First mushrooms!

[alexpgp]

Egged on by LJ friend vuzh's question about shaggy manes, I decided to take the Civic out into the boonies to see what I could see. I was pretty sure it's way too early for shaggies, but then again, the woods have been receiving a pretty steady diet of rain over the past couple of weeks, so you never know.

Based on where I've seen shaggy manes erupting in previous years, I can definitevely state that there are no such mushrooms in evidence in our neck of the woods, yet.

However, on the way to where there be shaggies, I found the following:



The specimens on the left-hand side are oyster mushrooms, while the mushrooms with the orange caps are aspen boletes (I'm pretty sure they are Leccinium insigne, but I may have one or two exemplars of Lecciuium fibrillosum, too.)

I cooked a couple of the boletes and ate them with some pork. I found the mushrooms to be on the lackluster side, tastewise (then again, I didn't spice 'em up or anything.)

Cheers...

Comments

[mkay422.livejournal.com]

...salivating... Esp. for Aspen Boletes (подосиновики).

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

i found some shaggies a few weeks back after good rains, but i haven't seen any lately.

your aspen bolete finds have convinced me to head up to the hills this weekend.
aspen boletes are a hardy, pretty mushroom, and are very welcome in time of scarcity!

oysters are rare in the mountains up North, i find them more often in the lowlands. on what substrate did you find them? aspen?

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Almost certainly aspen.

Cheers...

[love337.livejournal.com]

Aww, Daddy I wish I could have gone with you! Did you go to the place we always go by the Lake?

I love you- my best to you and Mom please.
Also, ask her to check her email!

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't. I took the fork down what would have been a 24-mile loop that ends in Four Mile Road in downtown Pagosa, but turned around after a few miles after having made sure there was no sign of shaggy manes. The area around Williams Creek Lake has been surprisingly thin in the mushroom department the past few years... then again, I really haven't had a lot of time to roaming the woods up there.

Will do.

Cheers...