9.13.2017

Tiny Puffballs


few flowers grace our world
as we enter the fungi season
(so glad there is always something to enjoy)


these are tiny fruiting puffballs


found at the base of my mountain ash tree


photographed on a smoky day
giving them an even richer color


I find each one to be a work of art
a small treasure to behold


Then one morning 
I woke to find a squirrel had eaten them all!

That is the task to enjoy the mushrooms before someone eats them. 

Most puffballs are edible for us and the deer and the squirrels
and
who knows who else. 

~
*



26 comments:

  1. I love fungi! We have some really nice toadstools in the front yard and through the forest...actually they could be fairy rings, so I leave them be. :)

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    1. Fairy rings are fun to find.... makes one pause to consider the circle.
      I let all mushrooms be,unless I want to eat or study them ;-)

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  2. Just gorgeous.
    Lucky squirrel.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for enjoying Rick.
      The squirrels are always so busy eating, collecting, building nests. One day though, I saw one laying on a log in the sun.

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  3. These are just lovely and so small! That squirrel had a delicious feast!!

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    1. I like looking at the too Sandra. Yep, a feast.

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  4. They are just the sweetest things! I love those little fungi puffballs. What wonderful photos.

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    Replies
    1. I thought so too, sweet or charming little things.

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  5. Hard to think of them as flowers.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, nothing like flowers. Meant something like there is always something to enjoy in each season.

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  6. Great photos! The tiny ones remind me of bright pebbles in a stream!

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  7. Very nice pictures you took. It was the squirrel lucky day:)
    Henry

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  8. They are so full of texture. I have seen giant puffballs after they have exploded, such an odd thing.

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    Replies
    1. Yes they do interesting things. When they explode they are sending their spores off into the world.

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  9. Replies
    1. Yes, textures and designs are wonderful to see. So glad you enjoyed them William.

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  10. Dear Tammie - I can almost feel the spongy touch of puffballs. Indeed, the nature’s work of art. There seem to be no same patterns on each cap.

    Yoko

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  11. If you had my Grands visiting, they would jump on the Puffers to see the "smoke" they give off. Last week, a squirrel threw a mushroom out of a Lodgepole at my head! It landed at my feet, and I had to look up to see where the heck it came from!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing your mushroom stories.
      Making the puffball spores fly really is fun.
      I love hearing about the mushroom that fell from the sky. My guess is that it did not throw it at you, but that it dropped it. I have seen squirrels take them in trees. They are odd shapes or heavy and hard to manage. I have seen them drop them and run down to pick them up and start again. One thing that i have heard about storing mushrooms in trees is that they dry them there and in drying them it makes them more palatable for the squirrel just like cooking them does for us. So interesting.

      I love finding mushrooms in trees, even better than a easter egg hunt.

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  12. Hello, Tammie! Haven't been here since a long time. But it's so exciting to come back and find treasures as always! Lovely pictures form your beautiful surroundings! Hugs!

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  13. Puffballs...I've never heard of them. I would love to be able to see fungi in the wild like this. It's not often we see it here in smSouthern California. Great photos, Tammie! Thank you for sharing!

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  14. A very nice series of pictures Tammie. I love your work and your style!!

    Greetings from the Netherlands!
    Gert Jan
    www.gertjanhermus.nl

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  15. I like to see mushrooms. You are living close to lovely art of mushrooms!

    Happy day to you.

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Warm greetings to you~

Thank you for visiting and also for sharing your thoughts and feelings. Seeing anew through your eyes and heart mean so much to me!

Tammie