Rozann Grunig went foraging on Friday and she found the first reported Chanterelle of the season. She also found a Queen Bolete and several King Boletes, a nice bounty of edibles.
This morning on our walk, Rick and I found a big Queen Bolete, two Matsutakes peeking through the duff, and several Coccoras. Many other mushrooms are up too. They are loving the rain we just had!
Thanks to Rozann for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
What a season we are having this year with wild mushrooms. Hedgehog mushrooms, one of my favorites, are up in abundance, as are Winter Chanterelles and Black Trumpets. One of the most distinctive mushrooms is the Fly Amanita. Jim Garlock recently photographed one.
Rick and I went on a mushroom hunt last week, looking for edibles, of course. We found a treasure trove of Matsutakes! Also found was a Shaggy Man, Candy Caps, Black Trumpets and Hedgehogs.
Finding edible mushrooms in the forest is like finding treasure - a gift from Mother Nature.
Thanks to Jim for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
Yellow Chanterelles are being found as evidenced by this photo taken by Ron Champoux.
That's a nice haul of this delicious edible mushroom. I am still waiting for my spots to fruit. I did find quite a few Matsutakes this week.
Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
A few Matsutakes appeared in the same spot they fruit every year. Usually there is an undulating string of at least fifteen Matsutakes but this year only four have sprouted.
Rozann Grunig took this photo of me holding a nice Matsutake.
And here is a photo of several Shrimp Russulas. They like our Shore Pine habitat, just off our driveway. Our golden retriever, Huckleberry, likes them too. It's a race to see who gets them first - him or me.
We are longing for rain but the weather is remarkably autumn-like - warm and dry as a bone. If it rains, I hope to see Black Trumpets, Hedgehogs and Winter Chanterelles. May it rain soon!
Thanks to Rozann for allowing me to share her photo of me with you here.
Rick and I found a nice string of Matsutakes yesterday. We have sandy soil and that's what this prized edible mushroom wants to grow in. Below are three of them peaking out from pine needles and next to Salal, a plant they are associated with. Tan-Oak, Douglas-Fir and wild Rhododendrons are also close by.
You must make sure of your identification of this aromatic mushroom. It's important to get the complete stem to make sure there is no volva, a cup-like structure, at the bottom. Just looking at these photos brings the unique fragrance of these mushrooms to me.
The Matsutakes that grow in the Pacific Northwest are also called White Matsutakes. They do not turn brown like Matsutakes do in other parts of the world. Below is a photo of the first Bellybutton Hedgehog we've seen this season. It's just a baby but it will grow in the days to come.
And we had wild weather today. Below is a photo of the storms clouds we saw from our deck in Anchor Bay this morning. I call these days "wait five minutes days" because it can be raining one moment and then brilliant sunshine the next.
My best to you today!