On to Auburn (and other updates)

A scene from Auburn University.

      Many of you have probably noticed that I haven't posted in a while.  Well, I was actually living in a tent while I looked for a place in Auburn.  In some ways it was nice.  I caught my first Alabama fish (a largemouth bass from a deep pool in a woodland stream), found three species of edible chanterelles (more on them in a future post), and explored around the cool, mesic forests that were a welcome change from the xeric pine communities of Navarre, Florida.  In other ways it was not so nice.  The frontal system that moved through on Saturday and Sunday literally dampened my spirits.  I spent the night in my gore-tex rain gear because my tent seems were all leaking.  However, I did get to rough the worst of the storm with two random guys who were also living at the campground, Cody and Hootie.  They construct large, concrete holding tanks around the country and were proud of their work.  That seems pretty rare these days.  They sometimes stay at campgrounds to save cash and, like me, they had to face the storm.  So, we had a couple beers, some homemade loquat mead, played banjo, and listened to the sound of the rain resonate as it forcefully collided with the tin roof of the picnic pavilion.  It was great having some friends to weather the storm with.  Although I probably won't see them again, it was one of many encounters I've had with complete strangers that I won't forget.  It's something you can't understand if you live your life secluded in an apartment or locked up in a hotel room.

I caught my first AL fish here at Chewacla Creek.

Some smooth chanterelles are breaking through the moss and leaf litter.

Some cinnabar red chanterelles.

      So why did I come to Auburn in the first place?  Well, I'm starting grad school!  I'll be working with Dr. Johnston in the Fisheries Department.  My main focus will be conservation of the pygmy sculpin (Cottus paulus), but I'll have two years to write about that, so I won't go into detail today.  I've already met some cool people, went on a fish collecting trip (more on that later), found chanterelles and blueberries, and found some local jams, all in less than a week.  I think I'll like it here.

Other updates:

Daylilly
      The daylilly had a spectacular bloom this year.  There were some typical six tepaled (they are technically not all petals...see earlier post) flowers and some with extra tepals as I hoped for.

The daylillies in bloom.

Mountain Banjo
      I got to put a little time in on the mountain banjo project.  I laminated three pieces of wood together so I had a large block that I roughed the neck out of.  I have not done the final shaping yet.  I'll write a more detailed post on the banjo soon.

More Mushroom Mysteries

These huge boletes popped up over night.  If only I could have identified them to species.

      About 2 weeks ago, my area was hit by a pretty intense rainstorm.  While my friends were starting to worry about the hot and humid weather that would follow, I began to hope for one more crop of edible pinewood king boletes (Boletus pinophilus).  Sure enough, as I drove down my street I noticed three huge boletes growing on the side of the road amongst some old and decaying pinewood king boletes I had seen earlier in the season.  These mushrooms were huge, and they weren't there the night before.  I quickly pulled off the road and harvested them.  The mushrooms surprised me because they had popped up so quickly and late in the year, but the real surprise would come later.

Building a Mountain Banjo: The Pot

      In an earlier post I wrote that the true essence of the banjo is taking what one has, and making music out of it.  That is what the earliest banjo players did with their instruments consisting of a gourd covered in skin, a stick for a neck and some strings.  In time the banjo evolved into the modern banjo, which is probably what most people think of when a banjo is mentioned.  However, the were many intermediate styles and designs that developed after the gourd banjo and before the modern banjo.  One that has always interested me is the "mountain banjo."  It is a unique banjo design that was intended to be easily constructed with limited tools.  Unlike some other designs, it does not require laminating ply to form a circular pot nor does it utilize a gourd or grain measure for the pot.  Instead, circular shops are cut our of solid wood stock.  It is probably not the strongest method, but it works.  I have wanted to build a banjo for some time and this type of banjo seems like one of the easiest to build.  In addition, I also like the old fashioned look and sound of this banjo style.  Today I had a little time off, so I just decided to start building one, but I have very limited experience building instruments.  I once built a cigar box guitar, but that is it.  I have documented what I have done below.  As I build more I'll be sure to post updates.  Anyway before I get any farther, I figured I should add a video so you can hear a "mountain banjo."

Mutant Daylily

This daylily has an extra petal and an extra sepal.  It doesn't always bloom this way. I'm anxious to see if it will occur again this year.

      Yesterday, I noticed that my daylily (Hemerocallis sp.) is about to bloom.  Last year, it surprised me because instead of having 6 tepals it had 8 (a tepal is just a petal or sepal.  Most non-botany people refer to both the petals and sepals on a daylily as "petals" but, the outer "petals" are actual sepals.  See photo below for clarification).  I think this is just a simple mutation, similar to the mutation that causes 4 leaf clovers but, I am not sure.  It will be interesting to see if this occurs again.  I'll update if it does.  I won't be able to post for the next few days but, hopefully I'll have some material to write about when I get back online again.  By the way, daylily flowers are also edible.

Foraging and Fishing - Early April

A keeper speck caught just before sunset.  The fishing and the foraging are both good right now.

