Tag: wild mushrooms

Unconventional Looking Wild Mushrooms

mushroom, fungi
A Strange Growth

This mushroom is growing right outside my door – almost – so I keep checking on it. With my hand next to it you can see the size and there are other blobby growths on this dead Hemlock tree as well, which are the babies I suppose.

mushroom
The Beginning of Another Mushroom

This tree has quite a few of these smaller round mushrooms.

Although these growths are very strange looking, I found the most bizarre mushroom on a walk last year. It was so odd looking – kind of like a brain, that I purposely remembered where it was so I could go back with my camera and get a photo.
See it below. I should go back and check to see if it’s growing there again this year.
If you know what it is, I’d love to hear from you.

mushroom
The “Brain” Mushroom

New Hampshire Little Orange Mushrooms in the Woods

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…

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Orange Mushrooms Growing, A Few Days Later

I posted a picture of these mushrooms in my previous post and they were just little, orange buttons. Now, a few days later they have “mushroomed” into flat heads as you can see in this photo. I don’t know why, all of a sudden, I am so interested in mushrooms, but I find myself on…

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The Mushrooms are Blooming

Lately there are numerous mushrooms in the yard and in the woods.   Today is sunny and cool and too gorgeous to be inside working…so I took a break and took the camera out to get some mushroom pictures. I have tried to identify these by using my Field Guide to New England, but I am…

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Orange Mushrooms Growing, A Few Days Later

mushrooms
A few days later

I posted a picture of these mushrooms in my previous post and they were just little, orange buttons. Now, a few days later they have “mushroomed” into flat heads as you can see in this photo.

I don’t know why, all of a sudden, I am so interested in mushrooms, but I find myself on the lookout for them at this time of year especially when I am walking in the woods.

Maybe it’s because I am surrounded by places where they are easily found, but I just never paid much attention.

Wild mushrooms growing in a clump on a dead log. Darker orange-brown centers with lighter outer area.
The Open Mushrooms

I have no idea what type of mushroom this is. If I had to guess from the pictures and description in my book maybe they are the Jack O’Lantern. But they are not bright orange.

Or, they could be Omphalotus illudens which are also poisonous. Found in June – November they grow on dead logs.

I currently live surrounded by woods so searching for interesting nature is fun. My landlady’s house is on 13 acres, but I usually stay close by or travel up the road to the Girl Scout Camp. There is no shortage of wilderness to explore.

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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.

The Night and Day Cowl is Wearable Texture

After seeing the Night and Day Cowl in person at Harrisville Designs in Harrisville, New Hampshire, my daughter requested that I knit it for her. The designer (Andrea Mowry) is not one of my personal favorite designers, but I looked at the cowl and thought it definitely looked easy enough to knit. The Night and…

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Cowl Knitting Project Discovered at Harrisville Designs

During my trip to New Hampshire I of course wanted to visit Harrisville Designs. It is where my daughter chose this cowl knitting project for me to make for her! My daughter took me to the shop, and even though she does not knit, she always enjoys the ambiance of the old mill store. She…

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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

mushrooms
The Artist's Conch