wild mushrooms in my yard!

[HiDelight]

Ok so they are not a fruit and they are not a vegetable but they have to go some place!!!

who says you can not hunt mushrooms in July? ..I have found puff balls ...oysters and even been so lucky this year I have had both morels growing under my rosemary bush and the noble, wonderfully tasty prince growing under my spruce tree!

both patches produced enough for a meal each the morels seem done but I see the Prince is still producing and I know they come back year after year because my old patch behind a park .. has just stoppped producing..it used to produce pounds and pounds for probably 10 years I could pick from it all through the summer! HUGE ones....

I am beside myself and wanted to share (my husband took the pictures and keeps sending me the wrong ones..note to self I will take my own pictures with my own camera from now on! ) anyway I will post pictures of my mushrooms when he finds the right ones


do any of you have edible wild mushrooms in your yard?

in the mean time (while i am waiting for husband to find the photos he took) here is a nice site for morels http://www.thegreatmorel.com/


here is a great big but good picture of a prince I found on google it looks just like the ones growing under my tree
this mushroom tastes so good! it smells like almonds and is very meaty ..great for vegetarians who want to "beef" up their diet ..pun intended!
http://www.mushroomtable.com/wild/images/the_prince.jpg


please share your mushroom pleasures and scores ..I find you can find a mushroom for most any season!
disclaimer:
I have been hunting since I was a child and was taught by elders how to distinguish mushrooms for obvious reasons and because it is really hard to find a new liver to replace yours when you are poisoned... please do not taste any wild mushrooms you are not 150% sure of ..that is one of the many reasons elders are important in this world ...old folks who pick mushrooms ..by the fact they are alive is always a good thing I am planning sooner than I expected to be one of those wise elders

happy shrooming!

 

[obsessed]

I have never eaten a wild mushroom. Although I grew some from a kit once. I am from pure city stock and none of my elders have a clue on wild mushrooms. Good luck on yours.

 

[PotterWatch]

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi there!

HiDelight, I am so jealous -- Lucky you! Free Food is always great news!

Good Pickings!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

I have never eaten a wild mushroom. Although I grew some from a kit once. I am from pure city stock and none of my elders have a clue on wild mushrooms. Good luck on yours.

wait wait wait I learned to find edible mushrooms in the city! In fact all of my interest in wild harvesting...being self sufficient and gardening all came from living in a city...

when I was little the Italian grandmothers .... where I lived used to walk around the parks and medians in the neighborhood stooped and picking something very interesting to me ..so I followed and followed and followed ..finally when I was about six and did not understand Italian at all they took me under their wing ..since I would not go away and was chatting constantly about the world ...I guess it was better to absorb this flaming redheaded wild child than ignore me
I watched very carefully and they would pick up one say some things that sounded obviously lethal made faces that did not look like this was a good thing...and point to parts of the mushroom and toss it ...then when they found ones they loved they smiled ..pointed to the anatomy and put it in their baskets...the smelling pointing and facial expressions were my first into to mushrooms! I would then start to pick up mushrooms or herbs and hold them up ..copying them in actions and words ..and then if I got a nod and smile I knew it was ok if I got a grimmace and a big NO I tossed it....and it was in a very urban setting I grew up in Providence RI in the heart of the city ..I also learned wildcrafting there from the same grandmothers ...they would cough point to a weed ..talk about water making tea and I would know this weed was for a cold ...My father while cautious about me eating wild mushrooms felt confident that these Nona's would not want to poison me so he let me go ...well it was hard to stop me I was a wanderer
I did pick up a bit of Italian as well not much but food I speak!!!!
you do not have to be in a rural setting to find mushrooms or any other wild harvest the city is a very good place to go wandering and looking for things ...find a grassy patch and see what is there!

even now some of my best forays are urban!!!

there are mushroom clubs everywhere in world .. with people who will help you if you are interested ..to learn and find a great harvest with out risking your life ..

mushroom hunting and wildcrafting are everywhere urban rural and suburbs! no excuses not to try!

Here is my area some of the best produce grown just happens to be in the houseing projects in Seattle! Where on my way to work and at lunch at Harborview I used to walk through and talk to people ..I learned a whole heck of a lot about SE Asian greens and a lot of wild greens that grow in the craziest of areas! by tasting and talking

urban hiking, harvesting ..try it sometime!

 

[big brown horse]

HiDelight,

I need to come over for a lesson then!! We were told that we had nice morel and other types of mushrooms on our property. I'm too scared to touch them!

I love wild muchroom soup!

 

[obsessed]

mushroom clubs.. I may have to look in to that.. Thanks.

 

[COgirl]

I have a beautiful clump of small brown mushrooms growing behind my goose water bucket, just found them Sunday. I wish I was knowledgeable, they look pretty yummy to me I adore mushrooms.

 

[bills]

I live in an area (Pacific Northwest) that has an abundance of mushrooms, and fungi, many which are edible, and some such as the pine species, very valuable. I have many species growing in my yard, both spring and summer. Some are huge, and would make a meal for three people, others are tiny little things. I also have several "fairy rings" in the late summer, showing up on my lawn.

Problem is;

I have a few books on mushroom identity, but find that the drawings/sketches leave much to be deisred, in 100% proper identification. Some of the books that have actual photos are great, but there are so many species that look almost identicle to one another, one being safe, the other poisonous, so I hesitate to harvest them.

I have had no problem ID'ing the Shaggy Mane, and have had several delicious meals of them. I really wish there was a night school like course one could take, that would actually get you in the field, and train one in proper identification of the edible vs non-edible. A club would also be a great idea, if you had a few top identity experts helping out.

 

[big brown horse]

Hi Bills,

They do have groups that do this in the month of October down here. I'm near Seattle.

I agree, books are 2d, I need 3d to tell a poisonous shroom from an edible. I'm scared to take a chance!