Chicken Bonanza!!!

 The elusive Chicken Of The Woods has been very popular here in Wisconsin.   All of those years of searching and waiting for the Chicken Of The Woods to appear in Iowa made me believe that all of those online pictures of huge cache's of Laetiporus sulphureus were like finding a unicorn in the forest.   But yesterday..  I happened to me!

I was out sewing the cut off ends of my last haul of mushrooms in some dead logs in the park.  As I walked down a trail, I discovered this huge cluster of Orange!  I audibly prayed it was not another cluster of Jack-O- Lanterns and rushed towards it.   Only to discover it was a HUGE chicken of the woods.  Of course I had no bag or basket to carry any of it.  Nor did I have my camera.   But that didn't stop me from gathering up everything I could carry to bring back home.   

Today... after work.  I saddled up my bike and gathered up my mushroom sack to head back to the place.   I wanted to make sure I could gather up as much of it as I could before bugs or other hunters got to it.   I figured one bag would be enough.  

I was kind of wrong!   About half way through the cluster, my bag was completely full!  I was forced to leave a large portion of the mushroom there on the log.

But I did not stop there.   With so much excess,  I was able to "seed"  nearby logs with pieces of the mycelium.  With a little luck... I can induce a bumper crop of Chickens for next year. 

In the mean time,  I have plenty to enjoy and give away to friends and family. If anyone wants to try a mushroom they have never heard of before.   I already have several co-workers asking me for more.   I may just have to push a bit more on them.  

And Cheryl said she misses it as well.   I had my doubts that the small clusters I found last weekend would last long enough for her to enjoy them.  But I think this last group will have some candidates for her to take home.  We shall see.  I have also read that we can freeze it and it holds it's texture and flavor.   I don't know if I'm ready for that just yet.  but we have plenty to experiment with at the moment. 

Mid week already!   Time ceraintly flies... But at least I managed to get in a mid-week blog post.  And that has to be a good thing.. Right?  

Thanks for stopping in!  And I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.   Now... time for bed!  I still have to work tomorrow. 

More Mushrooms and Rain in Kenosha.

Yesterday was so fun, I decided to repeat it.  Or at least try to.   We had an early day at the warehouse this morning and I was let go after 4 hours.  ( Everyone was.. cause there are no trucks on Sunday!)  I wanted to check out a new area of the Parkside park and see if anything had popped up in an area I have not yet explored. 

Well,  It was not as exciting as yesterday's Chicken Fest!   But I did manage to find several new mushrooms I had never discovered before.  Along with some that I am always willing to add to my collections. 

First, I was in Pines primarily.  Many of the mushrooms I am used to are found in deciduous forests.  So I figured I might find new items anyway.   There were a number of Amanitas on the ground.   But the real prizes were the ones found on the dead logs.  

Bleeding Mycena: (Mycena haematopus) Also known as the Bleeding Fairy Helmet.  Too small to eat but still very pretty.  They leave a small drip of reddish sap after you pick them.  And the glow in the dark, I hear!  

Right next to it was a nice cluster of Coral mushrooms.  I picked them all and we ate them this evening.   Too bad we overcooked them, as the texture of the mushroom is one of the things I like most about it.  ( They still taste good though....) 

Next was Pholiota squarrosa.  Or the shaggy scalycap.  Not edible, but a new find for me.   I love the way these little guys look.   Who would ever think mushrooms come is such a variety? 

I found a small cluster of Meadow mushrooms...  And we ate them tonight as well.   The chocolate brown gills are a key identifying feature.  AND it does not bruise yellow!  ( very important if you don't want a tummy ache.) I'm still alive, so that tells me I did not mess up the ID to badly.

And lastly,  The Climacodon septentrionalis  Or Northern Toothed Shelf Mushroom.   I was very excited about this one.  Not a choice edible... but I ate it and it was not too bad.   They say it smells like ham and I though it tastes like ham as well.  The only reason I think this is not a choice edible was the texture.  Similar to the Dryad Saddle... The texture is tough and chewy. Like tendon y ham!    Perhaps with more cooking it would soften up a bit.  But the taste was pretty good.  And I'm still alive. 

Key feature of this was the Toothed underside.  I have never seen that before and thought it had to be something that I could ID fairly easily. 

There were more uber small mushrooms.  But I  there was very little to set them apart.   For now, I will enjoy the knowledge that I was able to find and ID a could new species of fungi today.   What could be better than that? 

