This is a picture of a cat on a leash. It’s ridiculous to take a cat out on a leash, but it does slow them down because they’re very confused.

Ok, that is all for me now. Talk to you again soon.

We don’t have to go somewhere to find nature—it’s already here.

I woke up this morning and the birds a were singing. Not a huge number of birds, but Robins, a Woodpecker, a Cardinal pair, sparrows and a wren.
I went down and sat on the couch looking out at the dogwood flowers. I could see the power lines through them, and the road, which was quiet now though it’s usually busy.
Sometimes a desire comes over me to run off to the woods, to live in a tiny house without anyone else around. The unspoken thought is that then finally I could be around nature.
But it’s here! Sure there are trucks driving by, but there are birds nesting in the shrubs, countless insects flying around, and new plants popping up. Even in New Haven, I rescued ten tiny native bees from the greenhouse, and there are snakes, salamanders, and who knows what else in the gardens.
We don’t have to run away and settle the scraps of forests that still exist, we can make them where we are. We can reforest and re-wild our world without having to meet some sort of locational criteria.
I am thinking about people who live in apartments. Maybe there is more nature in the yard than I’m imagining. If not, I’ve heard of planting a tree and just telling your landlord it was there, or asking to grow a garden, as I did at our old apartment. (Or don’t even plant a tree—protect a baby oak that pops up in the lawn). Or just put out a chair or hammock and see what you can see. Interesting life is everywhere, no matter how boring some people try to make their landscapes.

Is there a poem about heralding spring with the arrival of mushrooms? If not, there should be.

Last May, we posted about how to set up outdoor mushroom beds using fresh woodchips and mushroom spawn. Taking the time to do this was super rewarding, and gave us about 2 straight months of oyster mushrooms -  enough to eat a few nights a week, enough to give away or barter with, enough to dehydrate or freeze. The post had pictures of our steps in setting up pink and Grey dove oyster beds. Due to some shipping issues, and the fact that a lot of people were suddenly interested in pursuing mushroom cultivation on account of the pandemic, we ended up having a delay in receiving our Winecap mushroom spawn. See below for some photos of the oysters fruiting:
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The winecap beds were set up in pretty much the same way as detailed in the previous post. Winecap is a slower-colonizing species of mushroom, and add to that the fact that we didn't have as much spawn as we were originally planning for, our beds did not actually fruit last year. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why. Maybe the spawn was weak. Maybe I didn't use enough of it for the amount of woodchips we had. We saw other kinds of wild mushrooms (and a slime mold!) sprouting in and around these beds. Maybe they had just claimed the prize? During the season, I tried a number of other ways to help them along in our yard - we added some spawn to attempt to inoculate our woodchip path in the front yard, and added a little more spawn to our existing beds, all of which showed evidence of mycelial growth - but not the fruiting bodies we were anticipating.

So imagine our surprise to come outside about 10 days ago and see this huge stand of mushrooms, which burst through the ground at the edge of a vegetable bed so strongly that it pushed a lot of woodchips out of the way.

(Note: this happened about 20 feet from the bed we actually set up. Since this first flush, we've seen some appearing at the edges of the beds we actually 'planted' last spring).

These are delicious, hearty mushrooms that can be prepared a variety of ways. When sautéd, they produce quite a bit of liquid, and it's best to cook them until more of the liquid evaporates, especially if you're going to add this to another dish.  They make a phenomenal base for a soup. The flavor is generally described as somewhere between potato and asparagus - if you get them young, as pictured above, they have a bit of crunchiness, which is a nice texture. So far we've made risotto and soup with them, and they made an excellent addition to a burrito filling too.  

Because they look more like the traditional mushroom, with traditional cap and stem (and because they seem to wander a bit from where they were originally planted!) these can be a little harder to identify. They're called Winecap for the reason that their color starts with this deep, dark red - but if they spend a little time with direct sunlight, the cap can easily turn brown and cracked as pictured here. It's still safe to eat! 

But it goes without saying that with any wild mushroom, you want to be 100% sure of what you're eating. Oysters are a little harder to mistake for other species, especially ones that tend to appear in a yard. But winecaps have other distinguishing characteristics, as pictured below: the lavender-colored gills underneath, and also the ring that shows up about an inch or two underneath the cap (the 'crown' of the mushroom, which is also known as King Stropharia). You can take a spore print by removing a cap and laying it gills-down on a piece of white paper, and covering it with a bowl or tupperware container. After about 8 hours, you'll get a 'spore print', and the distinctive purplish brown color will help to confirm your identification.

(photo credit Ann F. Berger, from Wikimedia commons)

Cultivating these was a test of patience, but I'm grateful we didn't give up on them. Since the first flush, we've had an abundance of them over the last 11 days. My expectation is that they'll go dormant for a few months and flush again in the late summer - and return again for the next 2-3 years. But they've already defied my expectations plenty! 

Everything is good out here. It’s only a year since planting our first trees and seed, and two years since letting the lawn and existing plants go a little feral, and already everything is abundant. Insect and plant diversity has increased, and I’m sure larger animals will follow. It is unexpected how quickly something like this will yield rewards.

Everything is good but not everything is perfect:

Those asters and goldenrod are aggressive! I’m growing lots of other meadow plants from seed and I hope they’ll be able to compete.

