8. Rain Gardens and Mushrooms

As you see from the layout of the property, there are low spots where we wish to plant. To help capture water from a heavy rain storm, we developed two rain gardens and planted native grasses and flowers that are suitable for wet and dry conditions. The plants include Torrey’s Rush, big bluestem, swamp sunflower, and rattlesnake master. To learn more about rain gardens, check out https://www.cuyahogaswcd.org/.

If you look under the giant oak tree, you’ll notice a patch of wood chips. This is a wine cap mushroom patch. We spread the mushroom spores on one layer of wood chips and then added several more wood chips. By keeping the layers moist, mycelium – white, threadlike hyphae – starts growing and then the mushrooms emerge. Want to learn more? Check out the work and writings of Paul Stamets.