As I write this.  the rain and thunder are pouring outside.  Another chance for more mushrooms perhaps?  We shall see if I even get time to look for them this week.  In the mean time,  I will be enjoying Chicken of the woods in some form or another.  Probably by eating them.  

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.   It is great to be alive in a world with so many wonderful things to discover.   Thanks for stopping in.

Mushrooms and Music!

What happened to the week?  I was supposed to blog mid week, but time passes by so quickly these days, it is like trying to  hang on to a hand full of sand. The tighter you grip it, the faster it slips away.   

But here we are on a Saturday.  The last day of my official weekend ( I have to work tomorrow) but why not recap the happenings of Kenosha Wisconsin. Though my eyes, of course.

Well,  I found a few mushrooms last Monday while out on a bike ride.   A couple nice Boletes and Coral mushrooms.  We cooked them up and had them over pork chops.  The only note of that story was that I had to carry the Boletes in one hand while riding a bike.   Not the most challenging, since I have previously ridden my bike while carrying a HUGE Giant Puffball.  

Last night, Dave and Christina once again dragged me to a music concert.  I tried to resist, stating that I had to blog and how important the blog was to me.... But then they mentioned that it was going to be at a brewery and that Dave was buying the beer.   So...   I relented.  Aren't they swell guys? 

Turns out, I was to be the designated Driver!   Still, I got to enjoy one beer and it was a wonderful IPA. Dave knew several people at the event and we all had a good chat while listening to 90's Music.   I didn't really listen to much music during the 90's but it appeared everyone enjoyed the memories.   

The event continued well after dark, but we headed back just before 10.  I did get to drive Dave's car back.   And there should be a joke in there about a Pastor enjoying beer at a bar,  But seriously.   we are Lutherans!  (Germans and beer go hand in hand.) So I'll let you figure one out on your own. No one got out of hand,  except Christina.   Who didn't even drink any beer!  ( She is glutten free!)  She is just naturally the life of any party. 

This morning,  I went out for a run and decided to run though the Parkside instead of the usual track I normally follow.  Every time I do that, I know I will get distracted if I see a Mushroom anywhere.  And that is just what happened. 

About 2 miles in, I see mushrooms popping up in the lawn and woochips of the park.   A little further...  There it was!   Chicken of the woods on the side of a rotting log.  That's it!  Run is over!  I begin looking for Mushrooms... Specifically:  More Chickens!

I wander around for nearly an hour, finding nothing of note... Until just before I decide to head back.  I  find a log with another small Chicken on it but additionally discover that I HAVE COMPETITION!  

This Deer kept following me!

To large slices of mushroom were on the side of the log.  Someone had taken two of the larger mushrooms already!  Slicing them off with a knife.  And here I was thinking I was the only one who knew of the Chicken Of The Woods mushroom.  That is what I get for informing and educating random strangers about the wonders of Mycology. 

Squirrels nibbling off the top of a bolete.

Now, you may be thinking that there is a large forest out there... Filled with lots of mushrooms.  Enough to share with lots of people.  You would be wrong, my friend.  They are all mine!  Is that greedy?  I don't think so.  It is bad enough I have to share with the bugs and squirrels and deer.   Now I have to throw people into the mix?   Competition has never been something I enjoy.  Probably that is one of the reasons I do not like hunting for Morels. 

After returning home, I put on my mushroom hunting equipment and went out again to search another area.   And that is when I discovered MORE!  Thankfully, the person competing with me did not search the entire woods like I did.   ( Yes,  I did and am currently exhausted.)  I found several additional Chickens.  One Bolete.  A couple Chanterelles.  Looks like the Russulas, Boletes, and Chanterelles are coming to a close in their season.   

But the Chickens were out!  Along with the toxic look-a-like:  The Jack-O-Lantern.   

   I found this HUGE cluster of Jack-O-Lanterns on a stump near the place where I found the Chickens. At first, I thought I had hit the Mother Lode!  But Jack-O-Lanterns are easy to distinguish from Chickens in that they have orange gills and long stems. They look more like a traditional mushroom, and not like a shelf mushroom.  ( I know, I say this every time I find the two together....It's what Mycologists do!)  

I still found the Jack-O-Lanterns beautiful.  It is only sad that we can only enjoy the beauty and not enjoy the taste.  No one wants a tummy ache. And I have yet to see them glow in the dark.

So...  A basket full of Chicken of the Woods.   Not a bad day, really.   I have enough to share.   And it was pretty cool to go out and actually search for specifically them this morning.  I can't wait to enjoy them for dinner later.

