Dahlia lifting yesterday and leaf raking today.
昨日はダリアを掘り起こし、今日は落ち葉集め。
I have never lifted Dahlias before so it was all interesting and exciting. Tubers are huge (no wonder, as some of these overgrown growth were massive as well) and bits are easy to break off. I was told that if a tuber was broken off and didn’t have any basal plate (growing point) it will just die off (not like each grows like potatoes). So we couldn’t be too careful. Some tubers decided to grow horizontally, making the job even more difficult. These will be stored to dry for a while. I will report the next step as we go along!
ダリアはあまり寒いと死んでしまうので、掘り起こし、乾かして凍らない温度で保存します。掘り起こすのはけっこう大変で、サツマイモのように連なったtuberをできるだけ傷めないようにするのですが、それがなかなか難しいのです。とりあえずしばらく乾かして土を落とします。（次のステップは追々報告します。）
The Bulb Meadow was full of leaves this morning and this is at the end of the day.
そして今日は落ち葉を集めまくりました。朝は落ち葉だらけだったバルブ・メドウも一日の終わりにはこのとおり。
I was very happy how much I achieved but I think I pushed myself slightly too hard (I am getting better at not to though), especially with not very powerful but quite heavy hand-held blower. Now I need extra session of yoga but I wonder if I have time for that…
One of my colleagues found these mushrooms above and showed them to me the other day (because I’m quite mushroomy he says) and I have been looking at it for the last three days. I miss gathering mushrooms as I always did in Japan in autumn and got really excited to see so many different kinds of mushrooms around here...
So after careful research and identifying process (such as checking spore print), I think I have identified it correctly as Clitocybe nebularis (Clouded Agaric). My mushroom book says it is good for eating but some other sources say it better to be avoided or it is inedible (probably means not tasty but not poisonous either). I tried tiny tiny piece yesterday and I was fine so I decided to try one whole mushroom tonight.
It smelt strong as being cooked and tasted strong, a little bitter. I didn’t like the taste at first but in the end I decided to give it another go (tomorrow). At least I didn’t confuse them with ‘not-to-be-mistaken-with’ similar mushroom that taste good but ‘shortly after consumption (it) causes violent vomiting and diarrhoea which continues for several days’!!!
そして夜にはきのこを試し食い。たくさん調べたから毒ではない自信はあるけれど、なかなか癖のある味で最初はまずいと思ったけど食べ終わるころには微妙においしいかも？？と思えてきたのでまた明日食べてみます。
