Mushroom Memories
Jenna spotted this golden orb weaver with her forager's eyes, just in time for Halloween!
The streets are full of colorful costumes, but the woods are no longer full of colorful fungi. Things have changed since September 27’s ForageCast, when I was so spoiled by the wild bounty that I was leaving prodigious patches of honey mushrooms and aborted entolomas untouched. “I don’t have anything against these mushrooms, but it’s hard to get excited by ground beef when you have unlimited free filet mignon,” I remarked nonchalantly.
Yesterday, as I perked up at the sight of a nondescript, rotting LBM (little brown mushroom), I finally came to terms with the fact that those days of plenty are now behind us. After watching the diversity of species on the ForageCast grow and grow, peaking in late September, now I am faced with the less fun task of removing species from the list. Only the most tenacious specimens of the hardiest species are still with us, and I am starting to wish I had preserved more mushrooms to get me through the winter.
There still are some good edibles out if you know where to look. Ari savors what may prove to be his last shaggy mane find of the year!
At Saturday’s Shiitake Cultivation and Mushroom Foraging Workshop in Brooktondale, NY, we enjoyed a friend’s delicious homemade foccacia topped with dehydrated black trumpets picked a few weeks ago. As I savored each tiny morsel of trumpet, I was flooded with memories of the foraging season – my disbelief at finding my first plump black morel in early May; the feeling that summer had officially arrived when I found the season’s first golden chanterelle on June 20; my discovery of the biggest black trumpet patch of my life in early September.
That last memory in particular sends shivers down my spine. If we follow through on our plans to move to Vermont this winter, I will surely have no choice but to return to Ithaca next summer to check back on this perfect patch, which was so epic that I actually remember wishing it would end so I could get off my hands and knees and make it home by dark.
Don’t get any ideas, Ithaca readers – just because I might be moving doesn’t mean I’ll be giving away my most coveted patches! And as for my less coveted patches? Sure, they’re all yours – good luck finding them!
ForageCast for the next two weeks
