I was not the one to find the first morel of the year. Luckily, I’m very fond of my friend Zaac, who has a wonderful ability to spot an emerging morel in leaves.
I was surprised to see how much time this garter snake spent checking me out:
Mycologists in Michigan and West Virginia are already reporting their morel findings. I figure it’s never too soon to begin checking under the leaf litter.
I didn’t find morels, but trout lilies and wild garlic are abundant and easy to gather in this pliable earth. The first violet leaves are emerging. My little woodland patch of knotweed is also sending up tiny shoots.
While I was foraging, so was this hawk. I didn’t click at the right time to get a photo of the catch. But this tolerant bird hung around close enough to let me photograph the feast.
The Calvatia gigantea I found last August was a very large puffball. But the ones I found yesterday deserve the name “giant puffball.”
I probably should have stuck with what I knew and made giant puffball pizza, but I just had to experiment. (more…)
Tags: Fungi, Wild Food Recipes
Ever since I bought Gary Lincoff ’s National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to meet him. I got my chance last night. (more…)
Here’s an excerpt from my journal notes while attending the COMA Foray.
Spending three days with mushroom enthusiasts involves a great deal more than finding, identifying and eating the edible ones. In the last 24 hours I have learned more about the lives of mushrooms than I ever imagined.
In the animal world, there are males and females, but in the world of fungi, there are four genders or mating factors. Mycologist Leon Shernoff defined them as A, a, B, b. So that A mates with a, and B mates with b. (more…)
I don’t know what made the rhododendron outside my apartment window bloom.
But it’s nice to see.
It has been a sunny, but cool and low-humidity day, making it perfect for a hike.
Tags: Flowers, Foraging, Fungi, Gardens, Hiking, Journal
I’ve just spent four days with people who love nature enough to celebrate the fungi, plants, insects and the rest of the natural world.
The COMA foray brought mycologists, biologists, chemists, chefs, and any other skill you can imagine, together to explore the woods of Moodus, CT in their favorite way.
I could write forever about ways to eat mushrooms. I really like to eat, so I hung out with the foragers and the chefs, while the scientists spent hours peering through microscopes to study the details of the samples we brought in.
I had a chance to follow George Johanson to a spot where hazelnut grow.
I’ve never seen maturing hazelnuts. Squirrels usually get there first. (more…)
One of the COMA activities, beyond finding and identifying mushrooms is the experience of eating mushrooms. The act of consuming mushrooms is known as mycophagy.
I’m not sure if the term includes eating all mushrooms, or if it applies specifically to eating wild mushrooms. What I do know is that I’ve just experienced my first mycophagy event. I took the opportunity to observe master chefs preparing shitake, maitaki, chicken mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, chanterelles and black trumpets.
Tags: Foraging, Fungi, Word Play
The weather in my neck of the woods has been unseasonably cold. Too cold for the black trumpet mushrooms, but apparently not for this giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea).
I was out early, but not early enough to keep a few insects from taking a bite or two. This thing weighs at least 3 pounds.
What’s really neat is that I’m on my way to my first Clark Rogerson Foray, held annually by COMA. I’m going to bring this along.
Tags: Foraging, Fungi, Hiking, Journal
I came home from yesterday’s COMA walk loaded down with new mushrooms to sample.
I actually learned about milky cap (lactarius) mushrooms. I spent the rest of the day photographing them, looking them up in my reference sources and doing what I could to imprint this new knowledge.
I just sautéed the lactarius (hygrophoroides, I think) and it is delicious.
