More Morel Mushroom Madness

The morel mystery had quite a few sharp eyed readers. Nice hunting!

Also, I mentioned a morel print I had made a few years ago and mushroom lovers seemed to want to see it, so I pulled it out and took a picture. 

I apologize that it's not a perfectly squared up picture. I tried to photograph it from straight on, but didn't manage to get it quite right. Anyway, it gives you a pretty good idea. I wanted to have the morels just a little bit hidden the same way they are in the wild, so they're tucked into the leaf duff, grass and twigs. It was a fun and challenging carve. :)

A Minor Mother's Day Mystery - Mapped

Here's the clue from yesterday, if you missed it - or so you don't have to toggle back and forth to check for the mystery's subject(s). 

The subject in question at the moment is close to the middle of the picture. Not quite perfectly centered (there had to be a little photographic balance, after all). And there is more than one, but the others will be frustratingly elusive from this angle. 

Every year, our family would spend Mother's Day weekend wandering around out in the woods looking for treasure. It was a search to rival any Easter egg hunt and we children had as good a chance to make great discoveries as our parents, since our eyes were lower to the ground and provided an excellent vantage point. 

This is the one you should be able to spot in the mystery picture. I tried to get another picture at the same angle, so you can look for shape and shadow. It's the one that put me on alert. 

Once a little lower to the ground (children's eye level) in an effort to gather the first specimen, its friends were easier to locate. 

My brother and I harvested nearly two gallons of black morels in our afternoon of hunting, but a lot of crawling along on hands and knees through brambles was required to accomplish the feat. 

However, there's nothing quite like a pan of fresh morel mushrooms fried in butter for hors d'oeuvres as a reward for the effort. Yum!

I have made morel mushrooms the subject of one of my block prints, and it was fun to try to keep some of the mystery of the hunt in the final image. If anyone's interested, I can post a picture of it. :) 

A Minor Mother's Day Mystery

This little mystery is especially for BetsyLee (which, in itself, might be a dead giveaway). 

As always, you can click on the image to enlarge it. I left it as big as I possibly could. 

This is on my family's property and reminds me of the group outings we would always take on Mother's Day. The reveal will come tomorrow. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Familiar Fall Friends

This time of year, the marsh area I love to visit has quite a few visitors to watch as they take a break on their way south. I can also catch the last few sightings of those that have raised families over the summer and are getting ready to hibernate or hightail it to warmer climes. 

Madame Wood Duck is always shy, so it's a special treat to get to see her. She was way out in the water, so I had to zoom in pretty hard. That's probably why she kept paddling and preening. 

An egret took flight from a tangle of cattails and brush and it was beautiful to see its bright white plumage in contrast to the trees. 

Speaking of white, fall fungi have been less prevalent this year, since it has been so dry, but every little rain will make a few pop. This one created a lovely white on white arrangement, growing on a birch tree. 

And, of course, flocks of geese are gathering and honking almost continuously as they jockey for position in the line flying south. 

It's fun to watch them shift position and form their classic V flight pattern. 

Fungus for Fun

I'm still away from the usual haunts and resources, but Piper and I have seen some marvelous mushrooms on our rambles. I'll leave identification chores to BetsyLee and the rest of you guys, since I don't have any books with me. (My brother is doing well, by the way.)

This enormous polypore is growing on a maple tree. It's huge - bigger around than dinner plates. 

This one looked like the awning over a fairy dwelling to me. It's very close to the ground and has wedged itself where there's a crease in the trunk. 

Piper did a little photo bombing with this Indian pipe fungus. 

These little guys were cute, providing some contrast with the browns and greens on the forest floor. 

Birds nest fungus are always fun to find, too. They aren't very big, but they're unusual and interesting. 

There will be more later on, but I managed to get these prepared and sized for uploading. :)

There's Gold in Them Thar Woods!

Here's the first picture of gold. I was hoping I would find some of these while Piper and I were out walking in the woods. I was quite excited. 

Can you see what made me so enthusiastic? You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it. This was a great find. Of course, I'm one of those odd people that will eat things I pick up off the ground. :)

And this was only one of the blooms I found. 

Here's another batch I found farther from the trail in a different area. 

Here's more glorious edible gold. Chanterelles are such a choice mushroom, with a marvelous, meaty texture and a flavor that blends that earthy umami flavor with a little bit of fruity goodness. 

It's also a good mushroom for a beginner to identify, since once you know what it looks like, it would be really hard to mistake it for anything else. 

Here's a beautiful, big bowl ready to slice and sauté. I was able to put three 8 ounce bags into the freezer for later use and still have a few left over for my scrambled eggs. Woo hoo! 

Miscellaneous Monday

I'm calling this post "Miscellaneous Monday" because the images seem totally unrelated, although they have the unifying theme of being from the same walk at the wetlands area where Piper and I often ramble.

Chalk-fronted corporal dragonflies were alighting on the overlook platform and posing for portraits.

