June 29th, 2017

 

The main thing I noticed on my recent hikes on the Niagara escarpment were Elderberries. A great number of bushes with huge amount of berries (in both green and red stage) abound. Personally, I have never tried to do anything with this berry, but this year,  I will try to make elderberry syrup. It is supposed to be a great remedy for colds and mild flu.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="49" gal_title="elderberry_2017"]

In my last post I mentioned the apparent absence of the crown coral mushroom. Well, in the last several days it did show up in many places. Maybe the growth is not really abundant, but they are certainly present and were missed up until now.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="47" gal_title="crown_coral_2017"]

Several days ago I was checking the south-east slope of the hill for Lactarius hygrophoides (my favorite orange milky, now moved to the new genus Lactifluus). The trees around these mushrooms  are mainly oak with some pines mixed in. Under a pair of mature birch trees, I found a handful of king boletes (Boletus edulis). A real treat - this early in the season and perfect specimens, just out of the button stage!

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="50" gal_title="king_june_2017"]

Checking the coniferous woods, in this case mainly young spruce mixed with some pine, I found the start of the flash of the Great Lakes Amanita muscaria (mainly orange variety). In the button stage they do look like something out of this world. Even at this stage it is obvious that some of them will grow into gorgeous specimens. The actual reason I was in the coniferous woods was I was hoping to find chanterelles. According to the literature, they first show up in coniferous woods (mainly pines) at the end of June. I never found them yet, but I do keep on checking.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="51" gal_title="muscaria_june_2017"]

My favorite field guide  author claims the Gymnopus dryophilus is one of the most common of woodland mushroom.  This year and at this particular time, I agree with him. The mushroom commonly known as oak collybia seems to be literally everywhere. If you pay attention and look a little closer, this  smallish mushroom is present in vast numbers throughout deciduous woodlands.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="52" gal_title="oak_collybia_2017"]

I hope that  continuous wet weather in South-Western Ontario will give us a great chanterelle season. At this stage,  I am finding only miniature buttons in my usual spots, but give it a couple of days...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Morels 2 (2016)

Image
Encouraged by the finds couple of days ago I visited one of my best spots for Morels .  There was no trace of any mushrooms yet. The only thing indicating something is going on are several Dryad's Saddles in very early stage of growth. The Trillium is everywhere, showing great variations in color. I did find many small patches of Ramps. All of them were too small to harvest.   I will try again on Weekend.
Read more

Morels 3 (Fiddleheads) (2016)

Image
Temperatures dipped back to near zero over several nights.I tried  foraging in North York Regional forest with zero result. The consolation price for the weekend of May 14th were fiddleheads. There is some controversial info on the web about fiddleheads. Some sources have a warning about carcinogenic compounds found in several species of fern.The fact is they are still  sold in grocery shops in Ontario. I limit my foraging to Ostrich Fern . It is easily recognized by 3 characteristics: Dark green, almost bluish in color Paper like membrane (visible on picture bellow) Presence of characteristic spore bearing fronds Anyway, I follow recommendation of Government of Canada and cook my fiddleheads thoroughly, just in case. The fiddlheads season is very short. The best way to preserve is to blanch(cook in boiling water 2 minutes, shock with cold water to stop cooking), dry and put in freezer bags). Fiddleheads have a great, buttery taste and can be eaten as side dish or cooked veg
Read more

October 17, 2016

Image
Seems like I dismissed warm weather a little too early. Today expected daily high is 27°C! The forecast is still factoring in humidex! In the woods the fall change is well under way. I guess trees are reacting to calendar as much as couple of cold nights. The colors are amazing. All the shades of green, yellow, brown and red are present. On the floor of the woods big flourish of Honey Mushrooms has passed. There are still some around but big clumps are gone. At this time they are frequently infested by bugs. I found numerous traces of heavy harvesting. Blewits are showing in numbers. As usual they are forming partial or full fairy rings. Due to worm weather some of them are still buggy. This is excellent edible, definitely one of my favorites. Blewit color can vary greatly and it is not recommended for the beginners. For me the odor is one of the main characteristics for recognition. [caption id="attachment_3115" align="alignnone" width="663"] Clitocybe n
Read more