I had lots of mushrooms growing under a tree that had some mulch placed around it. The tree is doing fine, but I've had three shrubs die off there. Anyway, I'm sure the corn is worth more than the mushrooms
Thanks. I got an IPhone 11 Pro a few months ago and have been impressed enough with it to begin taking photography a little more seriously. Ironically the owl was taken with an iPhone 4s and the raccoon with a 6s. The mushrooms in my first post here are the 11 pro. Definitely a difference!
Unfortunately at this point in time the corn is worth less than the amount I’ve spent on seed, chemical, fertilizer, labor, taxes, and fuel. The price on the board of trade is lower than cost of production. China is buying commodities at a rapid pace again now so hopefully things will turn around. Do you think the mushrooms killed the shrubs? Fungus is very important to soil biology, usually positively. But I’m sure not always. We know trees use underground fungal growth to communicate with other trees as well. Do you know anything about edible wild mushrooms?
I'm pretty much clueless about mushrooms. The growth of the mushrooms and the death of the shrubs occurred in the same area around the same time (within a month). My comment was more cynical humor than any kind of knowledge. I actually had other shrubs in the same area last year, but they died over the summer. I assumed it was a problem with the roots--they looked kind of all balled up. I replaced them last winter and they seemed fine until it got warm. I'm too disappointed to dig them up and see what they look like. Now that I think about it, the mushroom outbreaks occurred after long wet spells. That may have been part of it, but I did put down another 4 inches of soil before I planted the last bunch of shrubs. It's a terrible shame that corn isn't worth much. Is it field corn or sweet corn? I'll come pick some sweet corn .
I used to have some nice 35mm equipment years ago, but by the time I used up rolls of film, sent it in for development and got them back, my interest faded a bit. I didn't pay much attention to the cameras on the phones at first, but I had to get a new one (10R) a while back and it took way better pictures. That got me back into it. I was thinking about upgrading soon. Let's see some more photos!
I like knowledge and cynical humor! Sorry about your bad luck with shrubs. My wife is the horticulturalist in the family. Has a very green thumb. But she even has a lot of trouble with purchased trees and other potted perennials we try and plant dying for no good reason. We only get mushrooms if we have a week or more of rainy weather. It’s the nature of the business. The old timers used to tell me each decade in the farming business on average you would break even six years, lose your shirt two years, and make money hand over fist two years. I’ve gone a bit over two decades now and found that’s a pretty accurate assessment. I plant a half acre or so of sweet corn each year. This year I purchased some genetically modified seed that is resistant to herbicide so it’s easier to keep the weeds out. I’ve had it in the past but the last few years I’ve just been planting free seed my field corn/soybean seed dealer gives away. It always got so weedy it never produced much. Anyway this year it was weed free and I fenced it with two wires of electric fence to keep the raccoons out. I have sweet corn galore. I wish I could share. If you want to drive up to Nebraska I will! I’ve been living on sweet corn and zucchini for two weeks! The corn by the mushrooms is field corn planted late after rye. It will all be chopped for corn silage. I think I have a couple pictures of my sweet corn. The first one was supposed to be a series of time lapse. A picture of the same plant each day from tasseling to harvest but I got busy and forgot about starting it. I have a series of daily pictures of robins in nest from egg to flight but I’m not sure how to upload them easily in order here if I figure it out I’ll share them. A few weeks ago I used them for my avatar, changing them daily. I don’t think anyone noticed. This one was accidental. I was carrying my phone irrigating for some reason and took it without knowing it. LOL
This is a swamp hibiscus I grew from seed. I stopped by this old man's yard and ask him for some seed.... after complimenting him on his yard. He gave me a bunch of hibiscus seeds. I think this is one of them. I also gathered some wild seed.
This is a seed gathered by a riverbank. It gets real pretty when it has about 20 blooms at once. Then it gets dead looking as seed heads form.
I'm impressed with the abilities of phone cameras these days. I got into how to frame photos, what sort of things make interesting pics, and all that. Definitely changed the way I look at the world around me. I have a son in Omaha. Maybe I could send him out to pick corn for me? He and my other son in Minneapolis have bought pork and beef from local farms that had to get rid of their stock. It's insane. I do love fresh sweet corn.
A few years back I decided to start using native plants. I watched to see what was growing locally, then tried transplanting some. The biggest problem was that I didn't watch them long enough to see what they would look like by the end of the growing season. It's funny that some plants took over certain areas in a big sort of way while others that looked so lush and alive growing on their own faded away quickly where I planted them. I did my homework and tried to match the growing conditions, but I guess you have to let those plants decide where they want to grow. For now, I'm sticking with the "wild" tomatoes that keep coming back on their own along my front porch. I love picking and eating a handful in the morning.
Oooohhh. 35mm! My previous experience with photography before the iPhone 4 was at about age 12-13 with a Kodak 110.
I agree. Now that I am looking for photo opportunities I spend more time observing things I used to hurry past on my way to the next task. Check your pm’s
It's interesting to think of how much stuff we didn't pay attention to before we started seeing them in terms of photographs. I'm much more focused on how the light changes what I see at different times of the day or the year. But I'm really seeing how the light that's reflected from clouds will alter everything by coming in from so many different angles. I pay more attention to the contrasts and changes in color as a storm cloud reflects different colors. I guess I'm old enough now that I can play with all this and not feel like I need to be busy on important things.
Yeh I’ve heard people say taking photographs isn’t good because it distracts you from actually enjoying the beauty personally in the moment. I agree with you it’s actually the opposite. Even when you aren’t trying to capture something with photography your eye and mind are trained to be drawn to the most important things in the frame without missing the peripheral details. No! Now that we are older we realize what the important things really are! It’s a process. I’m 46 years into the process and far enough along to realize I’ve got a long way to go.
Here's an example of how the light changes. You can see the front is illuminated and even see a shadow of the wood post. The thing is that the sun is setting behind the shed and the only thing that is reflecting the light is single cloud in a blue sky. Here's the cloud: And here is the sun setting behind the shed. It's barely visible behind the trees. Never paid attention to such things when I was younger.
That is some type of Boletus. Some in the genus are sought after edibles while some are toxic like the "devil's bolete". I have found some that have a very pronounced bluing reaction (though not caused by the presence of pscilocybin)
Two old houses here, sadly the first one is owned by a slumlord and has fallen into disrepair, it has 8 apartments. The 12 tribes house is kept immaculate. Kinda a hippy Christian sect that's nationwide.
