Oyster mushrooms fruiting from downed hickory

Oyster mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus, fruit in overlapping shelves on dead elm and hickory throughout the growing season.  A choice edible this white or grayish brown medium-sized mushroom, has soft gills that run down the short stem. Besides being a choice edible it contains the statin lovastin. A number of animal studies have shown that eating oyster mushrooms can lower cholesterol. Research has also shown that this species helps fight various cancers. To cook, sauté the mushrooms with garlic in butter and olive oil, and toss with pasta and parsley.  They can also be substituted for cultivated mushrooms in many recipes.

Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa

Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa, grows in clusters from the base of oak trees in the fall. A perennial, it often grows in the same place year after year.  This soft, fleshy polypore is composed of individual overlapping fruiting branches that constitute a large fruiting body, as much as 60 cm across. Also known as maitake, it is prized in traditional Chinese and Japanese herbology. Not only does it enhance the immune system, but it has also been shown to inhibit growth of cancer cells, regulate insulin and blood pressure, and lower cholesterol.

Reishi mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum

Reishi mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, reputed to be the mushroom of immortality, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2000 years. The varnished red, kidney-shaped cap of this corky polypore has white pores underneath. I find it fruiting from the same downed silver maple year after year. The most highly prized of the medicinal fungi, reishi, is used as a tonic to support general wellness and vitality. It is also reputed to inhibit the growth of malignant tumors, treat liver diseases, treat viral diseases, lower blood pressure, and help regulate cholesterol.  It’s bitter taste and corky texture do not make it suitable for eating.  Instead, it is prepared as hot water extract: soak overnight in water to soften the flesh, then cut into thin slices and simmer in boiling water, covered for two hours. Sweeten and drink as a tea.

When collecting fungi for consumption it is important to make sure of the identity of each species.  Some mushrooms are highly poisonous. To learn more about collecting fungi attend a foray of your local mushroom club. (listing is available at the NAMA website)

Many other fungi commonly found in the Iowa woodlands have a wide spectrum of beneficial properties. You may find a complete listing in Medicinal Mushrooms by Christopher Hobbs. (Botanica Press, Summertown, Tennessee. 1986)

Page from German herbal

When Bill and I married I was happy to substitute real medicine for Mother’s herbal cures.  It was Bill who brought me back full circle.  As a dentist he taught his patients the importance of preventive care and personal responsibility for their dental health.  The primary dental disease is not tooth decay, but periodontitis.  And periodontal disease can only be controlled by healthy habits and good oral hygiene.  Preventive care and a person’s responsibility for his own health extended into our home.  We looked for ways to prevent getting sick.

After we moved to the farm I naturalized purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in the vegetable garden. In 1997 I read a New York Times “Cuttings” article by Anne Raver which detailed how to extract the antibiotic qualities from Echinacea as a tonic for feeling run down or a cold coming on.  I thought, “Why not?” The recipe is very simple:  dig up a three year old plant, cut off the roots, scrub them well, and cut them into small pieces.  Then soak them in vodka (cheap is fine) for 1-2 weeks to extract the antibiotic properties, and strain into a clean, stoppered bottle. It doesn’t taste very good so we keep it in the freezer.  It’s more palatable when really cold.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

My family calls this concoction the magic potion because it really does work. Our son, Alex, recently gave some to a friend. She took a spoonful after waking up with a sore throat. The next day, when she was still feeling under the weather, she took another spoonful.  The third day she was perfectly healthy.  Then she called Alex.  “Is your mother a witch?” she asked him. “You’ve told me it’s just Echinacea but I think it’s magic. ”

Timberhill in 1985

We learned this lesson early on.  Before building the house in 1993, we spent weekends away from Des Moines in a nearby rental.  It was our habit to take a long walk on our property each morning. One morning as we came up the trail from the Brush Creek bottom we heard the unmistakable click of a shotgun round being chambered and were confronted by two hunters pointing their guns in our direction.

“What are you doing here they asked?  Don’t you know any better than to walk through here during deer season?

Although we had clear title to the property, hunters were a constant presence especially during white tail deer and wild turkey seasons. They, too, had invested in our property by building shooting stands in the walnut and oak trees along Brush Creek.  We accepted  the poachers as a fact of life in the country, and  it wasn’t until we built our house that we tried to control access to our property. We built a heavy galvanized tube gate across the south entrance to our property.  Affixed to the gate was large sign, “Private Property” and a chain and padlock that secured it to the fencepost. That only made things worse.  Two nights in a row after the gate was in place I was awakened by a pickup driving north past the house.  Our neighbor had broken down the gate to let us know that even though we thought we owned this property  it was still open range.   We’ve learned our lesson.  We keep a low profile and leave the gate open.

