I have always wondered how many mushroom species it would be possible to see in one day in Santa Cruz County. Since this fall has been so exceptionally fruitful for mushrooms, I decided to give it a go… How else to find out?
A great group of people attended the Henry Cowell Habitat Walk this last Saturday. These hearty mushroom enthusiasts were greeted with early rain, muddy conditions…
I went to the All California Clubs Foray (ACCF) in Albion last weekend. We actually found an amazingly large number of mushrooms so the myco-geeks were thrilled. Edibles? - a few chanterelles, hedgehogs and winter chanterelles.
I've been out 3 or 4 times in the last 2 weeks in a variety of locations. I've seen an abundance of very small mushrooms (<.5" caps), but few of any species any larger. It almost seems like things started to come up and then paused.
Black Trumpets: $12.00 per pound; Hedgehogs: $5.50 per pound; Yellow Feet: $1.00 per pound... With prices like that, you know Black Trumpets are scarce. We hiked two entire mountains where I know I can find them. Nothing!
The May 2013 issue of New Yorker magazine had an article by Ian Frazier about a mycelium-based packaging material destined to make styrofoam packaging obsolete. Here's a shorter recap of the story, focusing some of the interesting mycological details.