Posted in Mushrooms, tagged edible mushrooms, Mushrooms, Oregon, Portland on September 15, 2010| 2 Comments »
Time to gear up for mushroom season. I found these babies outside of my apartment in Portland. I believe this to be a Prince mushroom, Agaricus augustus, based on the scaly, yellow-staining cap, combined with the strong almond-like odor of the flesh, and shaggy stalk among other features. David Aurora writes in All that the Rain Promises and More…, “One of the very best! The sweet fragrance and flavor are a real treat.” Looks like I’ve got a plan for dinner tonight.
Posted in Diet/Recipies, Mushrooms, Plants, tagged edible mushrooms, foraging, wild edible plants, wild foods on November 27, 2009| 3 Comments »
100% Local Wild Thanksgiving Dinner
Posted in Feral Failure, Mushrooms, tagged edible mushrooms, honey bees, Larch Mountain, urban foraging on November 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Gabe and Ariel Sweet as Honey, Photo by Henry Stanley
On Wednesday day I met up with Henry, Ariel, Gabe and Anna to attempt to gather wild honey from a feral honeybee hive I had discovered in Oaks Bottom Park. I had already tried once, unsuccessfully, on my own to get the honey and ended up with about a half dozen stings, so this time I let the boys try their hand at it. We bee suited up. First, we tried to smoke the bees with one of my mugwort smudge sticks. This seemed to at least drive them deeper into the hive. Unfortunately, the comb was too deep, and the hole too small for Henry and Gabe’s man hands, and we failed again, but with only one sting between us. The allure of the honey is so strong we plan to go back again soon with better tools for the job. A longhandled metal serving spoon or some barbecue tongs might do the trick…
After that we went mushroom hunting out on Larch mountain. We found a decent amount of chanterelles and winter chanterelles, but most were on the soggy side. The real score was hedgehog mushrooms which were crisp and abundant. Here are some photos by Henry Stanley:
Mushroom Mafia
Emily and Ariel Rest Streamside
Emily Picks a Chanterelle
Posted in Mushrooms, tagged agaricus, chanterelles, edible mushrooms, Leach Botanical Gardens, Marquam Trail on October 30, 2009| 1 Comment »
I get very excited about mushrooms, but disappointed sometimes too. I may have ranted about this before, but despite the Pacific Northwest’s reputation, I really had much better luck finding edible mushrooms in northwestern Pennsylvania where there was less competition, more wildland, and a summer as well as fall mushroom season. Sure there are way more chanterelles out here, but there is more to mushrooming than that apricot-colored slug of a fungus. Just kidding, I like chanterelles. The other thing is when I lived in Pennsylvania I never went mushroom hunting specifically for edibles. I was into identifying every mushroom, and I just happened to find them. Here edible mushroom hunting as a sport is a popular social activity, and in some ways the pressure to find the booty makes it less fun.
Anyway, this is the first fall in Oregon I really got to get outdoors for mushroom season. I got my fill of edibles one day early on when I picked a couple pounds of chanterelles just off of Highway 26 headed toward Seaside. Then I could concentrate on the rest. Here are a few of my other finds:
Earthstar
Finding one of these is a real treat. Many earthstars are hygroscopic, meaning their rays fold closed in dry weather and open in wet weather. Like puffballs, they are not edible when mature.
Questionable Stropharia
These mushrooms, Stropharia ambigua, I found growing in droves at both the Leach Botanical Gardens in Portland, and the Audubon Society property in Sandy, OR. They have a yellow cap with shaggy white edges and a shaggy white stalk. The gills are purple gray. As for edibility, it is “not recommended”.
Flat-topped Agaricus
This mushroom is definitely an agaricus, mostly likely of the flat-topped variety (Agaricus praeclaraesquamosus). I found it growing in the woods on the Marquam Trail in southwest Portland. Distinguishing characteristics besides location include the pink gills which are free from the stalk (chocolate brown when older), a large ring, a base that stains bright yellow when cut and gives off an unpleasant odor, and a white top with small brown scales.
Crazy Russula
Red Coral Mushroom
This scaly, old Russula was gigantic. I don’t know exactly what kind it is, but russulas in general can be identified by their brittle chalk-like texture. They shatter when thrown, and the stalks break cleanly with no visible strings or fibers. Due to the texture of their flesh even “edible” russulas are not generally eaten. An exception is the lobster mushroom which occurs when another mushroom, Hypomyces lactiflorum colonizes Russula brevipes. The pretty little coral is mostly likely Ramaria araiospora.
Penny Scout: Tracker of Plants 