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This time around I did find giant Dryad's Saddle . They were on the big log, looking quite amazing. I left my knife in one of the pictures just for proper sizing. The mushrooming knife is around 11 cm long There is a lot of contradictory information on the web concerning edibility and quality of this mushroom. Personally I only tried them once, baked and it was nothing spectacular. I still did not give up on this mushroom and do plan to try some more ways to cook. My favorite chef  has quite high opinion of this species and has some pointers how to prepare it, including several recipes. The good feature is pleasant smell, very similar to water melon rind. Of course, the specimens in pictures above are well beyond any usage in the kitchen. All Polypores  tend to get very tough and woody in later stages of growth. For the consumption you are looking for something like this: I did not mentioned before, but from the very early in the season you can find Mica Cap ( Coprinellus micac...

After some weather roller-coaster in March, April started with beautiful weekend. It was a chance to go and check trails. The woods are still without traces of leaves, allowing a lot of sunlight to reach forest floor. However, it will take several days with positive overnight temperatures to really get plants going. The plants taking advantage of the abundance of sunlight on the ground will start first - ramps etc. The one of earliest starters is already around - Skunk Cabbage. This plant is beautiful, but poisonous. I did not have an opportunity to go and check my usual ramp spots, but I am sure they are already couple of inches tall. The Stinging Nettle, Dandelion and Chicory are still nowhere to be seen. As far as mushrooms go, there is some brave cup mushrooms growing, mainly on the logs. Unfortunately cups acted like slimy reflectors, so my photos are not great. There is some last year growth of Turkey Tail that persisted over winter   Fiddle heads are still couple of weeks a...