by Gumby Montgomery
Howdy, folks! We’ve made it through another hot, humid NC summer, and now we get to begin another autumn; a time of fungi, hurricanes, sunsets, and reflection. Once again, we can appreciate the warmth of a fire, the scratchy coziness of wool, the rich aromas of rotting leaves, cold rain, and the slow, sad beauty of long slumber and longer death, as some in the natural world prepare for hibernation while others expire. I invite you to really notice the leaves this season as photosynthesis stops and their true, hidden colors are revealed. Which leaves die first, next and last, and what colors are exposed? Personally, I adore the Red Maple leaves that die in such a vibrant blaze of glory; they seem to glow.
Autumn is an ideal time to cast our gazes down and read the stories in the soil. Watch as the life of the forest descends from the treetops to nestle in the roots, burrows, and thickening debris of the forest floor. How divinely appropriate that natural insulation becomes so vastly abundant, that so much dead, dry firewood is revealed when the weather turns cold! It’s a great time to practice your shelter and fire building, to recognize how well we still fit in the grand design, how well Mother Earth still cares and provides for us.
As the late summer flowers make their final stand, various forms of fungi very suddenly appear, the reproductive organs of giant, underground organisms called mycelium, which may live for hundreds of years. They can present an interesting identification challenge for would-be naturalists. Though mushrooms can be extremely dangerous and hard to positively identify, Euell Gibbons teaches in Stalking the Wild Asparagus that all white “puff-ball” fungi that are white all the way through inside are edible and, so far, I have found this to be true. I take heart that old Mr. Gibbons didn’t die of mushroom poisoning.
And finally, (What’s final? Absurd!), don’t forget to look up as our feathered summer friends bid us farewell, our winter friends bid us hello again, our year-round friends remind us to set out the bird-seed, and Orion chases Taurus across the night sky. Dust off your Robert Frost and Walt Whitman, crank up the Simon and Garfunkel, and above all, get outside and be thankful! Happy Autumn!
