Stinky Mushrooms

The other day I thought I saw one of my son Simeon's orange Nerf bullets stuck in our flower pot.  It's been so hot I thought the bullet had puffed in the heat.  I showed it to him, and he thought it was possible he'd left one outside (since we are forever finding his stuff where it doesn't belong, possible was a huge understatement!), and an 'exploded' Nerf bullet was cool.  The next morning Simeon had the job of watering the flowers, and he ran into the house exclaiming that there were several orange tubes in the flower pot, and he hadn't put them there...they weren't Nerf bullets. 

So what were they?  And what were all those white egg-looking things mixed in with the snap-dragons?

                            
The Answer: Eeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!  We looked them up online, and discovered they are mushrooms called 'Elegant Stinkhorns'.  (Possibly named for the reaction they get, say, when you walk out your door in the morning and smile at the blue sky, sunshine, lovely flowers on your porch, then take a deep breath and nearly collapse from the odor, wondering what died nearby?) 

                                       Pretty gross looking, huh?  The smell is from the slime spores on
                                       top that are spread by...oops, that may have been too much info...

The rest of our free moments were taken up going to the library and piling on the couch together to learn all about mushrooms and fungus and spores and other gross things that fascinate small boys.  The girls joined in the fun and all the kids ran for jars so they could plant the "eggs" the mushrooms burst out of.  They (at Mama's insistence) put lids on the jars, and decided to keep them in their closets until the next morning, when most of them were delighted to find new smelly mushrooms growing robustly.

               
OK, honestly, I thought they were pretty cool too.  The whole cycle of how God turns things back into rich dirt to grow more plants is amazing; another testimony to His glory!  And the variety in mushrooms is astounding.  We had a blast with our mushroom discovery and the kids didn't even realize they were learning so much--home educating at it's best!

Unfortunately, Mama rained on the kids' parade when they decided to plant the "eggs" in other flower pots and start a smelly mushroom farm.  And thankfully the heat has seemed to do the mushrooms in completely and we haven't seen anymore.  But I'm grateful the Stinkhorns showed up for a week to teach us more about our Creator's wisdom in His design of the life cycle, and for the light in my kids' eyes as they discover the wonders He's put there for us to (sometimes literally!) unearth.

What have you discovered recently?