Another long post!  And I still have other things to mention.   But I shall leave them for another day.  Hopefully I will have time this week to add them in.   We shall see.   IN the mean time,  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping in. 

The Watermellon Run In Muscatine Iowa

How did I get talked into another 5K?  I could blame Cheryl and her infectious passion for running.  Or I could blame myself for feeling like I could do better than my "Run For The Wienies!" Either way,  I found myself waking up at an insane hour to travel to Muscatine for another race.  Only this time, I would be a participant instead of merely a spectator.   Oh how twisted and tangled the paths of life may seem when traveled...

But there I was.   Putting a chip on my shoe and preparing to run my second  5K while Cheryl ran the 10K.  ( Twice as far as me.. She is such a show off!) Hey!  That's fine.   My goals were not simply to survive or finish. I actually wanted to do slightly better than last time.   And having set the bar so incredibly low... I felt I could at the very least achieve some small victory for myself that I could be proud enough to blog about.  

So pre- race notes.   Make sure you go to the bathroom before the race.   As many times as you need to!   Even after three visits, I still needed to go at the start line.   Luckily, after mile 2, I stopped thinking about how I had to go.   Unlike Cheryl, I can't simply pee in someone's front yard and be OK with it.  People tell me that that level of confidence will come as I race more, but I don't know if I want to expose myself to strangers that badly.   ( So far... anyway.) 

The rain held off for the race.  Which was nice.  I really did not want my second run being any more miserable than it already was.   And I know I can run in the rain just fine.   I have before!  In the Army.   And I have biked and stood out in the rain during Cheryl's events in the past.   But I think you need to ease into misery gradually.   Build up to a level of Misery Tolerance before jumping into the "Deep end of the Pool" so to say.   

We missed the barbershop Quartet singing the National Anthem... again!   Why did they not announce it over the speakers?   I love the National Anthem... And Male Quartet singing!  Two great sounds sounding great together!   Like a Reeses for the ears...

Not a lot of pictures when the photographer has to RUN THE RACE!   But I did manage to beat Cheryl  and capture her as she crossed the finish line.   Sure!  I ran half as far... Details! Details! But I think it was an accomplishment to finish ahead and have to time to grab the camera from the car in time to catch her finish.   From the pictures, you can see she is dodging 5Kers who walked the route. (I never walked!) 

As the results came in.   I discovered that the number 4 had some meaning to me this run.   I was #4 on my bib.   I finished 4th in my age group.  I have 4 fingers on each hand! 

Ok,  I made that last part up for Comedy,   but the other two signs have to mean something!  4th place meant I was not eligible for a watermelon prize. And I really wanted a Watermelon! Could this be fate trying to tell me something?   Could this be used as motivation for any future acts of physical exertion? 

Or you could just buy a watermelon from your favorite Amish Farm stand.... Which I eventually did!  So maybe I missed the message the Universe was sending me.  I'm sure it will send me another signal in the future.  

By the way,  Cheryl managed to finish 1st OVERALL female in the 10K.   ( Show off!)  And the universe sent her a signal by bumping her DOWN to the "Master's Winner" and giving the "overall winner" to some girl Cheryl passed  at mile 5.   I wonder what THAT means?  Either way, the prizes for age and excellence were the same:   A sippy cup, a bib, a $25 gift card for something, and a Watermelon. 

The sippy cup was nice.   And the bib could be used for other things.  Do my descriptions of her prizes  make me sound jaded?  Perhaps.  Maybe because Cheryl did not want to share any of her goodies with me.   And even though she will not use the cool  water bottle,  she would rather keep it on  a shelf for several months as a trophy  than give it to me to actually use.. ( Since I lost my favorite water bottle/ coffee mug last week during the move.) Ah well.... I can always buy another water bottle at my favorite Amish Farm stand.  ( Do they even sell water bottles?)

In the end,  it was fun.  I got to hang out with Cheryl for a few hours and we got to share the experience.  And we had an excuse to visit the Amish Farm stand that I have not seen since last year. ( no water bottles though...) 

Back to work today!  And since this blog post is already long, I will have to leave some other topics on the cutting room floor.   Perhaps I will be able to blog about them later this week.    I have been rather lax in my blogging as of late.   I need to work on that.   Even visiting other blogs has become less frequent as I usually just sleep after working all day.  But if other people can blog every day, I can certainly try a little harder.  (Hmm... "Trying harder." Where have I heard that before? )  Thanks for stopping in!   And I hope everyone had a Wonderful Weekend.