Górniczym szlakiem... / Up the Miner's Path...

From the Biodiversity series

From the Still Lifes series (Huttenbusch)

Going Gourmet: Oyster Moushrooms & Crystals

Luna - Silexia - Demeter: Full Moon on the Abendburg (Mars/Jupiter/Lilith)

[Photo: Tomasz Sikorski]

Cieplice (Calidus Fons ["hot springs"], Warmbrunn, Ciepłowody), First Mentioned in 1281 when Bernard the Lightsome, Duke of Lwówek (Löwenberg) and Jawor (Jauer), Donated the Springs to the Knights Hospitalier...

A Forest Glass Works Operated Between Chromiec and Kopaniec from the 14/15th till the 18th Century...

From the Would-Be Record Covers series: Stinkhorn

Sign - But Not Mine (Leopoldsbaude)

From the Biodiversity series: Rhagium bifasciatum

Crystallizer: The Quartz Valley Chronicles

Mushroom Man: Morning Delivery

Mr Andrzej [Andrew], my neighbour, has been living alone in his big 19th-century house for something like twenty five years now. No electricity, no bills, no obligations. A wild child, you could call him. Not a little violent and at the same time sensitive and tender. When the mushroom season arrives, it's his best time of the year. 

From the Biodiversity series: Digitalis Purpurea ("Siedono. L'una guarda l'altra. L'una esile e bionda, semplice di vesti e di sguardi; ma l'altra, esile e bruna, l'altra . . . I due occhi semplici e modesti fissano gli altri due ch'ardono")

"Siedono. L'una guarda l'altra. L'una

esile e bionda, semplice di vesti

e di sguardi; ma l'altra, esile e bruna,

l'altra . . . I due occhi semplici e modesti

fissano gli altri due ch'ardono . . ."

(Giovanni Pascoli, Digitale purpurea, 1898)

From the Biodiversity series: Necrophorus Vespillo on Talpa Europaea

From the Portraits series: JJ (Kopaniec)

Amanita Muscaria / Fly Agaric

Boletus Edulis / King Bolete

From the Biodiversity series: Cimbex Femorata on Boletus Edulis

Sitting Underneath the Pulpit and Listening to Maria Erdman Play Feliks Nowowiejski's "In Paradisum" (1946) at the Lutheran Church in Cieplice (Bad Warmbrunn)

Church built 1774-1779, organ case built 1777, pipe organ installed 1927 by G. Heinze of Sorau (Żary)...

He Brings 'Em, I Can 'Em!

Today it's pickled red-caps (Leccinum aurantiacum) in pumpkin-seed oil!

A recipe taken from Oded Schwartz's Preserving, but somewhat modified.

INGREDIENTS

500 ml (ca. 17 oz.) white vinegar (I used 5% apple vinegar)

250 ml water

3-4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp. unground black pepper

2 tsp. salt

4-6 thyme twigs (I didn't have any so I used fresh rosemary from our herb garden)

1 kg mixed mushrooms (I used 75% red-caps, 25% porcini (Boletus edulis))

1-2 strips lemon rind

1 bay leaf (I didn't have any leaves left so I used powder)

olive oil (I used a mixture of ca. 50% extra virgin olive oil , 50% pumpkin seed oil)

THE PROCEDURE

1. Pour vinegar and water into stainless steel pot. Add garlic, pepper, salt, half of thyme twigs. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes. 

2. Add mushrooms and cook over slow heat for 10 minutes or until tender. Remove mushrooms, drain. 

3. Put mushrooms, lemon rind, remaining thyme twigs, and bay leaf into a hot, sterile jar.

4. Heat olive oil to 75 degrees C and pour over the mushrooms so that they are covered completely. Probe with a wooden stick to eliminate any air bubbles. Close jar tightly. Consume after no less than 2 weeks.

So after a fortnight or so I may open one to tell you how it's worked out...

In the Magical Hands of My Neighbour, a Stained-Glass Maker, This Piece of Pure Quartz Becomes a Pendant...

Boletus & Bottle

From the Biodiversity series: Clover Bee

From the Biodiversity series: Lilium martagon