Lichen

Lichens は苔だとばかり思っていたらその正しい和名は地衣類 だそうです
わたしがこれにとても興味があるので
息子がハイキングの際に面白い石を拾って来てくれました
彼はワイルドライフ·バイオロジー 専攻です
この地衣類と動物の尿の複雑な関係をチラッと話していたのですが
その時はなにしろお料理に忙しくて...

Lichens are mysterious creatures -I am fascinated by them.

 My son found this small rock during one of his hikes and gave it to me.

 As a wildlife biology student, he was talking something about lichens and mammal urine.

 I wanted to talked to him more about it, but I was too busy cooking then, you know?

後日、調べてみたら
鮮やかなオレンジ色の地衣は
この、ナキウサギという小さな動物が

テリトリーをマークする尿の窒素に助けられて育つらしいのです

 Later, it was interesting to find out that
these brilliantly colored, reddish-orange lichens often live in colonies on the
whitish urine deposits left by pikas as territory markers, helped by its nitrogen.

お庭でトラフのコンテナに

ミニ·マウンテンのように見立てて使うのが好きなのですが

気をつけないとお水の塩素でダメになってしまいます

微細な世界ではありますが

心ばかりのガーデニング 
かな？

I like to use them in my garden trough by arranging them like mini-mountains.

I have to be careful though,
exposing them to the chlorine in our city water regularly would differently kill them.

Anyway, although it may be microscopic in size, I'm still gardening,

...sort of.