A fellow named Jamie commented here at the land of milk & honey….he was interested in finding someone to lead a little mushroom walk at his cottage. I’m no pro-mycologist but I can identify a good number of tasty edibles and quite a few assorted other mushrooms, and it sounded like a fun idea. This morning I met him a the marina on his lake. Memphis and I hopped in his boat and off we went.

We had exchanged a few emails during the week. He had found some blue mushrooms. Could they be blewitts? I suggested taking a spore print. Blewitts have pale pinkish-buff spore prints.

Yikes – those mushrooms are not blewitts! Field guides can be dangerous things. You see a photo and a short description and it seems close to what you’ve found in the woods. Not so fast. There are look-alikes out there. You have to be certain if you plan to eat wild mushrooms. The field guide also lists the spore colour – if you aren’t certain of the ID, take a spore print.

This one has everyone carefully combing the forest floor. Could it be a horn of plenty – Craterellus cornucopioides?

Georgia

Memphis made a friend – a pup named Georgia. They had a great time together this afternoon.

Toothed Fungi

Among the more interesting finds of the afternoon were two different edible toothed fungi – combed tooth and bear’s head tooth. These were both found growing on downed trees, a short distance from one another. Another edible mushroom found on dead wood was a chicken of the woods. If he’s lucky, Jamie will have another chicken in the same spot next year. A few other edibles were found – two varieties of Suillus – and also a few pear-shaped puff-balls and some honey mushrooms as well.

I had a fun time this afternoon – I got to make some new friends, enjoyed a great walk in the woods. We found some interesting mushrooms, and I had a chance to pass along some of my knowledge to others.