Crown Tipped Coral

 

Today I joined some master naturalists and the Lake Superior Mycological Group on a mushroom foraging hike in Lester Park. About 40 people split into four groups and agreed to meet back in an hour. The weather today alternated every hour. One hour of warm sunshine was followed by another hour of cold rain and strong winds. Luckily our hour was sunshine. Two kinds of edible mushrooms were found. Here is a photo of crown tipped coral mushrooms. People say they taste a little bit like black pepper. These mushrooms are found on decaying trees. Other people found oyster mushrooms. Two 4 year old boys found the most oyster mushrooms and were quite proud of themselves. I did learn today that if you want to find edible mushrooms you had best look in hard wood forests. Good to know. I would like to find some chicken of the woods and morels.

Shaggy Mane

 

I was out for a walk this afternoon and I came upon many mushrooms but this one was different. This one was cylindrical and tall and white. When I opened it the hem of the bell skirt was purplish.

Oh, weird, this mushroom has a hollow stem like a straw. I wonder if it's edible.

The top is all shaggy and the shags stick to my skin. This mushroom smells earthy and pleasant. Could it be a shaggy mane? I think so and if it is a shaggy mane it would be edible. I put it back where it belonged and rubbed the shaggy mane fragments off my skin with dry leaves. Walking by I see someone has decorated their yard with 3 cement mushroom shapes. Mushroom decorations were a big thing in the 1960's and 1970's. Mushrooms must be coming back in style.

Looking Down

I went on a mushroom foray today at Hartley Nature Center. This little white shroom is called wolf fart. I smelled it and said, "This doesn't smell like a wolf fart." Someone asked if I had personal knowledge of how a wolf's fart smells and I had to admit I did not know what a wolf's fart smells like. I really don't want to know what a wolf's fart smells like.

 

This is (I'm pretty sure) a scaly photosis. I think it is adorable.

This is  somebody's leg with a wine cap peeking out. Someone suggested we watch a movie called the Truffle Hunters. The movie is set in northern Italy and focuses on the relationship between the farmers and their dogs.

Wine caps are easy to cultivate. You can find them on wood chips anywhere. Be careful to pick them where you are fairly certain no one nor any animal has peed on them. To be sure they are wine caps, place them on a white piece of paper for an hour after you pick it. The spores that fall on the white paper should be lilac in color. Burgundy cap is another name for them. You could even grow them at home in the winter if your brought some wood chips into your basement and let some spores fall on the wood chips.

This is wolf's milk slime on the log just under the seed, to the left of the green moss, and under the toe of somebody's shoe. I am not sure why wolves are in so many mushroom names. I was told the more common names a mushroom has, the more common the mushroom can be found. We went on hiking through the nature center and it was after noon so I pulled a peanut butter sandwich out of my bag. I tried to eat it discretely but a young woman caught sight of me taking a bite and she said, "OMG! I thought you were eating a mushroom." I said I was eating a peanut butter on cardamom bread mushroom.

There is a guy in Minneapolis known as the Forager Chef. He would probably remember what these are. I forgot and I used my phone to take pictures and a notebook to write things down so I would not forget. We had a very young woman with Down's syndrome on our hike. She found a stick in the woods. When we stopped she used her stick to tap her father on the back of his shoe. I saw her do it and I smiled. She smiled too and did it again. I know better than to encourage her to poke people with a stick but it was funny. Her Dad didn't even notice. I assume he is used to her poking him with sticks or other objects. I am fairly certain I saw her before somewhere. Many people with Down Syndrome have bad hips so I figured if she had hike up this hill so can I.

This is called a Mario mushroom because in Europe these mushrooms are red. You can eat these if you detoxify them first. Once detoxified and fried in butter with some garlic salt they are yummy! I think I will pass on the Mario mushrooms.

This is an inky cap. Please don't use this blog to identify a mushroom and eat it! I am a novice at this. One lady found a group of really lovely mushrooms and she held them up but I didn't get a picture of them. The name of those mushrooms, we were told, was funeral bells or deadly gallerina. Yeah, do not eat those. We also found some plums and custard mushrooms which sound good but will make you sick. Don't eat plums and custard mushrooms. One lady told us her mother had a grocery paper sack full of morels from a friend. Her mother threw the morels away saying they were poison and the only mushrooms you should eat come in a plastic box from the grocery store. Her mother had a good point but I would not throw any morels away. Morels are very expensive mushrooms.

 

I can't remember the names of these on the flat surface of the stump but I saw a lady displaying similar mushrooms on a wooden board at the Chester Creek Bowl craft fair and she sold them for $30 each if I remember right. One person in our group used mushrooms to die fabric. Another person in the group uses mushrooms as models to make mushrooms out of clay and paint them. After this I and three other women on this mushroom foray went on a nature hike in the nature center by the University of Minnesota campus.

