Fairies in the backyard

I forgot to post this earlier this week but there are mushrooms growing in my yard! All my bellyaching and complaining about how dry it is and how little mushrooms are out there seem to have spurred some unexpected growth out there.

There was a teddy bear that the dog plays with lying in the grass and I noticed white stuff around it, I naturally assumed the dog had finally disemboweled the bear and the stuffing was all over. It left my mind as soon as it entered. The next day my daughter came in and said, "Dad, haven't you noticed the mushrooms in the yard?" I got so excited and ran right out there to find a half circle of a fairy ring, it wasn't stuffing, it was shrooms!

I plucked some and came inside to research. Turns out they are Agaricus campestris or the Meadow Mushroom. These are very close to the button mushrooms at the store (which are Agaricus bisporus). They grow in fairy rings, which I'd never knowingly seen before. Very cool. they aren't to bad either. I may have to make some duxelles as someone suggested in my cooking with wild mushroom facebook group.

Beautiful Blewit

Today I spent the majority of the sunlit hours wandering in Raccoon Creek State Park looking at the ground, you know...like you do.

The beautiful Blewit!

The first find was a little Clitocybe nuda, commonly known as a Blewit. They typically grow in numerous dispersed groups on the forest floor so I frantically scoured the area to no avail. It was a lonely little guy but boy was he tasty!  After confirming that I didn't inadvertently pick up the similar poisonous Cortinarius iodes by spore print. I saw a rosy white spore print as opposed to the dark rust of the Cort, so into the frying pan it went! It was one of the most delicious mushrooms I've ever tasted.  I'll definitely need more, good thing the season just started.

The beautifully bitter Gym

This guy was solo as well. At first glance I thought I had a Bolete by size, shape, and the look of the stem but there's gills under there. It tastes bitter and it's spore print is a rusty dark orange. After some digging and help from my online friends it was ID'd as Gymnopilus luteus. I'll not be eating this one.

So soft, you want to pet this one

These gorgeous velvety shelves are Ischnoderma resinosum.

Nope, not bubble gum.

This isn't candy sprinkles, it's Lycogala epidendrum or Wolf's blood slime mold. If you poke these bubbles, pink slime oozes out Ghostbusters II style. Actually looks kinda yummy, but I'll pass.

Root

This was a cool one. Xerula radicata is a rooted mushroom with a sturdy woody stipe. Supposedly it's an edible but I left it behind (I actually replanted it).

This little fuzzy guy is Tyromyces caesius or the Blue Cheese Fungus. No mystery there.

Desert Pennsylvania

It's so dry! There's literally visible cracks in the dirt between the tufts of grass in the the yard. We have seen approximately 2 days of real rain since June. It's all around us but here in SW PA we're so thirsty that even the hardy weeds are drooping. I may have to start bringing a watering can to my shrooming spots. 

I keep seeing posts in my various shrooming groups of people hauling boletes, chanterelles, and even early Hen of the Woods (Grifola frondosa) out of their woods. Meanwhile, my hen tree still has last year's shriveled remnants clinging to the roots. 

Pretty much the only things growing are the inedible deadwood growing shrooms like the currently prolific black-footed polypore (Polyporus badius), and old dried out COWs (apparently, I missed a couple).

A couple weeks ago, a friend sent me a message about an enormous mushroom growing in his basement window well. So, naturally, I ran over to see if I could eat it...like you do. It turned out to be a monster Black-staining Polypore (Meripilus sumstinei). And yes, I ate some of it. Not choice, but not bad either. It doesn't smell great fresh, very intense musty mushroomy smell, but anything thrown into a pan to soak up some garlic and butter tastes pretty great. Good to know in case all other good edibles become sparse. I tossed most of it on a long dead stump in the backyard.  

(Forgive the cellphone pics, I brought my DSLR but found the card slots empty upon arrival to the woods.)