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.