An interesting visitor

Sometimes you just see something in Nature that makes you laugh.  Look who's been visiting our humming bird feeders...

A large woodpecker/sap sucker!  What a treat.

Mushroom gathering

My granddaughter, Ariel, and I have been learning to identify and harvest mushrooms.  I invested in 3 books:

National Audubon Society American Mushrooms
Good Mushroom Bad Mushroom
Mushrooming without Fear

We also got a great Pocket Naturalist guide, Familiar American Mushrooms folding guide

After taking the field guide into the woods with us, we've discovered we have at least 6 different types of edible mushrooms on our property.  They are:

King Bolete (also spelled Blewit)
Chanterelle
Smooth Chanterelle
Cauliflower (also called Coral)
Giant Puffball
Old Man of the Woods

Wow!  I guess I'll be doing some mushroom eating!  We've  been dining on Chanterelles all week.  We picked another 1 1/4 pounds yesterday!  Happy, Happy!

Here's an update to my posting, one day's mushroom gathering on July 25th.

Chanterelle and smooth coral mushrooms.

We tried the coral mushrooms for the first time.  The Audubon guide stated they were very delicate tasting, and were good with fruit.  We tried them sauteed in butter, and they were bitter.  I don't know if they were past prime... or were cooked too long.

I finished knitting a tunic for my stepdaughter, Tammy.  I think it came out pretty well.