Art – Page 54 – Ellis Hollow

Christmas Amanita

We used to have an old, very bizzare Christmas decoration that we inherited from somewhere on my wife’s side of the family. It was made from some kind of early synthetic rubber material, and had Santa riding in his sleigh landing on this huge red mushroom. I never really got it. We just thought it was weird.

This morning I was listening to the podcast of yesterday’s Thom Hartmann radio show, and he related this story: Though he did not identify the mushroom by name, the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) grows in association with evergreen trees in the boreal forest. It is both poisonous and hallucinogenic.

But apparently reindeer can metabolize the toxin and excrete the hallucinogen unscathed. So Norse shamans would cultivate the mushrooms, encourage the reindeer to eat them, gather up the yellow snow and make a psychoactive brew.

And you wondered where the jolly man in the red suit, flying reindeer and elves from the North Pole got their start. Â I think we should thank the Amanita.

Hartmann’s story differs from the Wikipedia entry, which has the reindeer prancing from the effects of the agaric. But it still makes the connection between Amanita and Christmas traditions.

December bloom day scan

I broke down and did a quick scan this morning during the lull between the storms. Lunaria and bittersweet. Lots of my favorite grasses and perennials still standing in their tan and brown glory. But little in the way of bright colors we associate with ‘blooms’.

Last-minute gift idea

I think I beat those prurient gals over at GardenRant to the punch on this one. From the Rutland Area Farm & Food Link:

Local Exposure Calendar Released

“Your favorite farmers have posed in the buff to raise awareness of the amazing array of local farm products grown right here in Rutland County.

“The calendar, both artistically beautiful and amusingly cheeky, is designed to bring a little humor to your schedule. In addition to profiles of each highlighted farm, the calendar is filled with tips on how to support local agricultural and sustainable food production in your community. You’ll find the start days of local farmers’ markets dappling the pages and important agricultural tidbits from the global to the local perspective.”

Go buy a calendar. And resolve next year to be a better supporter of local farmers in your own neck of the woods. The calendar will help remind you.

Art of Horticulture projects

block print detail The highlight of my work year Tuesday: I got to shoot the final projects in my friend Marcia’s Art of Horticulture class. My favorite was Rachel Ostlund’s collection of linoleum block prints.

Visit the photo gallery, surf projects from previous classes, or view TA Chad Miller’s photos of class activities through the semester.

Belated bloom day scans

This morning, I finally had a chance to get out into the garden with enough light that I didn’t need a flashlight to see what was there. Were it not for the recent cold (seasonable, actually) weather, I thought I might actually be able to scan some things that most reasonable people would actually consider blooms. But all I found really were materials suitable for dried flower arrangements, which I usually put together over the Thanksgiving holiday, anyway.

So, this may be my final bloom day scan until March — unless we have another mild winter and we have snowdrops in January like last year.

Ornamental grass wrapped in thunbergia, lunaria, milkweed, ironweed, motherwort, bittersweet.

Heuchera, clematis, milkweed(?) seeds that happened to drift in during composition.