Wisconsin Point

 

Today I met a group of plant enthusiasts on Wisconsin Point. Wisconsin Point in the long sandbar that extends across Lake Superior from the city of Superior. Like the Minnesota Point, it is long and sandy. Wisconsin point has more public lands and fewer houses than Minnesota Point. Also, Wisconsin Point allows campfires on the beach. Minnesota Point does not allow campfires on the beach. We were supposed to park in the lot nearest the light house but it was too foggy for me to see the light house. I parked at the wrong spot but I still found the plant lovers I was seeking. First thing we found was the Earth Star Mushroom. This mushroom has a white button cap on a thick gray star shaped base and it looks like something I would see on a video game like Super Mario Brothers. Our speaker today highly recommended the book, Plants Have So Much To Give Us, All We Have To Do Is Ask by Mary Silisip Geniusz.

This area has a lot of poison ivy. The native name for poison ivy is thunder leaf and I think that is a very fitting name. Out here there is a lot of horsetail plants which the natives call Squeak Grass (because it squeaks if the stalks rub against each other when wet) or scouring rush. You can make tea from it but it does contain some nicotine. Or you can steep it in hot water and use it to rinse your hair and make it smooth and shiny. Here is a picture of beach heather. Beach heather is common in Wisconsin along Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The only place in Minnesota that has beach heather is Minnesota Point and there isn't very much of it there.

This is club moss. We also found the leaves of rattle snake plantain which is not a snake and not a plantain but an orchid.

This is the sign in the parking lot where I wasn't supposed to park. The fog made me think I was in a Sherlock Holmes movie. A light mist fell during our 2 hour hike. We heard thunder and saw lightening. Once I got to my car to leave the clouds let loose and it rained very hard. Great timing for a hike on the beach!

This is our speaker Marisa Lee. She was engaging and enthusiastic and humble. In front of her is Canada Buffalo Berry patch. Behind her is a red pine plantation.

These red caps are British Soldier lichen which I have seen before. I held the lichen up right in front of my phone lens. In reality, the red caps are so small you can hardly see them on the ground if you are standing up. But aren't they adorable? Seeing such tiny wonders make me think about what I am missing when I have my eyes up in the sky looking at birds or clouds or sunsets for the F16's that fly over Duluth. Our speaker ended with a few words about invasive species. Her philosophy is to try to treat the invasives with respect instead of annoyance. She suggests we try to find a use for the invasive plants and use them up in a productive and thoughtful manner. To be honest, I have been perseverating on the invasive tansy and this might help me break that habit.

This tiny red berry is a bear berry.

Dryad's Saddle

 

Two weeks ago I identified a mushroom by my front door as Dryad's Saddle. I keyed it out in my mushroom field guide. I posted a picture in the mushroom social media group and two people from the group said it was Dryad's Saddle. Dryad's Saddle is edible. But on social media there is a warning not to eat mushroom based on what you read on social media. I was 95% sure this was an edible mushroom. Yet I dithered and dallied, dallied and dithered. I sat on the fence for two weeks on whether I should pick this fungus and ingest it. The same stump grew 3 more mushroom fruits while I stewed in my indecision. Look at the Holstein salt and pepper shakers. Even ceramic cows look at this fungus with interest to see if I will consume it. I think I heard one of them say, "Betcha ten bucks she won't eat it."

This is the underside of the mushroom. Best if you don't zoom in on this picture. Offspring #2 asked me why I wouldn't eat it if I was sure it was Dryad's Saddle. I said something about being philosophical now. Offspring #2 said something about how asking intelligent questions equates being philosophical. That conversation was going round and round like a fairy ring.

I didn't want to put it in the marinara sauce I was making because what if the mushroom poisoned all those other tasty ingredients. I wanted to cook this separately. Dryad's Saddle is delicious but very chewy, like gristle, only I don't eat gristle. The mushroom was chewy like leather, a venison steak, the beef roasts my mother used to make, a chunk of raw celery you have been chewing on for 3 minutes. In fact, after eating two pieces I was going to eat another one but I hesitated. If I am going to get sick on mushrooms, better to get sick on a smaller amount of mushrooms. I'm fine. I feel perfectly fine after consuming Dryad's Saddle. I feel fit as a fidle, a viola. Nuffin wrong wif me. I is gud as gold. I sink i is gonna take a wee nap. No, just kidding. I really am fine. I would eat it again.

