Mutinus caninus - a strange, stinky mushroom

This mushroom was found growing in the apple orchard near the blueberry bushes. I was curious to identify the mushroom and after some research found that this mushroom is Mutinus caninus, commonly known as the dog stinkhorn. It is a small thin, phallus-shaped woodland fungus, with a dark tip. The mushroom is about the size of your pinky in length and diameter but some text says they can get several times that size. This mushroom grows from a white egg and is covered by a decaying slime. The edibility of the mushroom is listed as “of no interest” but who would want to eat it. The slime attracts flies as you can see on the photo. The flies pick up the mushroom’s spores and deposit them elsewhere to help spread this mushroom around. A very strange, stinky critter indeed. 

Buckwheat for Bees

Being a new beekeeper and wanting to have plants for the bees to forage, buckwheat seems to be a good nectar source for honey beekeepers to provide for bees. I bought two packages of buckwheat seed as a lark

at Beech Mountain Beekeeping and sowed the seed randomly in the field near the beehive.  
Typically the seeds should germinate and emerge within three to four days. Plants grow rapidly, producing small heart-shaped leaves with slender, hollow stems. Surprisingly the flowers began to appear about three weeks after planting. 
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a broadleaf plant native to northern Asia. The seeds are brown in color, roughly the size of a soybean, irregularly shaped, with four triangular surfaces. At the peak of flowering, the buckwheat plant has striking white petals. After a flower is pollinated, a full-sized seed will form within 10 days. Seeds appear and mature earlier on the lower stem, with seed development continuing up the stem as the plant matures.  The bees are very happy!

Common Orange Daylily

These are photos of the orange daylilies, which have been blooming since about the first of July at our mountain home.  This lily is a species of a daylily called Hemerocallis fulva, and has many common names, including orange daylily, tawny daylily and the “ditch lily.” These lilies came from a friend, who  was thinning them out and told me to help myself to as many as I wanted.



The flowers open and greet the morning with their six-part petals facing the sun and close around dark, never to open again therefore the “daylily” name. With many flower buds on each stem and many stems in a clump, these lilies may bloom for several weeks.The orange petals often have ruffled edges and a stripe down the center of each petal and maybe doubled. With all the rain this summer in the mountains, they have thrived and are very showy and attention getting.

Chocolate Chess Pie

This recipe is so easy and the pie is so good and very rich. It may not look so pretty but some people say it’s the best pie they have ever put in their mouth.  Just add a little whipped cream or ice cream and you will have a real treat.

1 (9 inch) piecrust, unbaked

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 stick butter or margarine

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Melt margarine/butter and cocoa. Combine all the other ingredients and mix well.  Beat entire mixture with mixer.  Pour into uncooked pie shell and bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 25 to 45 minutes until set. Let cool before cutting.   Enjoy!

Note:  This pie will look like it is not done.  It puffs up during cooking and will kind of fall once you take it from the oven. 

My Grandmother's Garden Tea Roses

My grandmother’s garden tea roses are in bloom.  I'm not sure when she planted this rose or how she obtained it  but  I do remember the sight and smell of this rose brings back fond childhood memories. 

This rose does quite nicely in a partly shaded location next to our garden shed and tolerates the harsh mountain winters. The buds are reddish pink, opening to pale pink flowers that quickly fade to blush white. As the flowers open, some of the reddish color on the buds remains on the outer petals for a short time. This blush-pink rose has long rambling canes that sometimes get in the way when mowing the lawn. The blooms are about 2-3 inches, cupped and quartered with a button eye and are blessed with a strong sweet fragrance. I'm not sure of the identity of this rose but think it is characteristic of the  "Arcata Pink Globe" rose.