More Mushroom Hunting. With Cheryl and Ethan.

Lots of Summer Mushrooms.

A basket full of goodies and baddies.   What fun it is to explore the great outdoors.   Unless you encounter bugs, poison ivy, stinging nettle, and a host of other FUN things.   But let us begin with my favorite subject,   Finding Poisonous Mushrooms!

Cute Field Bolete.

Ok,  I was not actually targetting the toxic varieties.   They just happened to pop up in places where we were looking for edible ones.    And since they are so facinating and fun to Identify,   Why not mix them all up in one basket and figure out what you have found after you get home?

Some get over 2 inches. 

Luckily,  I have a few known mushrooms on my mind and can separate them by visually iding them myself.   The "odd ball" ones get put on a plate and wait for a spare print and identifying keys.

Boletes that are past their prime.

Our first find, was a field Bolete.   We found possibly dozens of them, but many were past their prime.  They tend to turn white after they have expired.   I'm assuming that another slime mold begins to break them down.  Besides the white ones, there were many others that were "kinda gross" that we passed up.  It was not a problem,  there were plenty enough in the basket.  And wouldn't you know it, I discovered several in our own yard along with almost a dozen large and fresh ones in our neighbors yard.  So there is no shortage.

Old White Crowned Coral Mushrooms.

Some growing on the forest floor.

The White Crowned  Coral mushroom was also past its prime.  I tossed it in the basket anyway to show Cheryl.

Small Puffball. 

Brain Shelf Mushrooms.  Amada?

We found brain mushrooms, Puffballs, Corals,  and Angel Oysters ( white colored oyster mushrooms)  It was very exciting. 

Near some Oak under the leaves.

Chanterelle!   Yummy! 

But perhaps the best find was the Chanterelles!    I have discovered them growing in our yard, but this was the firs time I found them out in the wild.  I guess they grown all summer long and people find tons of them when looking for other mushrooms.  They are a Choice Edible.

Cheryl was not ready for hills 

I found several.

Cheryl was not as equiped as I when it came to hunting off the path.   The wood nettle was pretty harsh.  I stung my arm several times reaching for a bolete.   Cheryl,  wearing shorts,   felt the full furry on her bare legs.

I'm having too much fun. 

Or the Wood Nettle she discovered.

This put her in a rather sour mood.    Quite the contrast from me, as I was having a ball!

Unknown Bolete.

Looks "over-ripe" in middle.

When we finally arrived home,  Cheryl found one Bolete that was not a field bolete.   I could not Identify it, but decided to to take a chance on it anyway, since it appeared to be past its prime.   My guess is that it was either a "Bitter Bolete" or a "Graceful Bolete".  Both are edible, but one, ( can you guess which one?) will not taste very good....  and ruin anything you cook it with.   Having a refridge filled with numerous other mushrooms,  there is no reason to take a risk.  Maybe next time.

Cluster of Small Browns

Might have been edible.

We also dicovered several potentially toxic mushrooms.   Deadly Galerina and these small brown ones.   The small brown ones that are growing in a cluster have the potential to be edible...  Had I noticed what kind of log they had been growing on.   Turns out,  Pine logs equal good mushrooms.  Desiduous logs equal bad ones.   Not knowing what kind of log, but taking into account that most of the trees are broad leaf trees,   we decided not to take a chance with them.  Besides,  small brown mushooms growing on logs is usually a bad thing.

Most "small browns on logs"  are bad. 

Cheryl cooked up the last of the yellow Oyster mushrroms for my upcoming lunches.   Rice, peas and mushrooms with her secret "Maple Soy Terriaki Fire" sauce.   I can't wait for tomorrow's lunch time.

Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler temps.   Cheryl ran 15 miles today with no complaints.   Quite an accomplishment.  She has been trying to up the miles for a while now, but the heat of July always gets in the way. Let's hope that the rest of the summer remains cool.    Thanks for stopping in.