Mushrooms and Fungi and An Old Apple Tree

Took Bliss for a walk along Piney Creek this  morning. Only found 1 woodcock which I flushed but was amazed at the varieties of mushrooms and fungi growing in that damp environment.

 

 

Bliss happily hunted the briery terrain.

A couple of small apples on the "Mammoth Piney Creek "Apple tree. Badly shaded by bigger trees and very neglected, I pruned it last winter and gathered scion wood from this old tree and now have two grafted trees growing in the nursery. A very edible apple.

A Welcomed Sight

I saw this fella crossing the old lane that leads to the Back40 orchard.

This is the first Box Turtle I've seen in years here on the homestead.  A friend who is into reptiles said it was a male. I was just happy to see it slowly plodding across the lane going about it's daily business.

Delicious

A Myer's Royal Limbertwig. An old southern Appalachian mountain variety. Delicious flavor. One of my first Limbertwig varieties to bear fruit.



Birdbox Surprise

I happened to check a bird box yesterday that I hadn't looked in for a good while.  It's located in some thick birch and pines and I had hoped to attract Chickadee's to it.  It has been in place for several years but was always empty when I checked it. This time when I peeked in I got a nice surprise when a Flying Squirrel poked it's nose out at me.

 

Only once over the many years that I've been checking birdboxes have I had a Flying Squirrel use one. She scampered out of the box and up a birch sapling and I caught a glimpse of babies in the nest. I quickly shut the top of the box and took a couple of pics of her before leaving her to go back to the business of raising her young.

 



Perfect Timing

I've been wearing the shock collar on Bliss for the past few weeks just to get her use to wearing it.  I've used the vibration mode several times to call her back in when she strays too far but today offered the perfect opportunity to use the shock mode.  She was running around the Home Orchard beyond the trees in an area that I only mow once a year. The grass is approaching knee height and the dogs enjoy hunting for mice, voles and rabbits there. I just happened to be watching Bliss running through the grass when a small fawn jumped up in front of her. Of course she gave chase. I quickly turned the transmitter to the shock mode and gave her a touch of electricity .  She immediately let out a yelp and came running back to me for "protection". I made a fuss over her and told her she was a "good girl".  I use the shock collar very sparingly but in this instance I had the perfect situation and was able to use it knowing she would associate the shock with the deer. We'll see if she needs a future lesson in the month's to come.

Tree Frog

Saw this little fella yesterday in one of my apple trees. Nice camouflage pattern.

The First

I found the 1st Monarch butterfly caterpillar of the summer this week on a milkweed plant.

 

I also ate the 1st Chestnut crabapple of the season.  One of my favorite apples, although tiny by most peoples standard, it's an explosion of flavors when you bite into one.