Mushroom hunt
by Nancy Pezel, 14 Oct 2017.
It was a damp morning but that didn’t deter the eleven hardy members that met at Squirrel Crossing to learn about mushrooms.
At the picnic spot across the bridge, Izi Loveluck gave us an informative talk on the basics of wild mushroom identification, a useful handout about mushrooms and some spore print charts, as well as some tips on where to look for mushrooms in the surrounding forest. We then split up into small groups and started searching for specimens. After an hour we regrouped and laid out the specimens we’d gathered.
Izi and Laurette Hamoline identified chanterelles, some kind of Bolete, fawn/deer mushroom, bleeding milk cap (Lactarius rubrilacteus) and some kind of Russula from our findings.
Izi had also brought a couple of pine mushrooms and a cauliflower mushroom she had found the previous day for us to look at. David Bedry generously provided his stove so Izi could cook up some of the chanterelles, the cauliflower mushroom and a shrimp mushroom (Russula xerampelina), with lots of butter!
We enjoyed sampling some tasty mushrooms before the cold finally forced us home.