Rain Induced Events

We fared okay in the recent spate of storms, including Hurricane-Tropical Storm Irene. We lost power only for 26 hours or so and the total rain was less than four inches. I have noticed a few happenings that resulted from all the rain due to Irene and other more minor storms since.

Just yesterday I checked our shiitake log crib and there on the back side was a flush of mushrooms, some ready for picking. Tonights menu is a shiitake-corn frittata (the corn and eggs are from local farms) with garlic green beans (from our own garden). Maybe a garden fresh sliced tomato on the side.

What made me check the shiitake logs was all the fungi I've seen in the woods lately. Red, white, yellow and other colorful mushrooms are pushing up through the forest soil all over. Last week some farmer friends mentioned their recent success with wild mushroom foraging, specifically black trumpets and chanterelles. I'll have to scout for those.

One casualty of the storm in our yard was the old peach tree. It was already weighted down heavily by fruit that ripen in mid-September. We should have propped its old, tired limbs. Two large limbs snapped and now lie partly on the ground. Our second mistake was not thinning the fruits more heavily. Many are touching each other which is probably causing the brown rot now forming on some of the peaches.

As recommended we are removing the infected fruits in hopes that the others will be spared. There are still many beautiful, but still hard, peaches on the tree.

So much happens in the garden in August and September that I've been preoccupied and hence had little time to blog. As the garden season slows my blogging should pick up again. In the meantime, I have some shiitakes to saute.