Shaggy Manes and Puffballs from Latimer Woods

The whole family went on an ideal walk in Latimer Woods this afternoon. We found lots of pear-shaped puffballs at the edible, white, stage, and several black shaggy manes that we took home and cooked in butter. The flavor was not ideal---it was actually sweet. Perhaps it would have been better to cook them in milk and butter as a soup or for on toast. The puffballs were okay, but I have not found a good way to cook them.

I did find a good 2008 blog article, "Wild Mushrooms of Mid-fall – Wine Caps, Shaggy Manes and More."

Mushroom Photography

"Top Ten Mistakes in Mushroom Photography" is an interesting long webpage. It has lots of photos, with the species identified, illustrating various mistakes. The photo tips are useful even if it is not mushrooms you are photographing.

A Bolete Turning Blue

I found a good, short, You-Tube video of a broken bolete turning blue. Browsing the web, it looks to me as if boletes are pretty safe. None are deadly poisonous. Some cause severe stomach-ache, but it looks as if you're safe if you avoid bad-tasting, blue-staining, or orange or red boletes.

The Meadow Mushroom, Agaricus Campestris

Lillie and Faith and Benjamin and I went jogging (Ben on his bicycle) and brought home a white lawn mushroom with red-black gills. It seems to be an Agaricus Campestris, prettily named, a Meadow Mushroom. It had a brown spore print, free gills, and soaked up water readily. We looked at the spores under the microscope, and they did look like the spores above, though I don't remember seeing the green interiors under our smaller 900x magnification. That photo is from an amateur's good webpage at http://www.mushroom-collecting.com/mushroomhorse.html.

We had a coprinus for breakfast this morning--- two actually, probably shaggy manes, though I didn't check. Amelia and Mom collected them from near the church. They didn't liquefy overnight.

Spring in the Back Yard

Yellow Violets

A Morel

Bluebells

Shaggy Mane Mushrooms

On Sunday we finally stopped to look at the coprinus mushrooms that we've seen growing at the intersection of Route 45 and the road to church. I jumped out and picked some. They are shaggy mane mushrooms, which apparently do not poison you if you drink alcohol, though they are closely related to those inky caps

Today we at some of them. They had all opened up, and some had deliquesced completely. Fried in oil (after being cut up, each into 3 or so pieces) they were okay. Amelia, Ben, and Lillie tried them with me. Faith said "Like it!" which means "I don't like it!" The black ones are a bit bitter and too tasty. I think the books are correct that they are best while still white. They turn pink before turning to ink.

November 14. More had come up by now. Benjamin and I picked the young ones, and I made soup with them chopped up with milk, pepper, salt, butter, milk, and dried onion flakes. They are better in soup than fried. The soup was an interesting gray-black color.