Spring Mushroom Hunting . . . No Morels Yet

Anticipating the prospect of potentially finding some morels, Evan, Meg, and I have been scouting the surrounding region over the past couple of weeks.  Sadly we have not been able to find any of the delectible morels yet.

Today we went up to Paris Mt. and tromped around some, and while there was no Morel finding we did discover a clump of what we are pretty certain a blewits (Clitocybe nuda) which would be pretty exciting considering they are a rather respected edible.  We discovered a few other random mushrooms, but nothing too exciting.  I found two lizards today, which surprised me considering that it is pretty cold.  One was definitely an anole, while the other was not a lizard I am familiar with.  I also found a occlupanid.

While overall this forge wasn’t a huge success it was still fun to get outside for a while an explore.  That is part of my love of the mushroom forging, is just the way I can put myself into a detailed observation mode.  It is partially nostalgic, because as a kid I used to love going into the woods and exploring.  Then there is also the excitement of finding various mushrooms or other interesting bits of nature.  All around a fun way to spend some free time.

Some pictures.

Possibly blewits . . . though Evan just informed me that it is unlikely because this is not blewit season. They are a fall mushroom in general.

Strange unknowns of a good size. We found quite a few of these today

Another unknown mushroom with an interesting mustard yellow coloration to the cap

An anole . . . seems like I see them every time I go up to Paris Mt. These a super fast little lizards

A lone wild occulupanid . . . likely starving without a plastic bag to feed upon

Update 8:30 pm March 29th, 2009

Evan contacted Tradd Cotter from Mushroom Mountain (an acquaintance ours and absolute mushroom expert) asking about our find today.  Tradd seems to think that they are blewits, but suggested we take a spore print just to be certain.  Here’s hoping.  If they are blewits we may head back to Paris Mt. in a few days to see if any more have sprung up, as that is supposedly an aspect of them.

Here are a couple more pictures of them (which Evan took) that shows off the wonderful lavender color a bit more.

lovely lavender color

A bit of a look at the underside and the gills

~ by Nathaniel on March 29, 2009.