It is from my last hike from Harpers Ferry to Pennsylvania, the picture is from Pine Grove Furnace State Park.
A couple of weeks ago I was out in the North 40 checking out my pumpkins when I saw a shelf cloud blowing in from the Northeast. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to the house, grabbed my celly and made it back outside the front of the cloud had passed by but the wind and clouds behind it were about as turbulent as any skies I've seen in my life. The wind and clouds were going in all different directions, so I decided to point the camera straight up and take a few pics. This was probably my favorite of the bunch... ...but this one was rather interesting - if you look between the electrical lines you can see what appears to be a vortex forming, which was a wee bit unnerving at the time.... We've had tornadoes touch down in our area before, but fortunately this one never developed - we just wound up getting a lot of lightning and heavy rain...
Little dog Island in placida. Picture taken by me the day I was there via my kayak. Satellite picture of the same.
St Michaels Mount, Mounts Bay, Penzance, Cornwall. Across the bay to Newlyn The remains of Chun castle, iron age hillfort circa 500BC. Odd holes drilled into stone at Chun castle. No idea what they are for. Chun quoit, Neolithic dolmen (burial tomb) circa 2,400 BC
It will be. It was overcast like that all day but did not rain and the fishing was good, turns out that was due to Saharan dust floating across the Atlantic. Amazing enough sand could float through the atmosphere clear from Africa to accomplish that.
An unidentified dung inhabiting fungi growing on cattle dung, that I found the other day while foraging for dung loving mushrooms. " Ain'ts " A coprophilous sporocarp of the genus paneoulus. Ain't what you're looking for.... A reishi mushroom, a highly prized mushroom said to have many medicinal benefits. Prime foraging area . Underneath the oaks with tall grass. Happy cows live here.
I'm not really well versed on the majority of edibles at this point but I have learned to identify chanterelle and oyster mushrooms and I'm on the lookout for those. Do you know if any of those you found are edible? I do know I won't eat anything without being 100% on the ID
It all started as a teen growing up in Florida. Virtually every Florida kid has gone shroom hunting at least with his friends at some point. I guess I just took more of a liking and an interest in it than some people because here I am about 30 years later still very interested. Being out in the field foraging is one of the things I enjoy most in this life. And it's always super cool if you have landowner permission.
I'm glad you have such an interest in that. We have had lots of rain this summer, and the mushrooms are everywhere. I just don't know what's what with them. I had no clue there were so many varieties. If I was close by, I'd have you take me on a mushroom tour. Keep it up and you'll get to be a professor. Let me know when your book gets published.
As far as I know those are the ones that are called amanita muscaria or fly agric. A hallucinogenic mushroom that I have never done. It is not psilocybin but Ibotenic acid and muscimol..... And probably some other alkoloids. @Adfundum went foraging today and found these two nice chanterelle. Easy to identify as it's one toxic look-alike in this area will always grow from wood while chanterelle never grows from wood but directly from the ground. They also have decurrent false gills, meaning that the gills run down the stem and the gills are not as fragile and able to be pulled from the cap like most mushrooms you would think of. They have a smell faintly of apricot and a nice firm flesh that is kind of meaty and nutty at the same time. Considered a delicacy and due to its unique relationship with certain plants it has never been commercially cultivated but it's highly sought after by those who look for edibles. I sauteed them with butter and then ate them with some garlic butter. Unfortunately I only found two of them but hopefully this next time I go forwarding I will find a good mess of them. You don't have to be able to identify every species to forage edibles safely but you do need to know the target species you are looking for 100%. Needless to say, one should never consume wild mushrooms without being absolutely certain.
Okay, I'm awarding you a Doctorate in Mushroomology. . I'm actually learning a few things here. I'm pretty sure I've seen those flower-like mushrooms recently. Wife and I were out for the morning walk, and she asked what kind of flowers she was seeing. They didn't seem like flowers because of that underside we see in your photos. But I'm taking your advice and not eating any until I know for sure. I seriously didn't know there were so many types. We had a very rainy couple of months recently, and the mushrooms were all over the place. Especially in my little mulch pile where I'd thrown a few kitchen scraps.
If you do see a bunch of those that is worth collecting them but take photographs before harvesting any, exactly where and how they were found.... Take note of the trees they are growing under. Let's say you do find about 80 specimens, remember we want to eat these..... So any that look too old or that are riddled with insects or have anything looking like some suspicious mold.... Don't bother with those. Many mushrooms can be easily dried out by placing on a window screen in front of a fan for a few days. So let's say you did collect a whole bunch of them..... This would give you time to obtain a positive ID. But make sure and take all of your good photos when they are fresh. It would sure be a shame to pass up on a good number of prime edibles..... Worst case scenario, you feel uncertain of the ID and you can always just dispose of them later. My hunting kit consists of a small pair of sharp scissors and a crown Royal bag. Paper sacks or anything that are breathable or also good containers. Just avoid plastic bags. The key to identification is taking many good photographs. Get good pictures of the underside and the top and the area they were found in. Typically chanterelle's will not grow in clusters but they do grow in close association to one another.....occuring gregariously Should you find a good score try to post some pictures here. Free food and a delicacy at that.... But just remember the Golden rule..... 100% certain on ID before consuming. Fortunately most toxic mushrooms are not fatal or cause permanent liver or kidney damage but many of them will cause severe gastrointestinal irritation complete with vomiting and diarrhea. But there are a handful of species that are deadly poison. And thank you for the kind words but I am certainly not a mycologist but I do find fungi to be fascinating and I always like learning more about them. I don't even own a microscope, any self-respecting mycologist certainly owns a microscope
Caught a bumblebee foraging on an eastern red cedar today. Can’t recall ever seeing a bee of any kind work a cedar tree.
