Mushroom Trip, February 6
Today after work, it was raining. Hard. I'd had plans to head to the woods on the way home, so that didn't quite happen. Instead, I went to Sophie's ballet with Melissa and Sawyer and we went to check out a local dairy that deals in raw milk.
After that, it was time for some shrooming. This adventure started at home with some tiny mushrooms on our big pines. Not the best pic of the actual mushrooms, but they're teeny tiny, about 1/8" (3.2mm), and kinda have stalks that curve up to set their orientation. They're real cute and I'm going to keep an eye on them. A good reminder to look at even tiny details.
At the park, I went a way I've not gone before and saw some cool stuff. A jelly mushroom, some corticoid fungi, a cool orange finger-y mushroom, and a little whispy white one.
This is the biggest snail I've seen here in Texas. This is a pretty dry state, but I guess this old rotten pecan tree stays damp enough for him. Pretty cool to see a dead tree supporting so much life. There were old mushrooms, bugs, and plants all on and around it.
After those observations, I made a course to familiar places. This is the kind of place where my soul belongs. With trees and water and mushrooms.
I went to see my friend, the giant pecan by the creek with the huge mushroom under it. This led me on another branch of my adventure.
Looking around from here, I noticed a big tree on the opposite bank, about 25 feet up a steep bank. It had mushrooms on it, and I decided to try to go see them.
The bank was steep. I slipped into the creek once, but thankfully it was still shallow there, even after the heavy morning rain. If I had been over one of the swimming holes, I'd have been soaked head to toe.
You can see the big pecan and it's giant mushroom down below.
Once I got to the top just above the big tree, I realized it was a huge branch from the big pecan. What an enormous tree! I got down closer, watching my step. Forests are slick after a rain, and this was a sheet drop 25 feet to the creek.
On the way back down I saw some others on a branch. I picked one and I think it was a turkeytail, but much smaller than what I harvested before, and the spore holes on bottom were bigger. Maybe false turkeytails? I'll look into it a bit more.
From there, I went back along the creek and up to the park to see the place where I'd harvested my jar of turkeytails this past weekend. When I harvested, I moved two chunks of the stump they were growing on into some cracks in a nearby log. One chunk of the woody part, one chunk of the bark. The chunk of bark looks to be growing! Is that common? That was a few days ago, do they work that fast?
I was really excited by that, and decided to go put more chunks of bark in other dead logs. I think I put out another six pieces, including some where there had been turkeytails before. I'd really like to to see these things all over the place and be able to harvest and share them.
I'm going to try and tincture these mushrooms I've harvested. That may end up being a product I could list on @homesteaderscoop in the coming months if there seems to be community interest and if I deem the product viable. I've found a simple recipe using vodka or other plain liquor, which I think I will start with for now. I'd need to get some more information from prospective buyers first though. That'll be a post for later ;)
Over by what I'll call the turkeytail graveyard, there's little bitty mushrooms coming up. I wonder what they are and what their job is. This wood is already very well decomposed by the turkeytails that have long since done their job.
This was a really fun adventure today. One that I'll remember and cherish. I'm off work the next couple of days, in big part because I'll be on @pennsif's radio show tomorrow with @sagescrub talking about Homesteaders Co-op and economics on steem! If y'all are able, it's from 2-5pm Texas time and I'd love for you to join us!
Be blessed.
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Nate.
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What a fun mushroom walk! Although if your soul belongs with trees and water and mushrooms, maybe you should consider Oregon! That's all we have here.
I'm afraid to admit you may be right...
Not edible unless you're a wizard, but super cool.
Not edible, or not legally edible? Isn't that a fly agaric?
I'm not sure. It's really beautiful and looks fake! I can't positively identify ANY mushrooms. This one caught my eye for obvious reasons. Around here everybody hunts for chanterelles in the fall and morels in the spring.
Well, that one there is worth a look. Not sure the lookalikes, as it's a pretty unique fruit. If it's fly agaric you could be in for a nice spiritual experience ;)
Several of these photos look like they are wood ear mushrooms. You remind me I should go hunting for some wood ear now and see if they are out yet here!
Yeah, I thought so too! I don't know enough about them to harvest yet, so I just took pictures.
Enjoyed your journey. I need to start paying more attention to shrooms when out in the hollows around here.
Reminds me of researching a mushroom found in the garden mulch. Forgot what it was but the book told a story about that one. A lady who ate too many was very ill and tripping a bit. She was reported to have said, "if this is what its like to die from mushrooms I'm all for it" :-)
Hahahahaha be careful with the big white ones. I'm told they look like angel wings mushrooms, which give you a heck of a high the first day and complete organ shutdown the next day. Not something that people survive.
In our mulch we have stinkhorns that like to pop up occasionally, but that's the only one I've actually been able to identify.
If you're into podcasts, check Paul Stamets on Joe Rogan's podcast. That's what got me started when it was recommended by @rawutah
I'll have to disappoint you, the mushrooms don't "work" fast. In order for a mushroom to colonize a new spot, mycelium must spread quite a bit in the new medium, be it rotten wood, wood chips, leaf mold, etc. You'll know by watching the the mycelium strands, usually white wispy tendril or root lookalike, but more like a web.
When in the forest, look for a fallen tree with mushrooms in it and try to smash it with your boot - there should be mycelium inside. You can try to distribute those pieces to other dead logs and cover each with at least 10 cm of leaves, as to prevent drying out. Come back in a few (wet) months and look for progress.
Oh and btw, those fungi on the pine in your yard, do research them, as it might indicate your tree is being "eaten alive" and it might snap or collapse in a heavy wind event. We've had a black locust fall this last autumn, thankfully on the fenceline between us and the neighbors, but the culprit was a fungal infestation, even though no fruiting bodies were produces to signal us of the problem.
Yeah, I didn't think it would work that fast. I was expecting to have to wait a year, as I think turkeytails are a winter fruiting fungus around here.
I'll look into the pine shrooms! They're right next to the carport and house, and the prevailing winds in our area would put the tree into the living room, which is my favorite room and would be quite unfortunate lol
I hear you there you beautiful soul of the woods!!
What a lovely reflective post, and LOVELY to see those pictures of shrooms in winter/spring... itsa comin'!!!
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Oh yeah, spring and summer is gonna be awesome! Last year we had a bunch of mushrooms pop up every time there was rain. This year I'll be able to appreciate it all better. :)
I'd like to hear more about the raw milk dairy....
I'm going to be contacting the owner soon and making a visit to look around better. We were in a bit if a hurry, so we only took a fast look around.
Those tiny mushrooms are sooo cute! I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a jelly mushroom. You really were surrounded by many different ones. I wish I was that bold to walk through a forest. I’m so chicken and would freak out from the wildlife out there. I could handle a snail, I like that picture you took of it :)
Hahahahaha there's very little wildlife to be seen. People are so damn loud in the woods that I bet anything in an eighth of a mile runs away fast. Plus, it's winter. So everything is sleeping anyways. We don't have dangerous predators here, just bobcats and coyotes that are small and rarely ever a threat to people.
Haaa haaa okay that would be more doable for me then! 😄
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TrufflePigLook yummy. Wish I was more confident in my identification 💯🐒
Now that is a cool mushroom post!
I think I saw those super tiny ones here too growing on Cork bark. They are sooo cute!
And that jelly one, I found them (or something super similar) on Elderberry. I read they only grow on those... and they are actually edible. Google for Auricularia auricula-judae. Maybe its that.
Yeah, it was a fun trip! Can't wait til it's actually mushroom season, I bet this place is gonna be NUTS!