      I have not posted in a while.  Partly because I have been working a lot, and partly because the little time that I have when I am not working I have been out getting free food from nature!  The foraging* is excellent now, and so is the fishing!  I love spring.  This post is just a summary of what I have been finding and catching over the past week and a half.  Some of the fruit showed up a little early, but winter never really came, and spring was very warm.  Most of these species are pretty common, so you should be able to find them too.

Mushroom Mystery Solved!

Welcome to the world of mycophylia!

-Adam Giek 

John was curious about seeing my harvest.  I think his expression reveals that he was impressed.

       A few days ago I posted that I was trying to positively identify a mushroom.  It turns out, the mushroom was not the king bolete (Boletus edulis) but, it was a very similar species, the pinewood king bolete (Boletus pinophilus).  The pinewood king bolete is also edible, so I returned to my patches and collected a few more. My original hypothesis was wrong, but not too far off.  In fact, the pinewood king bolete was formerly labeled as a subspecies of the king bolete.  It has since been raised to the level of species.  However, it is always best to be sure with mushrooms.  This identification was only my second experience identifying wild, edible mushrooms.  Fortunately, the boletes are one of the safer groups to learn on.  I still recommend that anybody who is not familiar with wild mushrooms consult a local expert when trying to identify a species for the first time.  I did, and the responses I received were both abundant and helpful.

Shady Grove

Cut a banjo from a gourd

Strung it up with twine

And every tune that I play

Will help to make her mine 

      I had a great time recording "Fall on My Knees" and a lot of people seemed to like it.  During that session, Daune and I also recorded another awesome old time song called "Shady Grove."  Unlike "Fall on My Knees," which is about lost love, this song is about finding love.  It is usually done as a modal tune.  I don't know too much music theory, but I think it means that it is not in a major key, or a minor key.  Duane did a great job managing the recording equipment and also provided some more percussive guitar.  This particular version uses some traditional verses and some that I made up.  A few were made up on the fly, and a few were messed up on the fly.  By the time we recorded this song, we had been up for hours doing some serious recording and a little drinking.  We decided to have fun rather than reach perfection.  Mistakes were inevitable, but I personally prefer this song in its raw, unrehearsed form.  If you are interested in the song, check out my ever growing list of verses.  I am going to try to add a new verse every month.  In fact, after leaving Charm City (Baltimore) I was reminiscing about the good times I had up there and I came up with this verse.

It's a long, long way to Baltimore

The place they call Charm City

But I hear up there the good beer flows

And all the girls are pretty

Flounder and Crabs, March 14th -17th

Although forced perspective is at work in this photo, this blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) was indeed a  huge crab.  (Photo by John Dougherty, used with permission.)

      Once again, I am posting something a little late, but this time it is not my fault.  After looking at some of my blog stats I noticed that posts with good pictures get many more hits, so I waited until my friend sent pictures before I started writing.  What follows is just a brief report for each night.  As usual, I hope this information helps but don't ask me where I was.  My friend John is more protective of his spots than I am and my fish are still in his freezer.  If I post something too specific, he might just eat them all.

Spring Weeding = Free Food

The tasty tuber from the common southern weed, Florida betony (Stachys floridana).  Some say it resembles a rattlesnakes tail, hence one of the common names, rattlesnake weed.

       Two common north Florida lawn and garden weeds are Florida betony (Stachys floridana) and the wild onion or meadow garlic (Allium canadense).  Both weeds have underground structures that store energy.  The Florida betony has a tuber (an underground, energy storing root) while the wild onion has a bulb (an underground, energy storing stem).  If the tubers and/or bulbs are not removed with the weed, new shoots will sprout and the weeds persist.  Many gardeners spend a lot of time digging up the tubers and bulbs in order to remove the weeds.  However, a lot of people I have talked to do not know that the underground parts of the plants that they worked so hard to remove can be eaten*, and are actually pretty good.  In fact, one spring while I was clearing a garden plot I removed hundreds of wild onion bulbs and betony tubers.  At the time, I knew about wild onions so I ate some and dried the rest, but I discarded all of the betony.  Now I know better.

Spore Print Results

      Yesterday, I was trying to positively identify a mushroom that I suspected was a King Bolete (Boletus edulis).  In my post, I explained that I was taking a spore print to help identify the mushroom.  A spore print is basically a collection of tiny spores that are too small to see individually, but visible in the aggregate form.  The print allows a mycologist (one who studies mushrooms) or forager to determine the color of the spores which is very useful when trying to identify a mushroom. To make a print you place the cap of a mushroom on a flat surface (paper, cardboard, or glass), cover it with a container to prevent air circulation from scattering the spores, and let the spores pile up underneath the cap.  It usually takes a few hours, but I just let my prints form overnight.  After posting last night, I set up my spore print and went to sleep.  In the morning, I was anxious to see the results.  And the results are...no visible spore print.  I was a little disappointed, but there are so more mushrooms of the same species popping up.  I think the specimen I picked was immature, so if I let the others mature longer, I should be able to form a readable spore print.  I'll update the blog when I get more conclusive results.  Until then, I am just drying my mushroom. If it turns out to be an edible bolete, I'll eat it.  If not, I'll throw it in my garden to decompose.