yesterday afternoon i lured A into the woods near our house with promises of mushrooms waiting to be found. in particular, i was looking for oyster mushrooms. i'd been reading that they grow mainly on red alder and maple trees in our area, and this trail is notable because it is dominated by these trees, as opposed to most of area which is made up largely of conifers. we didn't venture too far before spotting the oysters above, but as there were only the two and one was broken, i didn't get too excited. further research and some feedback from Joni once we returned home indicated that these are probably veiled oyster mushrooms, or pleurotus dryinus, which while edible, are a bit tough and not as choice as others. oh well - there were lots of other things to see in the woods as well.
the small, shallow creek along the trail was full of pink salmon (also called humpies due to the large hump the males form when spawning) on the last leg of their remarkable journey. they had already navigated a large river and now in their home creek they were just finding their gravel beds for spawning. amazing fish - their drive never fails to awe me.
Margie's been talking about slime molds, and even dyeing with them, so i was excited to spot this log covered in them. i may have to go back and scrape some off to try dyeing too.
there were lots of other mushrooms to be found too, amongst the fallen leaves. i especially like the turkey tails (middle shot above) and am thinking about trying to dye with some of those too, although they are always so pretty that i find it hard to break some of them off. how about you? any foraging or exploring this weekend?
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other things:
• loving these misty beach scenes from Maggie.
• i made this pumpkin cornbread the other night to go with chili, and it was delicious.
• october has come in with a distinct nip to the air, so i'm plotting this pattern for a new toque for myself. sometime, in between all the other stuff.
6 comments:
that collection of slime molds is blowing my mind
I love your photos of the woods near you! They are so different then ours..They look OLDER! Good luck with the slime mold dyeing..I will be following along to see what you make with it...
I love that photo of the log with all its colours.
We went for a walk yesterday by the top dam down your way, it's so nice in there and the dog loves the swim. Then a delicious dinner at my mum's :)
I love that a collection of slime molds is blowing Margie away. :0) I never knew the name of the turkey tail mushroom. What a great name.
Hello, Fog and Swell :-)
I just have found out about your blog. I think, I will visit to your blog :-)
I love nature, wood, mushrooms ....
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I think, your mushroom on tree (the third photo) look like Pleurotus dryinus. I found this mushroom too, on September :-) Earlier I were finding only Pleurotus ostreatus :-)
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I so sorry if I make much language mistakes, I speak Englis only little :-(
cant wait to see what the rest of fall brings you: i can still remember the feeling of breaking a nail trying to pry a turkey tail off a log. those are rubbery buggers! i havent dyed with them, but they make a mild tea that is medicinal.
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