Do you ever walk outside to discover that rings or arcs of white or tan-colored mushrooms have appeared in your lawn overnight? Sometimes the circles or trails of mushrooms are accentuated by areas of dry turfgrass, or a strip of lush, dark green grass may appear along the path of the fungi.
As children, we believed that fairy rings were actually created by the fairies as places to dance and frolic while humans were sleeping. We may have been warned not to step inside a fairy ring for fear of being taken away, never to return home, and we circled around the rings very carefully so the fairies wouldn’t abduct us.
Most of the fairy ring myths originated in Western Europe, but had enough of an impact that mushroom circles are still known as fairy rings, and the fungi themselves are referred to as fairy ring mushrooms.
Last week, my friend, Area Forester Lisa Deaton, asked me if I had considered writing about the fairy rings popping up around Mathews. I hadn’t, but I have been seeing a lot...