A week ago we went foraging for mushrooms. Before I get into more details of our annual mushroom forage, I wanted to show you a photo of our bounty from it.

Hen of the Woods: eaten
Chicken Mushroom: eaten (still a few bits left for maybe an omelette?)
Honey Mushrooms: pickled in a jar

Every year Allison of Two Pond Farm graciously allows people to join her on a mushroom hunt on her property. We did this last year, but only came home with honey mushrooms. Before we set out she showed us the prize we might all find: the coveted Hen of the Woods. Here is a photo of hers that she had found that morning (on the left).

After admiring her huge, organically grown pumpkins and being greeted by the geese, we were off.

Unfortunately our walk started off through the pasture where the lambs were. (We ordered a half of organically raised lamb from Allison back in the Spring, and frankly I could hardly stand to look at them. It’s better if I don’t think about it.)

We all started finding little honey mushrooms almost immediately. When one of the other people with us stopped to cut a nice sized clump of honey mushrooms, I happened to turn around and look down in the other direction. Hen of the Woods!,  I yelled for all to hear. I had found the prized mushroom! Mine, mine—all mine! Here it is before I cut it off the tree:

We found other mushrooms that were not edible, put pretty to look at.

This one is a coral mushroom. You can see why it was given its name since it looks like a piece of coral in the sea.

And some that we just left alone. We couldn’t identify these ugly stone-like ones growing in between the turkey tails.

We also found this disturbing plant growing in the woods. Known as “Doll’s Eyes” they are extremely poisonous and if the berries are ingested they can cause cardiac arrest and death.

Toward the end of our forage and on the way home, someone spied this Chicken Mushroom. It was extremely fresh and ripe for picking! Which of course we did. Everyone helped themselves to several “shelves” of this tasty mushroom.

Here is a peek into someone else’s basket. She gathered more honey mushrooms than we did.

With the Hen of the Woods we braised a rabbit in red wine, sautéed the mushrooms and served them on top of parmesan polenta.

The Chicken Mushroom we decided to use in a recipe from our wild mushroom recipe book: Mock “Chicken” Paprikash. First we cut and cleaned the mushrooms.

Next we sautéed them in a pan with green bell pepper and onion.

Then we added chicken broth, a cut up ripe tomato, sweet paprika, and finally the sour cream mixed with a little flour to thicken it up. And ate it. So yummy! Truly a seasonal treat!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Just because we eat wild mushrooms doesn’t mean that you should. Please use extreme caution! Even the Chicken Mushroom, which cannot be mistaken for any other mushroom, can cause gastric problems in some people. Rick and I have quite a bit of experience in identifying edible mushrooms. You should never eat anything that you are not certain of. Never. When trying a mushroom for the first time, eat sparingly until you know that it’s going to agree with you.

The changing colors in my back yard as seen this morning. Don’t you wish you were here?

From the dictionary of Lynne
Gloriousity: in a state of gloriousness

Pardon me. I seem to have a blogging malaise this week. Every time I sit down to blog nothing comes of it. I do have things to blog about, just no voice. Ever feel that way? Maybe if I sit here and write things down it will help to jump start myself.

I’ve been having this feeling lately that I am at a turning point. About to do something great and wonderful but I don’t yet know what that is. Something creative. Something with photography? Go out and get myself a job? I don’t know what it is. Just this nagging feeling running around inside my head. I feel I should be doing something but I’m too lazy to figure out what. On the cusp.

Kind of like our weather which is vacillating between summer and fall. Yesterday it was in the 70s; last week in the 50s and lower 60s. The trees are turning, but seemingly in slow motion. I am still mowing the grass which continues to grow. The cicadas that have been quiet for the past month (and I presumed them dead and gone) have started up again singing their scratchy songs. It’s strange. This weather spell we are in with sunny-blue-sky-days and warmth is admittedly gorgeous, but I am so longing for cool, crisp days. It’s time.

I’ve gotten back to knitting after not really being in the mood for it throughout the summer. I finished my sister’s Maine Mitts and have been working along on my Three Button Sassy Shawl. I’ve knitted 38 of the 54 inches so far. It’s mindless work, straight stockinette, but I’d like to be able to wear it before the weather turns too cold. I would like to start this, but since I have never tried intarsia before I feel it might be too much for me to take on. See what I mean? Excuses!

I’ve also been feeling the void of my parents lately. My mother’s death last year still haunts me. And I haven’t dreamt about my father in years, yet now almost every night when I dream they are both there. In my dream. Together. If I dream about them,  I usually dream about one or the other, but not both at the same time. Instead of making me feel closer to them I find it very unsettling and it stays with me throughout the day. My father was kind of a psychic and always able to read me, so is he trying to tell me something?

Normally a good walk in the woods would help to clear my mind and get my thoughts back into some semblance of order again. But after coming home from just such a walk the other day and finding tiny little ticks (deer ticks, the kind that carry Lymes disease) crawling on my neck I vowed to stay out of the woods for awhile. Maybe I should just douse myself in bug repellent and go for it anyway.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten all that off my mind maybe I can get back to normal blogging again. I still have our wonderful mushroom foraging adventure to share with you. And the dragging on ABC-Along which I seem to be having so much trouble with. Everyone else is on “T” while I am still struggling with “P”.

Thanks for listening.

Yes, I know. I am stuck taking photos of fungi lately. With all our rain I have to take advantage of seeking them out while they are fresh and new. I can’t help it, I find them fascinating. And so many different varieties. Take a look. (Letty, I promise—no slugs!) When possible I have added their names (no, I didn’t make them up even with some you would think so). Some of them I found just in our own woods in our yard, while other were found in the woods near Green Turtle Pond where I frequently take walks.

These were fresh and new the day after the rain. I haven’t identified them yet.

Crowded Parchment. The first one is older; the second photo shows what it looks like when it first blooms.

Mossy Maple Polypore

Let’s look a little closer at this one. Doesn’t this little one remind you of the creature in Alien?

Looking like some kind of exotic coral formation is Radiating Phlebia.

I don’t have name for this one but I loved how it just kept stacking up on itself. It might be Violet-Toothed Polypore (see second photo). Notice the purplish cast?

Not identified.

 

Unidentified.

 

Unidentified, but I love the grayish-blue colors!

 

Turkey Tails! (for obvious reasons)

 

Orange Jelly. Please don’t spread this on toast!

 

Thin Maze Flat Polypore.

 

Birch Polypore; second photo is how it looks from the bottom.

This one has the unfortunate name of Wolf’s Milk Slime. ewww ...

What did you think? Did you find them fascinating or ugly? I think most people don’t even notice them. If you live in a moist environment where you get quite a bit of rain, why not look around and see if you can find some? Pick a day after you’ve gotten some really good moisture and go hunting!

All these are inedible, so please don’t try to eat any of them. I know, I know—you are all thinking to yourselves as if I would eat anything that looked like that ...

Stay tuned for my next post on some very edible and delicious fungi!

I’ve taken several nice leisurely walks in the woods by our house with my camera this week. The fall weather has been glorious with just the right amount of rain. Going through the photos I took, I noticed that there was a theme running through some of them, hence my title for this blog entry.

First there are the trees. The vines wrap themselves around like greedy lovers that won’t let go.

 

 

The leaves.

 

The tree fungi (which I find particularly fascinating) also like to take prisoners. Since they grow so quickly and can appear overnight after a good rain, their prisoners-to-be are taken by surprise.

 

Let’s take a closer look at the one above. It has two prisoners—the branch and the vine which has been captured twice. I think the little slug is just visiting.