What can you do when the average precipitation is almost 11 feet each year? (That’s well over 3 meters!)
Accept that potholes happen.
Commit to continuous maintenance program.
Promote a sense of humour.
photo by SVSeekins
These wicked road conditions remind me of our farm in northern Alberta.
Each rainy season, the driveway was impassable. We parked & packed groceries the 1/4 mile to the house.
Each year we added more rocks & gravel.
This is one reason I really enjoy the surf haven of Tofino.
photo by SVSeekins
It’s another crazy place of extremes.
Folks love it anyway.
They have a sense of humour.
PS – The signs are from the Tofino Botanical Garden & the potholes are from MacKenzie Beach Road.
This fall I’m really trying to let fungi thrive. Mushrooms pop up in several spots around our place. They’re pretty, but for some reason I’ve always weeded them out…
photo by SVSeekins
Perhaps they scare me a bit.
Are they edible?
Hallucinogenic?
Medicinal?
Poisonous?
Perhaps I’m just a neat- freak?
Years ago someone told me that trees use fungi root systems as information highways between other trees. I dismissed the idea. It sounded too airy-fairy. But scientists are looking into it. UBC’s Suzanne Simard explores & maps the fungi mycelium networks that trees use to share nutrients with offspring & neighbours. Sounds a bit like the storyline of Avatar, doesn’t it? Perhaps the Old Ones were on to something?
photo by SVSeekins
The Pacific Northwest is a great place for mushrooms. The rainforest at one of our favourite campsites is prime. In 2015 I was charmed by orange stools with white spots. This October, right at our campsite, was a beautiful white shaggy mushroom.
photo by SVSeekins
Growing in afternoon sunshine beside a well-trodden gravel pathway, not far from the beach, it struck me as unusual. This is not the regular deep humus-rich growing site I’d expect for fungi.
The shape & outer texture of the mushroom is distinctive. I’m pretty sure it’s the edible Shaggy Mane, aka Lawyer’s Wig, aka Coprinus Comatus. That said, I’m no expert.
photo by SVSeekins
For several days we carefully left the cap to its business. While striking camp, the mushroom was knocked open. I felt bad but took the chance to look at the inner gills where the spores were maturing. The dark colouring is further evidence that the ID is correct. Maybe we should’ve made mushroom soup. (Actually, I wasn’t tempted to use it because of the high-traffic area & the large population of dogs around camp.)
photo by SVSeekins
Did you also notice how much the fruit grew in just 3-4 days? Doubling size in 48 hours seems amazing to me. The apples in our garden don’t produce like that.
Now I’ll try to keep a closer eye on the fungi growing through our gardens. Perhaps I’ll shift even further out of my comfort zone & explore farming some edible types.
🙂
It was in an old clear-cut near Jordan River (also Vancouver Island), I found it again.
photo by SVSeekins
Even in full sun, it seems decaying wood is bunchberry’s happy place.
The underground rhizomes spread out, creating a matt of blooms – – almost a meadow 🙂 No wonder it’s also called creeping dogwood. What a beautiful transition for a logging debris field.
After getting comfortable identifying the dwarf dogwood flowers, it became my mission to find the plant in berry. Shouldn’t be hard, right? After all, it’s named bunchberry.
photo by SVSeekins
It was 1000 km away, seeking shade from a scorching summer day at Fairmont Hot Springs in the Rocky Mountains when I found the berries.
photo by SVSeekins
Now I realize why the Latin name Cornus canadensis makes sense. They grow all across Canada.
The bright orangey-red berries stand out, even in the dappled shade of the understory.
Apparently, they’re edible, but I didn’t test them. Alongside this well-travelled trail, and easily below a dog’s hip level… ?? Nope. I was a teeny bit squeamish.
photo by SVSeekins
Back on the coast, near Tofino, the bunchberries persisted.
Yup.
Berries
– – in October!
Isn’t that a good way to mark Thanksgiving?
photo by SVSeekins
Word has it that bunchberry leaves turn a beautiful red color in the fall. I noted some autumn color, but perhaps there’s more to come?
It’s also reported semi-evergreen in the Pacific Northwest… so now I have a new mission. Do you know where I might find more nearby to monitor through winter?
Garden Variety Life 