Midwest Foraging

 I borrowed Midwest Foraging: 115 Wild And Flavorful Edibles From Burdock To Wild Peach by Lisa M. Rose. I borrowed this book on my Libby app and I got the book right away which was handy. I had just gotten some Chaga and I needed to know what to do with this black, warty looking, wooden hunk of fungus. Lisa said I could rub it on a wood rasp. She said don't put it in a blender or a grinder cuz you will ruin the blades right quick. I looked up what a wood rasp was and it turns out it is a file. I had three metal files on hand because I bought them for a forging class years ago when I forged a knife. So after cleaning the wood rasp, I rubbed my Chaga on it and black specks of fungus landed on my cutting board. I scooped them up and added them to my ground coffee beans and put them in the percolator. I perked the coffee/Chaga for 7 minutes like usual. So, you are wondering, was the coffee/Chaga good? To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference. I have to admit that when the first swallow of coffee/Chaga hit my throat I had a coughing spell that made me glad I was home alone instead of in public. But that coughing spell might have been a 'coinkidink.' All the rest of the coffee/Chaga was good. Unfortunately, after drinking Chaga for a week now, I realize that this is no quick "fountain of youth" concoction. I am going to have to drink it longer which is alright because I have a big chunk. I liked this book but I prefer to borrow it rather than buy it. Sorry about that Lisa. I now regret giving away my copy of Euell Gibbon's, Stalking The Wild Asparagus. I wish I had kept that.

I Was Right!

 I got home about noon today. I went to pick some lady bell flowers to bring in the house and put in a vase when I noticed some Tansy. I pulled that nasty invasive out by the roots but in doing so I yanked another weed that smelled like mint. I brought a chunk of it in the house and looked it up in my field guide and sure, nuff! I have wild mint. I read what you can do with it. The first thing I read was that Native Americans used it for stuffy heads by putting leaves up their nose. I stuck two fat leaves up my nose. Man, is it hard to breath with two big mint leaves up your nose. I threw them out. I put one leaf in my glass of water. I have the rest sitting on the table because mint can be used as an insect repellent. Then I saw a mushroom right by my front door coming out of a tree stump. I looked it up in my field guide, Mushrooms Northeast North America; Midwest To New England by George Barron. The author is from Scotland. How does that make sense that the author is from Scotland? Anyway I guessed it was Dryad's Saddle. The Latin name is Cerioporus squamosus which makes sense because the spots on top look like squamous cell skin cancer. I posted the picture on a new Facebook group I joined of mushroom seekers around here. Right away another guy said I was right. I was right! I looked it up. The Dryad's Saddle is supposed to be edible. Do I dare? I already ate Shitake mushrooms today that I bought at the Co-op.  I will have to think on this overnight. I have looked at this mushroom three times today and every time it looks a little bit different.

Mission Creek

Last night I went on a hike with a newly formed group called Arrowhead Native Plants. I might join this group. We started our nature hike in Fond du Lac at the Superior Hiking Trail trailhead. I found this location easily because I have hiked this section of the trail last year. An ecologist from the DNR was our expert. He took us into this board walk area with a monoculture of ostrich ferns. This area is like a fairy land. I could expect to see fairies or leprechauns or gnomes in here.

He told us the history of the area. Mission Creek is named after a mission that was here once. The area along the Saint Louis River was a highway for native people traveling to or from the Lake Superior area to the Mississippi River area. He said in the 1920's this area had a huge ski jumping contest. He saw a photo of hundreds of cars parked in this area to attend the contest. Now all signs of the ski jump are gone but Spirit Mountain is about 10 miles away. The floods of 2011 washed all this area out. The flow of Mission Creek was changed. The city has restored the creek by adding boulders and creating a meandering flow. The plant in the foreground is Canada tick trefoil. He also said when Highway 23 was constructed the state transportation department moved Native remains to the top of the ridge. He said MN DOT did not learn the lesson. The MN DOT project to restore the bridge over Mission Creek is put on hold due to another disturbance of Native burial grounds.

This is false sunflower. One petal is missing. Did someone start to play "Love me, love me not?"

This is vervain.

This is not a plant. A young mother brought her two preschool aged boys along. One of the boys showed me this monarch caterpillar he found so I asked if I could take a picture. We had about 20 people in our group. The native plant group looked to be made up of millennials but the visitors were older like me except for the mom and her two boys. 

This is a non-native plant called milk vetch. No one knows how it got here. Maybe it was on the tires of some construction equipment when the creek was restored. Only native species were planted here on purpose after the flood in 2011.

Exposed sandstone such as this is rare in this area. Sandstone was once mined. The dark brown stone of the old Central High School in Duluth came from this area.

Here is some round leaf dog wood. Also, the dog in the picture is a mixture of Australian sheep dog and other animals. She is a rescued farm dog and her name is Tilly. Tilly is a good dog.