Bright red bullseye spots on maple leaves aroused my curiosity and I had to look up the cause (of course). These are caused by midges, a sort of pesky fly, and it's called leaf spot gall. Happily, they don't seem to cause any lasting damage to the trees, even though they look pretty dramatic. (I always imagine the trees must feel itchy when I see something like this.)

At the second wetland overlook, Madame Red-winged Blackbird scolded us roundly for disturbing her nesting territory.

She watched us carefully until we left the area to allow her safe access to her babies again.

Tiny red-orange fungi were beginning to bloom on a rotting log. They're in the slime family somewhere, I think, though not the kind Piper stuck her nose in not very long ago.

The pattern in the bark at the base of this tree caught my eye. I love the crossing lines and especially the little rows of short cross hatches in between the longer diagonals.

Finally, Miss Piper did a good job of checking on everything and particularly enjoyed the chipmunks that chattered and scampered off into the woods.

 

Field and Fungus

Piper and I discovered a huge bloom of mushrooms (most of them way past their prime) while out on a walk. I haven't taken the time to really try and identify them, but a quick page through my mushroom books didn't turn up any obvious matches.

They were growing on an enormous pile of wood chips. I'm guessing that BetsyLee will have the answer for us pretty quickly! :)

Another dog walker I met on a different excursion said he thought they were edible, but didn't know what they were, either. (I don't eat anything to which I have not been formally introduced!)

These guys, however, are one of the first mushrooms I got to know and love when I was a child. The fairy ring makes a grand addition to scrambled eggs or any kind of gravy. I remember we used to find them in cow pastures or sometimes in cemeteries, before the grounds keepers started using too many fungicides on the grass, killing them all off.

 Piper didn't care about the mushrooms at all, but thoroughly enjoyed the walk down the rarely used trails.

Walking on the Wild(flower) Side

As previously threatened, more wildflowers are in the offing for today. These photos were taken a week or two ago, but it's never too late to admire these beauties. 

The pink lady slipper orchid is a beautiful late spring flower that blooms along the trail at my favorite wetland trail.

The false Solomon's seal is much more common, and my mother taught me how to tell the false from the true variety. I haven't seen an actual Solomon's seal this year, though, so I can't give you a side-by-side comparison.

The little sprays of tiny, white flowers are so delicate and the broad, green leaves provide a perfect backdrop to show them off.

The fringed polygala orchid was one of my mother's favorites. I found this beautiful little patch of them and tried to get some decent photos.

Of course, Piper had to try and see what I was doing and what had captured my attention. It's important to try and get the pictures taken before she gets curious.

In a humorous aside, while on this same walk, I saw an interesting orange fungus and I was trying to get a picture of it for identification and to share here, since it was such a pretty color. Piper once again had to see what I was doing and stuck her nose right on the little fungus and completely squashed it. Needless to say, that particular specimen won't be appearing on the blog.

Forests, Fungi and Furniture

While out hunting for sneaky and elusive morel mushrooms with my brother, I ran across some other fun fungi.

These first specimens were quite close to home and I found them as I took Piper out for our morning ramble (we also found morels on our morning walks, but those have been documented elsewhere).

They fell into the general category of LBMs (little brown mushrooms), being quite small and of minimal interest from the edibility standpoint. Cute, though, and always worth stopping to appreciate.

While down on my knees harvesting morels, I discovered this little rascal hiding in a fallen snag with a hollow to snuggle into. It's a dryad saddle (perhaps being used as interior furniture in a small magical dwelling?).

There were a number of others growing nearby, as well. Although they are edible, we have been told they are not choice, so we've never bothered to collect them. The dryads can continue to use their furnishings without fear from us.

There's a Morel to This Story

It's hunting season again. Time to get out and stalk the wild things.

These little beauties can really hide among the leaf litter and matted grasses, so it's a treat to spot the distinctive pattern of true treasure.

My brother and I covered some territory and had a pretty good outcome this year. We hope there will be more to come. Yes, I admit it - we're greedy like that. :)

The old favorite mushroom hunting areas we traipsed through with our parents when we were children succumbed to the emerald ash borer and died out with the ash trees, so we're always looking for new spots where they've decided to bloom.

A couple gallons later, we were pretty happy with our efforts. 

Yes, there were some extras in another bag that made their way into a pan for hors d'oeuvres as a bonus. 

Yum!

Sunday Strolling

Sometimes, I walk along the road by the bay as I wind my way up to the wetlands. 

Mergansers occasionally swim along the shoreline to provide a little entertainment as they look for breakfast.

These two girls were sporting very different coiffures, which made me smile. It's all about style!

While the bay was fairly smooth, the water at the marsh was glass calm, reflecting the trees from the opposite shore. Nobody was swimming, but it was quite peaceful.

A few fungi managed to overwinter successfully.

I'll have to watch and see if they keep growing, or if they are finished with their life cycles. I like the contrast of the smooth mushrooms against the rough birch bark. 

There's always something to see, isn't there?