Hopefully no one out there is currently plagued with this pest - if you are, you're in for some additional spring cleaning duties. It's a messy one!

Also called shotgun fungus, these members of the genus Sphaerobolus are usually spotted (yes, I'm making bad puns again) covering the sidings of houses or the exteriors of vehicles. Artillery fungus colonizes wood, so if you're laying down wood mulch, you may be encouraging its growth. The peridioles (spore packets) of Sphaerobolus are interesting: they rest above cup-shaped cells that gradually fill with water. Eventually, the cells invert, which causes the peridioles to burst, exploding outward in a distance up to 20 feet!  The spores immediately adhere to any surface situated in the blast zone...which most often happens to be cars and houses.

Just to make things more delightful, artillery fungus is really, REALLY difficult to remove. Part of the problem is that you don't want to use harsh chemicals or scrapers on the surfaces that the fungus sticks to. This website has a few potentially workable suggestions, the most notable of which is employing a combination of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and a bit of mouthwash. Bleach and hot water and plenty of elbow grease apparently works as well. Definitely test a small area of before you start your cleaning project, as you don't want to ruin any painted surfaces.

As for prevention of further attacks, it should be noted that there isn't really an effective fungicide on the market to deal with artillery fungus. (I'm not fond of chemicals, so I probably wouldn't recommend one even if such a thing was available). The best option is to consider whether or not you really need wood mulch, especially near the foundation of the house or alongside the driveway. Replacing the wood mulch with gravel or another desireable product may be a simple solution to a labour-intensive problem. As well, bear in mind that the wood chunks found in potting soil might also be a haven for the fungus.

So far, I've been lucky and haven't had any artillery fungus attacks in my garden!  How about you?

Here is a video that gives you an idea of how artillery fungus grows and disperses, and the mess it can make:

A week or so ago, I had the pleasure of joining Mother Earth News Editor in Chief Cheryl Long at her homestead to see just what the ECHO BearCat SC3265 Chipper-Shredder could do.

We were both impressed with the ease of operation – this machine really grabs branches and other scraps and pulls them through the cutting knives. And the chips you end up with are the perfect size for mulching perennials, garden paths, and even layering the bottom of the chick brooder.

Check this bad-boy out, especially note how fast it chews up limbs about a couple of inches thick and converts them into chips about the size of a nickel. 

I’d always viewed limbs in my yard as nothing more than wood I could either burn or haul off. I trimmed several limbs this year when we expanded our garden to allow for more sunlight, and the only use I could come up with was to age them and use them in the smoker.

The ECHO BearCat SC 3265 is an excellent tool to help you convert your wood "waste" into soil-building materials. 

Grate or grater, what’s the difference? Ah, but I was soon to learn one had nothing to do with eating when Mountain Man announced one morning, “I really need a table grate.”

“Why?” I asked. “Our grater is working just fine.” Visions of parmesan cheese atop mounds of Mountain Man’s homemade spaghetti sauce started to float through my head. Yum, now I was hungry.

“No, not a grater. A grate. For the log splitter. It’s a platform for the logs, so I don’t have to keep on bending over and picking them up to run the big logs back through.”

“Oh.” Now that I knew I wasn’t going to experience a new gastronomic delight, my attention span immediately ran out.

“Well, never mind. They are too expensive.” Mountain Man sighed as he perused catalogs and web sites. And when I saw the prices of the graters I sure agreed they cost too much after just paying a king’s ransom for a new tractor tire. No way a table grater or grate or whatever-the-heck-it’s-called was in our budget.

But wood is fundamental to our existence here on Red Pine Mountain and firewood not only keeps us warm all winter, we also sell it, and it comprises an important part of our income. We had purchased a fantastic log splitter a couple of years ago, but we couldn’t afford the grate at the time, but Mountain Man, well, he’s not getting any younger (shh, don’t tell him I said that) and bending over and picking up huge logs was starting to wreak havoc with his back.

And I knew we’d get our grate because once Mountain Man gets an idea in his head, there is no stopping him. Two days later, he announced, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll just build my own.”

And so he did.

Out in his shop constructing the table grate from materials he already had on hand.

Preparing to weld the grate on to his wood splitter.

On to welding.

Positioning the wood splitter into place on our log landing with the help of our tractor. The black piece on the front is the grate Mountain Man built.

A head on view of the table grate Mountain Man built.

Getting ready to test his table grate with big logs waiting to be split.

Lilly, our German Shepherd, wonders “What’s the hold up?”

But Mountain Man is a perfectionist and before he starts, he wants it balanced just so.

It’s working perfectly.

Mountain Man surveys his work and is pleased with the results.

Now, thanks to his ingenuity, Mountain Man has his table grate for the price of his effort, and me, well, I’ve learned a table grate has nothing to do with cheese.

If you want to read more about life on Red Pine Mountain, please visit us at http://redpinemountain.com.