Mushrooming in the Rockies...

Despite the late hour, when Galina got back from the store on Saturday, we went mushrooming up on Wolf Creek. The general area of the hunt is shown in the photo above, taken from Lobo Point. The road on the right-hand side of the photo is Highway 160; the road on the left-hand side is the one you follow to get to where the photo was taken. The Wolf Creek Ski Area is off to the right of the picture.



There were hardly any mushrooms up at the end of the road, just one lonely puffball, whose outward appearance and weight led me to believe that it hadn't started the process of turning yellow, then green, and ever darker, until the interior of the ball is filled with what looks like black dust, which is then spread to the winds to continue the cycle anew. Generally speaking, puffballs that are white inside make for good eating.

<disclaimer>
This is as good a time as any to point out that while this entry is public, the content should not interpreted to be any kind of mushrooming "how-to" nor should my advice be relied upon should you find yourself with a strong hankering to eat a mushroom that did not come from a store. Please note that words such as "generally," "usually," and "often" imply exceptions to what is otherwise being said.
</disclaimer>



When we got home, the prize catches of the day consisted of a pile of chanterelle mushrooms (Cantharellus cibarus, I think), and several boletes. The former I think I will preserve with salt; the latter will be dried for use in soups during the coming year.

Yesterday, Feht came over with his wife and son and we all went back up into the mountains to see what we could see. Feht had gone up about 10 days ago, and had returned with two large bags filled with boletes. On Saturday, I'd seen some boletes and chanterelles, but yesterday, though we did find about a half-dozen large boletes and a small patch of chanterelles, it was a relatively thin day.



The prize catch of the day was this specimen of Hawk's Wing (also known as Sarcodon imbricatum). The photo doesn't show the scale very well, but this mushroom is about 9 inches across and in prime shape. I don't consider Sarcodon to be a high-quality mushroom along the lines of a chanterelle or bolete, but fried this fungus goes well with steak and boiled it gives a nice edge to soups, especially beef soups.

Drew, Shannon, and Huntur took off around 3:30 pm and went home. Galina and I and the Fehts ended the day at one of the few local restaurants that can set out a good meal, The Greenhouse. We were joined later by the Schnells, who have lived in Pagosa for several decades, and sat out on the balcony of the restaurant until it was well past dark.

All my Sundays should go so well.

Cheers...

A productive day...not!

Up to the time of this morning's post, I'd mostly done maintenance tasks, such as pay some bills and get my travel expenses in order. After the post, I got a little edgy because I could not put my hands on my NASA badge, which would have been a Very Bad Thing had I not found it (especially if not before leaving for Houston on Sunday).

I then was called to help at the store, which turned into basically the whole afternoon at the store. When I finally was able to get away, around 4:45 pm, I decided to drive out toward where I recall the road was lined with inky cap mushrooms about this time of year. Some people consider boletes to be the best mushrooms in the world; others look to the chanterelle. Me, I like nothing better than a skillet of sautéed inky caps with vegetables.

You have to pick these mushrooms young, just as they exit the ground looking a little like a subminiature missile. As the mushroom ages, the edges of the cap turn pink, then red, then ever darker until the cap turns black and begins to disintegrate from the outer edge inward.

Somewhere I recall reading that the black substance dripping from the cap was used as ink in olden times. I don't know how much sense that makes, as the "ink" is really a suspension of fungus spores, which would make archival storage of any document written using such ink somewhat problematical, IMHO. For sure, though, once the mushroom reaches the "inky" stage, it is too far gone to eat.

There weren't all that many inky caps along that road, but I did find a few dozen good ones. The weather has been fairly dry the past few days, which probably has had an effect on the appearance of new 'shrooms. Late this afternoon, the wind blew and the water fell hard. Another day or two of that and there'll probably be another chorus of caps springing out of the ground.

I spent some time after dinner taking care of the harvest: soaking the chanterelles in preparation for salting, cleaning and slicing the boletes and the hawk wings in preparation for drying, and then cleaning up in general. If ya wanna play... ya gotta pay.

Right now the Houston assignment looks like it's going to be one week long. Hopefully, they'll find a way to tack on another week, so as to improve the cost-effectiveness of flying me down there (no driving this time, friends!) and renting me a car. More news as it develops. In any event, I got no more of the ethnographic text done today, and I really need to get cracking on it, as I've had a couple of nibbles with regard to future work.

It's late, and we all now start to get up early around here, especially since now Drew has to be in Durango to attend classes (though I hear this rumor that some of his course work can be done online... we'll see about that).

Gotta go get some rest.

Cheers...