Mushrooms

It's been raining for the past couple weeks and that can only mean one thing: mushrooms.

I generally do most of my foraging at the Finger Lake National Forest. There's no particular justification for this preference; it just happened that when I first moved here the FLNF is where I went and now it has become somewhat of habit. I've done alright there with fruits and berries, but the mushroom harvest--save some Chicken-of-the-Woods and Oysters--as been lackluster at best. 

So I decided to explore some more options. Yesterday I headed up to Yellow Barn State Forest. It has one snowmobile trail through it but lacks hiking and mountain bike trails, which I always view as a positive. 

I took Maizie, who was asleep for most it, so I couldn't cover a lot of ground (she refuses to ride in any type of backpack so I have to carry her). Its got a good mix of Oaks and Hemlock, a stream or two, and some open field areas. And for what its worth, its got a nice feel to it as well. 

Sometimes I have a tendency to walk to fast in hopes of covering more ground. The thought is to walk fast until I see some mushrooms and then slow down and search the area more thoroughly. It almost never works; I usually just walk right past them. Good thing, then, that I have Maizie to slow me down. I always find good stuff with her for this reason.  She forces me to stop and then I begin to notice some type of foot laying just underfoot. 

Yesterday was no different. I found some boletes while stopping to give her some water and what I thought was my first cauliflower mushroom (Yay!), but it turns out is something else I can't id. In fact, my "All That the Rain Offers" book is missing some I can't even id the boletes. 

What I thought was a Cauliflower. Oh the joy! And the subsequent disappointment!

It was almost too cute to harvest. I believe these are the "choice" boletes. They sure smell choice!

Easy to see why I likely walk right by so many mushrooms. It took me five minutes of sitting in the same area before I was able to see this mushroom about five yards away. 

Don't know what this is but it looks scary so I left it alone. Curiosity kills the mushroom forager. 

Maze after waking up from her nap and finding herself in a forest. Must be a cool experience.