Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Just off the Roaring Fork Trail in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Bud Ogle was able to build a home and scratch out a living.  It is hard to see where his corn fields were, because the forest has taken over most of the land he cleared. The area is full of rhododendrons and many other wildflowers, attracting bees and butterflies. The Park Service recently put a new roof on the cabin, using wood shingles like the original roof. I think the roof on the barn is  original .      I'm grateful that this home place has been preserved for us to see. Roaring Fork is not as popular as Cades Cove, and it is not as crowded.  Check it out the next time you are in Gatlinburg!

In the light of the king's countenance is  life; and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain.  ~Proverbs 16:15

Last Wednesday, the first day the Smoky Mountain National Park reopened, Hub and I happened upon this strange looking fungus in Cades Cove.  There were several people looking at it, but no one knew what type of mushroom it was.  After making these photos, we drove on until we found a park ranger. We showed him the photos, and asked if he knew what the fungus was.  He told us he was no expert, but it looked like an edible mushroom that the locals called "Chicken in the Woods". The Chicken Mushroom, Polyporus sulphureus , cannot be missed, once it is encountered.  Large, bright lemon-yellow to orange clusters, one cap growing above the other, tile-fashion, grow out from the trunks of oaks and other trees, the lemon-yellow color being confined to the lower surface.  Nothing in the fungus line looks like it.  Only the young, knob-like beginnings of caps should be eaten, as the rest of the plant is tough. ~Louis C. C. Krieger, The Mushroom Handbook ...