Tag: mushrooms

Fall Photos, Not What You’d Expect

Like most people, I look forward to Fall with it’s gorgeous array of color, but this year things were different. At first I thought it was just that I lived in a new place, but I heard others complaining about the lack of reds and brightness that we usually see here in New England. Fall got off to a slow start and then suddenly it seemed to pop. And then just as suddenly it was gone – of course then there was the storm which not only removed leaves, but whole trees in that one unfortunate section of the northeast. They are still cleaning up from it. We got close to 2 feet of snow and were lucky in comparison.
Also, I was a bit distracted by all the home repairs going on, so this Fall was a bust. Maybe I’ll be around next year, and the colors will return. If so, I’ll plan to get some good photos.
So I’m sharing my Fall photos, but they don’t contain the lovely color of previous years.


Signs of Fall at my place include bright yellow mums (now dead after being buried by a freak snow storm), stacks of wood and mushrooms.

Related articles

New Hampshire Little Orange Mushrooms in the Woods

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A Cluster of Orange Mushrooms

The New Hampshire woods are always full of interesting items to see. In Fall we get to find some new types of mushrooms.

I don’t know what kind of mushroom these are, but I came across them as I was hiking the woods around my place. See my next post where they are more open and flat and I take a guess at their name.

Unless you pay close attention when walking in the woods, you will miss these little bunches of fungi. I take my camera (no iPhone at the time – hence the lack of photos to share) and don’t touch them because most likely they are poisonous. If I can remember where they are growing I might try to return in a day or two and see how they have changed.


One thing I’ve learned from reading about (and viewing) mushrooms is that they will change their look quite quickly – some of them. They may only last a few days or they can last into winter and beyond. Some are delicate and easily broken or mashed and others are as hard as a rock.


As I photograph the mushrooms I see in my area, I look them up in my books for identifying. That is not easy I have found. In order to really be sure of a mushroom name, close observation of all parts is needed. Read this article with excellent photos, at NH Garden Solutions to see what types of mushrooms you may find in the Fall season.


My Audubon “Field Guide to New England” only lists a few mushroom types and warns that at least 10 of the mushroom species in New England are deadly poisonous to eat so making a mistake in choosing can cost you your life. I will only be photographing and not picking to eat.

*Blog update: It is 16 years later as I update these old blog posts and I am always struck by how easy it is nowadays to share photos online. In 2010 I carried my camera with me (if I remembered) and took only a few photos at a time. Growing up and using film cartridges that had to be mailed away, only to return 12 or 24 photos is ingrained in me, I guess. Back then we had to be discerning about what pictures we decided to take. Space for preservation was very limited. Even though I had progressed to a digital camera, I never took loads of photos of the same thing! Now that I have an iPhone, I tend to be the same way, unless it is something I really want to be sure I capture correctly.

These old posts are not very well written, or SEO compatible, but I’ll be keeping the ones that I can save as a memory of what I used to do.

More from the blog…

Finding Fall Mushrooms

I bought a great mushroom book. It’s written by David L. Spahr and has awesome photos, descriptions and information concerning “Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada”.

Even though his photos are great and his explanations of what to look for almost convince me I could find these for my dinner, he warns that many mushrooms have look-a-likes that can be poisonous and I think I have found some of those poisonous ones in my yard.

But all I want to do is identify the ones I see around here, so the book is very helpful. I only buy mushrooms from the grocery store and they have recently begun to offer some new varieties like the Shiitake, Crimini and Black Trumpet which I am planning to try.

mushroom on a tree
Some sort of mushroom

I don’t know what the one in the picture above is. It looks a bit like a deformed “Chicken of the Woods” but I don’t know.

white mushrooms
Little White Mushrooms

I think that the ones pictured here are Coprinus atramentarius. The author talks about the “Shaggy Mane” mushroom and has a photo of others that look similar and I think those are like mine. He says that within a day or 2 they will be “black, inky goop”, so I’ll have to go back out into the woods to see if that’s what happened.

How to Knit An Easy Cable Hat – Part 1

For my trip to New England this fall I want a new, warm hat. The free pattern Maine Cables Hat is what I chose and will document my knitting along the away to encourage first time cable knitters.

Pam's avatar by Pam

The Artist’s Conk Mushroom

I recently purchased a good mushroom book and found out that this set of mushrooms I had found last Fall is called the “Artist’s Conk” (Ganoderma applanatum).

I almost spelled it “conch” since I am so used to doing seashell research on the conch (pronounced the same as conk).

It can be etched or painted and will stand up on a table for display. Sounds interesting, but they are very much attached to the trees they grow on and very difficult to remove. I half tried to do so without luck. I guess I need a knife. Or better yet, just take a photo!

See more photos and a picture of a carved drawing at Mushroom-Collecting.com

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The Artist's Conch