Michigan Forest Life - August 13, 2026

Aug 23
2 min read

Greetings from the Treehouse at Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary,

How much attention do you pay to detail of the ground as you walk? To the pine needles, leaves, twigs, blades of grass, tiny flowers, insects and other tiny creatures - that kind of detail. For some reason my eye is drawn to ground detail.

Yesterday a tiny mushroom caught my attention (Photo 1). It was stunning. no more than half an inch in diameter. White-white. A lovely, tiny sphere with a perfectly geometric texture. At first I thought it was human-made. Something dropped along the trail. A candy. A missing piece of hiking gear. A toy. I wanted to pick it up. Instead I photographed it.

Zoom in. What do you see? A tiny satellite landed on the forest floor. An alien space ship. A mushroom.

Next to it was something similar in size but completely different. Another phase? The alien vessel that crashed and burned (Photo 2). The ruined hull of a ship sent in advance. The white sphere later sent to investigate. Rescue the survivors.

As I walked, I continued to photograph mushrooms. There are so many along the trail. Photo 3 looks to me like an egg. A lovely smooth brown surface. An inch and a half across. It is different from all the rest. A brown egg-mushroom.

Look at the rest (Photos 4 - 11). Tiny gems decorating the forest floor. Each one different from the next. Each with its own intrinsic beauty.

One of my favorites is photo 11. It grows up from beneath a blanket of pine straw, pushing up needles as it grows. One morning it simply appeared. Each time I see one it is a surprise. As if the mushroom has caught me.

"Peek-a-boo!"

And I ask, "How long have you been hiding there, little one?"

"Not long. I saw you coming and thought I would jump out. Got ya! I will be gone soon."

From spring until fall, a different mushroom - a different batch of mushrooms - seems to emerge each week. For those who know, for mushroom foragers, it is a wonderland of edibles and poisons. For others like me, it is simply a wonder.

Explore nature. The wonder is in the detail. Start at the floor and work your way up.

I wish you a trail to follow, and a surprise waiting for you. Peek-a- boo!

Until next time,

Dan