Trail across Timberhill from the south gate

This year Bill and I will celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Not only is it hard to believe that our marriage has lasted this long, but that it gets better each year.  Before we moved to Timberhill our relationship had followed the course of many marriages.  We led separate lives.  Bill focused on his dental practice with leisure time spent on the golf course.  My job was taking care of our children and the household.  I pursued individual interests in my spare time.  Once the children were grown we spent less and less time together as a family.  Although we had an active social life and plenty of interests our existence lacked substance.  We needed a change of scene.

We traveled extensively looking for the perfect place. We immersed ourselves in  Italian country life, food, and wine at a Tuscan estate.  For several weeks we basked in the sunshine of  the Provence countryside.  We fell in love with the Florida Keys but couldn’t imagine living there full time. The stark beauty of the southwestern U.S. was appealing but no matter where we travelled we realized that the terroir of Iowa suited us best.

Our decision to move to Decatur County, Iowa was a complete departure from life in town.  Our friends couldn’t believe that we would exchange a comfortable life in Des Moines for one of the poorest, least populated counties in Iowa. “You’re moving where?” they asked in disbelief.

Despite some misgivings we made the move in 1993.  We were compelled by the beauty of the land – the stately oak trees and wildflowers,  remnants of a once flourishing oak savanna. We traded our house in the city for 200 acres of overstocked woodland and prairie openings.  We traded Saturday night dinner parties for quiet evenings at home.  Bill traded weekend golf for clearing trails and chopping wood.  I traded community work for learning the plants and fungi.  Together we shared a common goal:  to restore our overstocked woodlands and overgrown prairie openings.  The work has transformed our relationship into a true partnership.  It was work that neither could do without the other.

At Timberhill today

Each year that Bill and I spend at Timberhill the land becomes more a part of us.  Just as the plants and trees are endemic to this place so are we.  Timberhill has become so much a part of our being that we do very little travelling. We leave too much of ourselves behind.

When we purchased the West Creek unit in 2004 the creek bottom, wetland, and fen were overgrown with honey locust and invaded by multiflora rose. The hillside above the pioneer spring was a dense stand of Eastern red cedar.  Furthermore, erosion from uphill cornfields had cut a deep ravine that bisected the West Creek unit. At the bottom of the erosional run was a small stand of prairie cord grass and sedge.  In 2011  the erosional run continued to decrease as the cover of  prairie cord grass and sedge increased.

Timberhill aerial with blue line indicating creek

In 2004 we introduced annual prescribed burns to control invasive plants and tall shrubs,  stimulate return of native plants, and restore the natural hydrology.    Other than girdling and removal of honey locusts we did no further clearing for three years, giving our  annual dormant season burns time to control some of the invasives.  In winter, 2007, we thinned the remaining trees except the elms which we left for morel habitat.  (They will die of their own accord and produce morel mushrooms as they die.) In August, 2007,  we burned the downed Eastern red cedars on the hillside above the pioneer spring.  Burning them while the surrounding plants were still green made the fire easy to control.  Not only have remnant populations of  native forbs, sedges and  warm season  grasses increased  on that hillside, but the contours have softened.  What had been a sharp drop to the creek has become a gentle slope.  Most interesting have been the changes around the pioneer spring.  The land between the spring and the creek is now dotted with seeps.

Seep that has developed below the pioneer spring. Note water dripping on right side.

On the east side of the creek we have made some progress, but it’s very slow.  The biggest problem is running fire through this area.  Only small sections at north and south end have burned.  In the north burned section Long-scaled tussock sedge, Carex haydenii, is out competing the other plants and slowly moving through the brush to the north fence line.  Fire has also stimulated clumps of Wood reed, Cinna arundinacea,  under the shingle oaks at the south end.  But the center portion is still a tangle of dead elms, invasive vines and multiflora rose.

We've made little progress in this center portion of the east side.

The most interesting new species we found this year was an Albatrellus, a polypore mushroom.  Polypores are usually found growing on wood, but this species was terrestrial, fruiting from the ground in the West 40 woodland,   It is also mycorrhizal, having a symbiotic association with trees.  A search of   the Iowa State University herbarium fungi database lists only two Albatrellus records:  1927 collection in a Webster County woodland and a 1936 Johnson County collection.   The specimens I collected were too immature to key.  Hopefully, this interesting mushroom will fruit again next year when I will know enough to let it mature before collecting.

Albatrellus mushroom