Sparrows have moved in to our birdhouses. I debated for a while about whether to remove their nests and plug the holes as some websites recommended doing. In the end, I decided against it. If I came home and my house was covered in cement and I couldn’t get in, I would be despondent. And animals feel emotions too.
Just now, as I was lying on the deck in my makeshift nature-watching bed, a sparrow landed near me with something in its beak and left it there. It was a dead bug. Why didn’t it eat the dead bug? Was it a thank-you present for letting him live?
But I also made Adam go out and buy a wren house from the Fat Robin (I’m working during their store hours) and a wren moved in the very next day. I’m watching wren antics that I don’t understand.

A mockingbird has migrated to live around us. There is a healthy population in New Haven, and there were some that lived around our old apartment, so it’s nice to have a mockingbird around again. (Oops, that falls in the “Everything is Good” category)

Slugs ate the vast majority of the seedlings I planted in the front garden in April. (But not broccoli raab. No one likes it). I’ll save myself the trouble next year and plant only seeds there, and save my lovingly tended plantlets for containers.

The grass is growing so much it needs mowing already?!

None of the cover crops we planted winter killed! Radish was supposed to die and leave the soil nicely aerated, but it’s all bouncing back. Even some oat grass survived our lowest winter temps. I cant remember if our winter ever dipped below zero.

Which is of course a reminder that our world is changing, and we have to adapt. We can use our yards and the land around us to grow some food for ourselves and shrubs for wildlife. Can we grow all our food or house all the wildlife? No. That’s not the point. It’s about doing a little bit, and getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. Plant a persimmon or paw paw tree. Plant some raspberries. Let the oak seedlings that sprout in your lawn grow up. We are not helpless in the face of everything that is happening to the environment, nor is it too late to do something.

There were these great genetic anomalies that grew really tall and produced a ton of huge leaves. I wanted to save the seed from these exceptional ones, which requires leaving them out all winter and allowing them to flower in the spring.
Well the snow got to heavy for the tallest one, and I was genuinely disappointed for a while when I saw the result:

But, if a genetic mutation like these tall plants can happen once, it can happen again, so I’ll save seeds from the surviving ones and see what happens.
I never find it helpful to be disappointed for long about things in the garden. Some things work and some don’t. It’s really not under your control, and not only will you ruin your fun if you obsess over it, but you’ll miss the opportunity to observe the cool things that DO happen.

In the fall, the ideal planting time is mid September through early November. Last year, however, I planted three shrubs at the tail end of November because the folks at Earthtones nursery said I could. I just went out and checked one of them and it’s got little buds coming!

Growing from crowns vs. growing from seed

If you are thinking about growing fruit trees or edible shrubs, here’s a list of where to get them in the Northeast.

Many places only deliver in spring, but I prefer to plant perennials in fall because you don’t have to painstakingly water them all summer.
One thing I considered in my decision is what USDA hardiness zone the trees were grown in. If the individual tree and its parental stock adapted to a climate similar to yours, it will be more familiar with your weather fluctuations. I don’t know how crucial this is, but I consider it when deciding where to get trees. But my current trees were raised two zones colder than Hamden CT, which is zone is 6b/7a, so we shall see how they do!
Here are my suggestions, in general order of personal preference:

Fedco: although they’re in Maine zone 5 and they only ship in spring, this company holds a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s their great selection, their excellent catalog, or the fact that their seeds always grow well for me, this is my first choice. While they are not organic, the consideration they give to sourcing and growing their plants/seeds shows that are thoughtful company.

Cricket Hill: can’t get better than right here in CT! They’re also super friendly and helpful. Their selection is odd because they occupy the niche of rare fruits, but they have some good stuff like persimmons and paw paws. Open year round for shipping and in person purchases, so you can plant in the fall.

Twisted Tree Nursery: also a small operation offering some cool trees, including discount bulk buying and seeds.

Cummins Nursery: great selection of classic fruits and they ship in the fall. Family owned and one USDA zone closer to us than Fedco. Not organic, and I don’t know their practices.

Edible Landscaping: a Virginia grower that ships in the fall, has a cool selection of things.

Adams County Nursery: the only place I’ve found with our exact hardiness zone. Seems like a massive organization, and they seem to specialize in hybrids preferred by commercial growers. Nothing wrong with that, I’m eyeing some hybrid nectarines, but you won’t find the quaint heirlooms of Fedco here. They often sell out, I think.

Trees of Antiquity: amazing and interesting selection but they’re out in California, ugh. Very far to ship and the trees grew up in a warmer climate (although that could be beneficial). They are the only fully organic grower on this list, and if you get a lot from them, the shipping becomes worth it.

Oikos Tree Crops: Gotta admit, I don't know anything about this place, but it looks cool. The person who stewards the Yale Food Forest told me about it, so I figured I would share.

Arbor Day: I think they sell fruit trees, but I don’t knowi where they source them from.

Stark Bro’s: they’re sort of a behemoth in the fruit world so I lean towards supporting the independents, but they do have a great selection and an organic line.

Shrubs and perennials:
Fedco, again.

Nourse Farms: in MA, they sell berry plants for spring planting.

Earthtones: in CT, they grow and sell native plants and shrubs. They don’t focus on edible plants but they do have some. Mostly they’re great for accent plants and adding natives to your garden. Plus it is a magical place to visit.

Natureworks: also in CT. A full service garden center so they also have annual vegetable plants in spring. They have perennials, fruiting shrubs, and they can special order trees. They encourage fall planting so they’re usually well stocked in fall in addition to spring.

I may be missing some places, but I’ve done some extensive research, including buying things from many of these growers, and they all seem pretty good!