Welcome to Spooky Season, dear friends of The Green Farmacy Garden!

In our area, you’ve surely noticed nuts and leaves starting to blanket the ground and show off their transformative processes — whether decay or regeneration. These annual occurrences at our latitudes remind us of the cycle of life & death, and by extension, our own mortality. This year, we’ve all got many additional reminders as we track global news and navigate personal and communal tumult and upheaval close to home. How do you honor and integrate this most humbling aspect of life on our planet?

One way we’re all familiar with is the seasonal holidays and scary decorations and activities, folks creating physically safe but psychologically upsetting art for and with each other, turning the adrenaline of fear into excitement and exhilaration.

I came across these Jack-o’lantern (Omphalotus illudens) mushrooms on a neighborhood walk last October, and they took my breath away, striking me as the coolest & best home decoration I’d yet seen.. The species is so-named because their gills are actually bioluminescent — they glow in the dark just like our carved pumpkins, while being themselves bright orange and producing impressively big clusters. At first I thought these residents had Fake lawn ornament versions of Jacks that would glow in the dark at night!! Like the macabre skeletons, reapers, and zombies of our holidays and art, these and other fungi can symbolize the universal truth of death and decay that feed new life: Jacks’ mycelium break down and consume dead wood and tree roots, cycling a tree’s life into its own and eventually forming mushrooms to spread spores to new food sources.

Though we’ve clearly turned the corner to fall, there’s still plenty of living going on in the garden. A few species like the Tatarian Aster (Aster tataricus, in the top photo above with Berberis vulgaris berries), and below, clockwise from top left, Hopniss/ Ground Nut (Apios americana), Plumeria (Plumeria sp.) budding for the first time during my GFG tenure!, and Huacatay (Tagetes minuta), and citrus (Citrus spp.) are still blooming! Apparently other Hopniss in the area have already set pods, while ours are still blooming and I’ve never seen them set pods. It makes me suspect we may have the triploid variety.

We weren’t sure how many bugs would be about during our late September Insect Inspiration/ Bug ID workshop, but our group found plenty! Dragonflies (maybe Common Green Darner, Anax junius) around the pond, leaf-footed bugs (family Coreidae, below bottom right) and spittlebugs (superfamily Cercopoidea) on the Huacatay, a jumping spider (family Salticidae, below top right), a Potter wasp (Eumenes fraternal, below, top left), Milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus), Lady beetle nymphs and mating Lady beetles (family Coccinelidae, below bottom left), caterpillars, moths, bees, and more!

In addition to the offerings at GFG, CEI hosts weekly Plant and Produce sales at Freetown Farm on Saturdays, offers monthly New to CEI tours there, and operates a variety of experiential education programs, which you can explore on the Programs page of the website. The full CEI event calendar is available on the website.

The silent auction for our annual Harvest Gala is live and open for bidding for the next
 two weeks, closing on October 17th at the end of the Gala. This is a fun way to score some great trips, tickets, tastings, and treasures while supporting our mission to cultivate communities where people and nature thrive together.
Check out the “Duke Bundles” containing selections of Jim and Peggy’s work!

When you’re ready to make your bids, you will be asked to register with Winning Bidder, the platform hosting the auction. Our entire community is invited to participate in the silent auction, even if you don’t attend the Harvest Gala!

And while space is filling up for the Gala itself, our new venue can accommodate quite a crowd & we’d love for our Garden community to meet the larger community supporting CEI. Join us for the fun! Here’s a taste of last year’s Gala:

There’s so much going on this month! Please explore our public event offerings and engage in whatever educational opportunities inspire you! The full CEI event calendar is available on the website.

My best, Veri

Jumping spider and potter wasp images courtesy of garden friend Reynie Brown; Aster/ Berberis and featured plant photos by Annie-Sophie Simard; Gala photos by CEI staff??; all others by Veri Tas.