Dissolve My What?

Don't Eat Me!

On Wednesday I went to a Master Naturalist gathering where one of our members gave us a talk on mushrooms.  She collects mushrooms. She is a member of the Minnesota Mycological Society and she encouraged us to join as well. That group offers guided mushroom forays twice a month in the summer.  The fall dinner alone is worth the twenty dollars it costs to join.  She knew a lot about mushrooms.  She gave us each a guide book to look through while she talked about the more common mushrooms.  This white one in the photo on the left is quite common in yards and woods.  It will kill you; kill you dead.  It's called the Angel of Death and death comes by, get this, dissolving your liver.  There are a lot of ways to meet my maker but I do not want to dissolve my liver before I go. I am hesitant about eating mushrooms that I pick out of the ground.  I will buy them at grocery stores and coops and I will grow my own, and I'd eat a morel if I was sure it was a morel, but other than that, no, no thank you.  After listening to her engaging and relaxing discussion about mushrooms, I am not more or less likely to eat a mushroom that I found.  I am curious about the Mycological Society though.  Right now I feel like my life is too busy to join another group but I will keep it in mind if my life ever slows down.