Category Archives: Wild Foraging

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News, Wild Foraging

Mushroom Puzzle

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I was taking advantage of a green cottonwood in town that had fallen. Several blocks about a foot long and 2 to 3 foot around were free for the taking. I stacked them on top of each other and was planning to split and store them to cure.

I noticed mycelium growing on the face where they were stacked together, and did not recognize the mycelium smell or look, but decided to let them grow enough to identify them.

Mushrooms are more valuable than fireplace fodder!

My guess at that time was Pholiota or honey (shoestring rot) or possibly (hopefully) oysters. The mycelium didn’t smell like oyster, but I had seen oysters growing on this tree before. The tree had rotted so honeys were possible, and pholiota grows everywhere.

 

They were Pholiota after all. I had suspected this all along, but had to verify. Their bumps, brown spores and smell of garlic gave them away!

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News, Wild Foraging

Spring Mushroom Season

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Spring mushroom season is almost here, and I can hardly wait!

The mycelium is underground waiting to start growing again. I like to think it is as excited as we are to see spring finally come. Probably more because it’s life literally depends on it.

Growing projects established last year will be stronger this year and should start growing earlier and flush sooner. The weather has been cooperative for starting spring projects also.

Wild mushrooms still need more moisture for a good flush, but that remains to be seen! Snowbank mushrooms are simmering under tons of snow and will follow the snowbank out as it thaws.

I made a mushroom spread last night and will make a soup today from my dried wild stash. Enjoying dry wild mushrooms and planning for the upcoming season is a good way to wait for nature.

 

Books, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News, Wild Foraging

Mushroom Book Review

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“GOOD MUSHROOM BAD MUSHROOM” by John Plischke lll

This book was published in 2011, so it uses current naming, and yes the mushrooms are the same, but the names are constantly changing. The pictures are crisp and it is well illustrated. The layout is easy to read and use. It is put together with rings for binding, so it lays flat with one mushroom to a page. There are also some useful tips for identifying shrooms and a few recipes.This is a very good current book for a collection or a good starter book.

Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News, Wild Foraging

Spring Mushroom Season

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Hello fellow mushroom fanatics!

Feels kind of spring-like outside the last couple of days. This always makes it hard to wait for the true spring to arrive. This is the time of year that I like to get ready for the upcoming spring mushrooms.

 

Even though spring is not the season that we get our largest flush of mushrooms, the ones that do flush are important. The morels come in the spring, and are the most recognized mushroom to amateurs and part timers.

 

Oysters come in the spring and fall, but are especially nice in the spring because we have waited all winter for them. Just to start seeing mushrooms flushing, lets us know that winter is mostly over and the ground is warming.

An old farmer told me that when the mushroom pickers start showing up, that he knows the weather is going to settle down. He did not eat or pick wild mushrooms, but he knew it had to do with more than how the weather acted that day or week.