We found six different ferns on the walk. This one is oak fern.

Beech fern. We found a couple ripe thimble berries. He said thimble berries are found around lake Superior, on the west coast in the state of Washington, and in Alaska. I asked why thimble berries grow in isolated pockets. He said one theory is thimble berries grew only around the edges of glaciers. That makes sense to me.

This is white lettuce. It does not look edible. All these plants are growing in clay soil which are common below Lake Superior. The clay was once the bottom of Lake Superior when Lake Superior was formed by the melting of a glacier and was a much larger lake. The clay has pockets of sand and gravel mixed in. When the creeks cut into the clay mudslides are formed. Mudslides are a natural feature in this area but they are made worse by climate change.

This is foul manna grass plus Tilly the dog and the feet of Tilly's owners. Tilly is a good dog.

This is jewel weed which is also known as touch me not.

We hiked higher on the ridge and we're now into a mesic forest. Here is some false Solomon seal.

This turkey tail fungus is trying to hard to fruit. The green leaves of this plant are in the way but the fungus is determined!

Indian pipe fungus! Cool. We started this hike at 6 and how it is 7:30 and the sun is low on the horizon. Everybody turns around to walk back to the parking lot. I really wish I had brought my walking sticks with me. The walking sticks are right there in my car!

This is nanny berry shrub. Dang, this was a fun night. I should really join this group.

 

Chaga

Today I went on a phenology walk with the MN Master Naturalists and also the Mycological Society members. We split into two groups. The leaders of one group were older and I had hiked with them before. The leaders of the other group were younger so I hiked with the millennials. Someone in the other group found this and they called it coral. It's a plant, not a mushroom, and it looks like the coral I have seen on coral reefs. I have never heard of such a plant before. We walked for an hour in the woods in Boulder Lake Environmental Learning Center. An hour long walk in the woods was perfect for a hot afternoon.

Someone in the other group also found Indian pipes which was cool.

When we got back to the meeting place on time the other group was still missing. One of my leaders took out his drone to see if he could see them in the woods. He got this very nice drone for only $600. I mentioned the drone footage I viewed of the Glensheen mansion. He knew the guy who did that footage and also the footage of a drone flying through the Bryant Lake Bowl. You can see the drone footage of the Glensheen mansion or the Bryant Lake Bowl on YouTube. This guy uses his drone on his farm. He farms nearby. He has pigs and goats. He uses the goats to fight invasive species. He hopes to start a business turning buck thorn into goat meat. He also has chickens and pigs. He calls his pigs his rototillers. He said pigs can dig up stones and tree stumps better and faster than any machinery. He said he made a proposal to the city of Duluth to use goats and pigs to clean up the invasive species in parks but the city didn't go for it which is too bad because I think it sounds like a great idea. Also, he named his pigs Bacon and Ham.  LOL

Our group found quite a few lobster mushrooms. See that patch of orange to the left of center in this picture? That is a lobster mushroom.The drought is negatively impacting mushrooms too. The lobster mushrooms are bright orange and they have smooth undersides.

Here is the lobster mushroom sautéed in butter for my supper with onion and a vegie burger. Delicious! I haven't eaten lobster in over 3 decades but I didn't think it tasted like lobster. In fact it didn't have much taste at all. I prefer bella mushrooms to lobster mushrooms.

The best find of the day was this hunk of chaga on a dying birch tree. Chaga is actually a fungus. The fungus attacks a birch tree and, once infected, the tree will die within 8 years.  I had heard of chaga before and I wanted some. He asked, "Does anybody want some?" I said I did and asked if it was hard to get off. He said it might be hard to get off and I might need a knife or a hatchet. Another millennial in the group said she might have a hatchet on her. Who says they might have a hatchet on them? In my opinion you know or you don't know if you have a hatchet on your person. Before she could look for her hatchet he pulled the chagas off the tree and gave me it me. It came off easy. The outside was black and the inside was light brown and looked like cork. Chaga smelled like soil. He kept a small piece for himself. Now I have chaga! If my chaga was liquid I would have about a cup of it. This fungus is worth between $200 and $2000 per pound! I put my chaga in a paper bag and I am going to dry it in my hottest room for a few days. After it is dried chaga is stored in a paper bag in a place with a consistent temperature. I think my refrigerator would be a good place. Chaga, once dried properly, lasts for years without loosing any of it's minerals or healing properties. I told a lady from Ely that the next time she saw me I would look twenty years younger. I was joking. I know chaga is supposed to fight cancer and inflammation so I think I will brew myself some chaga tea some day. I consider myself very lucky to be out in the woods today with this group of very fine mushroom pickers!