1. I picked up this feather in my garden this week and decided to have a go at painting it in watercolours. I thought I might use this tube of white paint, but I was very wrong. I bent and ripped it in half thinking I might get a squeeze of paint from it, but alas it is all dried up.
2. Look at this fabulous mushroom! We were out exploring in the woods and my youngest called me to see a ‘photo’ mushroom (he is trained well!!). A photo mushroom indeed, this is a beauty. It feels almost spiney, not soft at all and apparently they are edible. Would you eat it? Pop it in a stir fry? Pasta? I am not sure I would eat it, what if it really isn’t edible, that would be a big mistake. I was happy to admire it and snap a photo to share. I almost forgot to tell you what it is called. ‘Hericium erinaceus’, otherwise known as lion’s mane mushroom, pom pom mushroom, bearded tooth mushroom (that is a terrible thought, teeth with beards…) and my most favourite – bearded hedgehog mushroom! I love the idea of hedgehogs with beards, especially big white beards!
3. We found a marble in the creek! Another one for the collection.
4. The woods looks so pretty when it is cool and green about to turn red and orange. Leaves are just starting to coat the woodland floor and we will soon be crunching through leafy paths.
I had to include this bonus photo for Isabel at Nanjing Nian who is also the glamourous host of ‘One+Four=Life’. I used the mitten shaped aubergine of posts past, along with this new one and some homegrown tomatoes and peppers to make Bharta and it was delicious! I am so excited to have found a recipe using aubergine that I like. I have to give recipe credit to Tracie at Beets and Birch as she recommended it to me and I thank her for that! Now I am hoping I get a couple more aubergines before the garden retires for the winter.
Happy Monday! Have a fab week ahead.
Clare Davis Etheridge 
Clare! I am so thrilled you made Bharta with your mitten-aubergine, and that you included an extra photo! Also that you refer to me as the ‘glamorous’ host of One + Four = Life. Socks and sandals on planes, remember (much to your chagrin)?! Far from glamorous, but it’s a nice thought. That mushroom is amazing. Yes, hmm, I don’t know about the eating of it…how could you be certain? My mum is a bit of a local weed collector, she finds things in parks and then identifies them and cooks them up for dinner, so far so good with the poisoning, but it’s hard to be sure!
I can’t quite believe that you live near actual ‘woods’, too cool for school. Like something out of an Enid Blyton novel. You lucky duck! Thanks for your wonderful photos x
You can rock the glamour! Ha, I forgive the sandals and socks on planes (only on planes though!!). I always look at dandelions and think ‘I am sure they can go in salad’, but I have not eaten a handful yet. Foraging is a wonderful thing as long as you are confident in your finds, which I clearly am not!
That mushroom is amazing! I think a bearded hedgehog belongs in Wind in the Willows. I can just see him in a waist coat and little round glasses.
Yes, a bearded hedgehog would be a great character!
i collect feathers also. my favorite is a trumpet swan feather. a magpie left one in my meditation area at the river this week which i thought was quite lovely.
that mushroom looks like a sea anemone. i’d be afraid to even touch it though. i love finding wild fungi but they scare me so i leave it. i’d love to take a forest forage class some time. one of these days.
i’m craving bharta again already! i put 2 aubergine on my shopping list this week.
I am sure there is good luck in that magpie feather. I did give the mushroom a prod, but we left it for the squirrels to eat! I have one aubergine from the plant, but not enough for another bharta, I might need to buy another.