A Day of Adventures

What a day yesterday was!

Truly, it was a day of adventures from start to finish.

And this fellow had his share of them.

But, let's start at the beginning!

After morning chores, Dr. Becky stopped by the house.

She had some mushrooms to share with me that one of our neighbors had found in the woods.

I had never seen one of these before.

It is called Hen-of-the-woods or Ram's head mushroom.

The Japanese call it Maitake... it can grow up to 100 pounds in Japan...

earning it the name "King of mushrooms".

Grifola Frondosa.

They are native to China, Japan and North America.

I did a little research on how to find them (at the base of oak trees) in early September...

and how to identify them. 

(There are no others that look exactly like them... making them a safe mushroom for

beginner foragers.)

If you are interested in searching for these, 

there are some great websites that will help you identify them.

(Beware!  There are lots of poisonous mushrooms out there!)

Armed with plenty of information, I headed out into the woods in search of 'shrooms.

I found all sorts of varieties... and I left them right where I found them!

I assume most, if not all, were poisonous.

This one was lovely, trimmed in lavender...looks a little like the "Hen"....but definitely is not

the right mushroom.

Regardless, you have to admit...

fungi are fascinating.

So many colors, sizes and shapes.

This has been an especially good year for mushrooms,

as we have had so much rainfall.

I continued my adventure through the woods...

mushrooms were everywhere I looked.

I looked and didn't touch!

This pile of rotting logs was full of this type...

And then there was this one... truly creepy looking!

I was just about to give up...

When I stumbled on a tree stump with five of these clustered around its base.

Eureka!

I had found the Hen in the Woods!

I used a knife to cut the cluster free from the forest floor and loaded it in the back of the gator...

By the time I was finished, I had 5 big clusters!

Last night for dinner, I picked off the ruffled mushrooms,

sautéed them in butter and olive oil and put a little steak seasoning on them

Delicious!

I cannot tell you how much tastier these are than what you buy in the grocery store.

Seriously the best mushroom variety I have ever tasted!

I picked apart the rest of them after dinner and froze them in air-tight, vacuum sealed bags

for future use.

I think I will go back to the woods today and search for more!

If you are interested, read here for their medicinal properties....fascinating!!

Meanwhile, barn painting was happening.

The horses were quite curious with all of the activity

and did not hesitate to get in the way.

Ollie even stepped in the paint tray... turning half of his hoof a lovely shade of grey.

The workers finished and headed home while Hubbs and I were out mowing.

Upon completion, we stopped by the barn and found that all of our horses were AWOL!!

One of the workers had missed latching a stall gate...

and, of course, the horses seized the opportunity to run for the hills.

The funny thing is, Moonbeam ended up inside the outdoor riding arena...

while the ponies and the Littles ran around outside.

For a few moments, they all lost their minds.

Hubbs was able to get Moonbeam on a lead rope, while I caught the Littles...

but the ponies kept running.

While Hubbs took Moonie and the Littles back to the barn, I headed out in search of two 

wayward ponies.

Finding them just another hundred yards away, around the bend...

I enticed them with peppermints and got them haltered.

Back to the barn we went.

What an adventure!

Bad horses!

I am not sure how we got to Friday this quickly... but here we are!

I am keeping all three grands tomorrow here at the farm...

it should be quite a busy, fun day!

I'll be back Monday with tales from the weekend!