july is chanterelle season in tennessee

 we are lucky to have neighbors with oak trees and chanterelles.  while out walking the dog one afternoon this week, i noticed little orange spots in the lawns of two of our neighbors.  after a closer inspection followed by a quick trip back home for a basket, this was what i had.

 upon close inspection, i noticed that there were two kinds:  classic true chanterelles on the left and smooth chanterelles on the right.

 true chanterelles

smooth chanterelles

this has been an excellent year for mushrooms in this urban landscape.  we have picked morels, chicken of the woods, hen of the woods and chanterelles.  may the mycellium be with you...happy hunting!

if it's spring, it's mushroom huntin' season!

 the last few weeks have been great for hunting mushrooms-cool and overcast with plenty of rain; exactly what you need to find choice edibles.   and as always, do not judge your finds by these pictures alone-always get expert advice in identifying wild picked mushrooms before eating them!!!

 lichens-a symbiotic relationship between fungus and algae.  regardless, they are pretty to look at but can sometimes make identifying the tree by it's bark a challenge when there aren't any leaves to look at.  knowing what the tree species a mushroom is growing near can often be a huge step in properly identifying the fruiting body.

 these tiny mushrooms looked like nails at a quick glance.  upon further inspection, we discovered that they are really tiny little mushrooms.

 grey morels-the belles of the ball and the whole reason we have been out trouping through the woods.  in two trips, we found about 50.  on the bottom left, the mycelium which is the actual fungus; the mushroom is actually it's fruit, hence the name fruiting body.

 we found several of these centipedes while hunting morels

 an old earth star

 dead mans fingers

 wood ears

 this is one of the deadliest mushrooms we have found.  it doesn't look like much and is actually rather tiny but ingesting them will kill you!

and when i said tiny, that is what i meant-just look at them in comparison to my fingertips.

thanksgiving feast

it was our annual trash can turkey fest and this is a look at what is happening in our neighborhood.

turkey tails-inedible

sulphur tufts-inedible

we have a nieghbor with a silver maple tree that has oyster mushrooms growing on it. he lets us pick them when they fruit.

marinating them for the feast!

onto the grill they go!

we also have a collection of logs that i innoculated with shiitake spores. they were fruiting too and we used them in the stuffing.

to see the rest of the trash can turkey feast, check out will travel for food

it's been a while...

it's been a good year for mushrooms so far and the fall was excellent as well. had the chance to take a mushroom hike in warner park with naturalist deb beazley and this is what we found:

dead mans fingers

another shot of the deadly galerina

an extremely dangerous mushroom capable of killing anyone who is unfortunate enough to eat it

thin maze flat polypore

a non edible mushroom

inky cap

can be eaten but do not consume alcohol when eating them

more inky caps

our neighbor had thousands of them!

top view of the death cap

one of the most deadly mushrooms out there

bottom view of the death cap

look for the vulva-an egg like case at the bottom of the stem, a sure way to identify the mushroom.

look at the first death cap photo to really see the vulva.

smooth chanterelles

we are so lucky! we also have a neighbor with a yard full of chanterelles. look for oak trees when searching for chanterelles, they are commonly found growing under oak trees.

oyster mushrooms

we really are lucky. we can go picking without ever leaving the neighborhood. another of our neighbors has a maple tree covered in oyster mushrooms.

ringless honey mushrooms

chanterelles