Part of the landscaping "plan" has been to make the backyard into, well, let's call it 'the back forty,' although it's more like forty square yards rather than forty acres. We've got livestock back there, folks, and it's rare to not head back to check on the birds without having a naked ape (clothed, of course) with a baby-in-stroller, pointing at the poultry, making goo-goo noises. Often, they are pointing at our Muscovy Ducks, also known as the Climbing Duck:

Either because the person who named them lived substantially further north, or because of global climate disruption, our Juneberries finally arrived in full force this year, a good two weeks before the beginning of June.

 Here's a bundle of oyster mushrooms I found walking in the woods the day before Thanksgiving.

The first bit of dry fall weather has me thinking about one thing: mushrooms! Autumn often brings a change in temperature and/or rain patterns, and this makes for good conditions for sprouting fungi. The mycelium stop growing and start thinking about expanding their territory, and in order to accomplish that they have to come above ground. And that's when we have the opportunity to pick 'em and eat 'em!

Here's a tasty chantarelle just waiting for the pot!

It sounds like a wonderfully progressive idea to tear up your inner-city lawn and plant a wildflower meadow/fruit orchard, right? Well, that's we thought too: no more mowing, beautiful flowers and butterflies, delicious fruit to pluck off the trees, not to mention no fertilizers or pesticides.

Thanks to Bountiful Backyards for posting this slideshow.  It shows our yard's transformation from basically the day we moved into the house, Sept 3, 2006, through September 2008. We aren't done yet, but it makes me want to sing ...lord check out those 'staches

It's a mantra I've repeated over and over for the past 2.5 years: water feature.  I've longed for a water feature in the yard. Somehow I knew that when I found the time to build my water feature, it would mean my life had eased up from the rapid-fire pace of the past two and a half years, and I would be able to look around, slow down,  and take a breath.  With the house projects, book writing editing and touring, teaching, installing, etc etc etc, I wasn't sure I'd ever have free time again.  But yes!  Here it is...
 

22 months of waiting. That's nearly as torturous as the five years it took to grow ginseng. Patience, patience. But it paid off Friday when we got our first crop of shiitake mushrooms from the inoculated logs that have been taking up space in the backyard.  Good thing those fungi decided to fruit, because I was contemplating burning the logs in the woodstove this fall! 

So about a year and a half ago Stephen and I bought rugs made from recycled plastic bags to go on top of the black walk pads on our green roof (which got searingly hot in the daytime).  The plastic rugs had lovely patterns like woven oriental rugs, weren't too expensive. I thought it was a good use of plastic, and would reflect more heat off the green roof than the black walk pads. Many "green" stores sell these rugs, like Real Goods, etc.