlotte had the idea to use a carved wooden surface of an old serving tray for the front piece. She did the painting of it as well, which turned out beautifully. We went with a 3-chamber design, so there are 3 different nesting chambers inside the box, with 2 small holes between each panel so that bats can move between the layers and self-regulate their temperature.

On the sides we also included small ventilation holes.

Hal ans Selene have seen bats in their yard, so we are hoping that is a good indicator that the bat house may attract some occupants with a big appetite for mosquitos and other such bugs!

...And one final share. At the encouragement of my mom, I got out my charcoal drawing supplies for the first time in a long while and made this picture of two Oak Titmice (a native bird species which we have witnessed in our yard - although I did not take the photograph used). I am very happy with the result and I think that mom will be happy adding it to her collection of "Nick Art"!