Monday, October 17, 2011

Fairies, Pixies, and Wee Folk

Fairies, Pixies, and Wee Folk
by Laura Bickle

Fairies, pixies, and wee folk are said to be accompanied by mushrooms. We've recently had a surfeit of mushrooms. Here are some pictures of the lovely Jack O' Lantern mushrooms I found in my back yard. They're approximately the size of a pumpkin, and a lovely orange. I imagine that they are fairy blessings.





And yes, those are wild strawberries growing among the grass blades. The land our house is on was once a strawberry farm, many decades ago. Ours is the only yard that still has them. In the summer, the yard is dotted with little red strawberries - which the birds adore.

The fairies were not so lucky at my neighbors' house. My next door neighbor mows his lawn on the diagonal and freaks out if a dandelion should sprout. A couple of weeks ago, a smattering of white mushrooms sprouted where a tree had been cut down. It looked like a little smurf village. Very cute.

My neighbor freaked out and mowed 'em down.

They came back, in force.

After mowing every other day for a week, he finally had a chemical truck come and blast his lawn. The mushrooms are dead and gone.

But mine are still spreading. I'm whispering to them, telling them that they have to stay in my yard or the troll will get 'em.

5 comments:

  1. Awesome. My MIL had a whole cluster of those same sorts of mushrooms sprout up in her yard a few weeks ago. I thought they were pretty (but I didn't know what they were called). :)

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  2. Laura Bickle -- Mushroom Whisperer

    Like yours, my yard has been host to an unusual amount of fungus this year. Mine look more like creatures rising (or resting). The first few times I saw them, I thought the turkey buzzards had done a little carry-out. When the beastie lacked interest in them I realized there were fungus among us. :D

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  3. Those poor mushrooms!
    I hope yours listen to you.

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  4. Hee...the mushrooms are always safe in my yard, Jeffe!

    Allison, I had to look them up on the internet. They're apparently a fairly common mushroom. I guess I just never saw them before.

    KAK..."fungus among us." Love! You should post pix of yours.

    Thanks, Sullivan. I hope that mine listen and don't go AWOL to the Land of the Immaculate Yard. :-S

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