𝒥 🕊️ 𝒦𝑒ß𝓁𝑒𝓇

The circle of mushrooms in your lawn is the visible edge of a single fungus that has been growing for years, possibly centuries. "Fairy rings" start when a single fungal spore lands in a favorable spot and begins to grow outward in all directions through the soil. The mycelium (the actual body of the fungus) is a network of microscopic threads called hyphae. It can spread underground at a rate of 1 to 2 feet per year, fanning out from the central point. The mushrooms you see above ground are just the fruiting bodies, like apples on a tree. Eventually the center dies out as the fungus exhausts the nutrients there. The outer edges keep expanding. The result is a ring that gets larger every year, sometimes for decades. Some grow to 33 feet across. One of the oldest known fairy rings is in France, estimated at 700 years old and 2,000 feet in diameter. A fairy-ring-type Armillaria fungus in northern Michigan covers 37 acres, weighs an estimated 21,000 pounds, and has been growing for around 1,500 years. It's one of the largest single living organisms on Earth. The ring in your yard is almost certainly smaller and younger. But the principle is the same: you're not looking at scattered mushrooms. You're looking at the edge of an organism most of which lives below the grass, has been there for as long as the lawn has, and will keep expanding outward whether or not anyone is watching.

“I already paid for my car. Why am I paying the government every single YEAR just to keep it?” In Virginia, your vehicle is taxed annually — even after it’s fully paid off. $2,104 just to keep it in your driveway. “They’re not taxing use. They’re taxing OWNERSHIP itself.”