These mushrooms would be easy to see if your ankles had eyes. I walked through areas like this one for several decades never stopping & stooping low enough to spot them. Here are a few on the table for a closer view.
Speaking of spots the below photo is going out to all you polka dot fans out there, these ones are not so hard to see, you see.
In many parts of the northern hemisphere folks find the rare Umbrella Polypore in late spring or fall. Here in the Maritimes I have only found & gathered them in July which is when they are not suppose to appear.
This is a choice edible mushroom which is associated with beech trees, though the closest trees to this one were poplar, birch and hemlock.
Looking like the summer of 2021 could be a very good time for Maritime mushrooms.
Here we will view a few Boletus chippewaensis which are one of our best edible mushrooms.
The stems can be quite long on these mushroom which is great as this is an excellent part of the mushroom to eat.
These mushrooms standout in the forest so you can see them from a good distance.
A mature one which you may want to approach as buttons may be in the surrounding area.
Caps can be light to reddish brown.
I most wanted to share the mushrooms, but without the forest floor and trees I couldn’t tell much so take an extra moment to check them out. These mushrooms show up best in this type of layout.
Moss, conifers, poplar, birch with plenty of breathing room between the trees, a pleasant place to be.
At the edge of the sea shore you sure see how water tends to make things well rounded.
Here you may also see some Maritime cliff hangers. The one with yellow flowers is Rhodiola rosea a small sedum well known in Northern areas as roseroot which can be used as a edible and medicinal plant. Impressive to see greens finding their own special places to grow.
A few mushroom photos to share with you today. These are the ones I found most joyous to stumbled upon in my local adventures this fall. The group contains a mix of maritime edibles and medicinals.
Long live impermanence, a phrase made popular by thich nhat hanh and very effectively emphasized by seeing my fungi friends today, this was running through my thoughtscape on the drive home and yes we wouldn’t get to enjoy anything in this life if we were not living in this constant state of change. Many of my fellow wild food foragers are very aware there is much more to this activity then just gathering things to consume, happy trails.🦉
Nibbled these green seed pods a few times over the years. Trout lily (Erythronium americanum) covers large areas of mature beech, maple hardwood forest here in the Martime provinces of Canada.
Most parts of the Erythronium americanum plant are listed as edible with the plant’s tiny bulbs considered by many to be the best for eating. The leaves and flowers are also edible though this plant comes with a warning that it can be emetic if eaten in large quantities. I find Trout lily beautiful while in flower, but today I notice it is also quite captivating while in this green seed pod stage.
My search for info on the historical use of Erythronium americanum’s green seed pods has come up empty, though I also looked for other members of Erythronium which has several in NA and Asia and it appear one out in Western Canada Erythronium grandiflorum known as the Avalanche lily has some record of food usage of the green seed pods. This was encouraging news as these pods seem like a nice way to harvest without too much negative impact on these plants.
Another photo of these beauties in a pleasant woods, very soon in this location there will be little trace of this plant as it is well known as a spring ephemeral. As for the green seed pods edibility I did consult the most knowledgeable wild food expert I know of and they agreed this is most likely a safe part of this plant to consume in small amounts.
Here we see an ant’s eye view of a seedpod towering above. Although the main way trout lily spread in a forest is by runners, ants do help also when the seed pods breakdown on the ground surface, ants then have a tasty nutritious meal attached to the seed and with a natural appreciation plant some seeds during their picnic.
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Out on the flood plain gathering some Laportea canadensis (Canadian wood nettle) as you can see in the basket with these scattered plants of wood nettles, are some tiny sprouting jewelweed and a few beginning strings of groundnuts and then your eyes will reach the green line of no longer fiddlehead stage ostrich ferns. Lots of energetic plants a glow here today.
Closer look at Canadian wood nettle.
Back at home and in the pot are the young solid stems of the wood nettles which are a healthy & tasty food. I should mention at this time you can actually snap the tender stems of (YOUNG) Canadian wood nettle with your bare hands without receiving any nasty stings but quite soon that will all change so beware if you’re out there.The wood nettle leaves I gathered were boiled separately and after dried and powder and will later be used as flour or added to soups, smoothies, etc
Clintonia borealis has the common name of Bluebead lily, take a moment to look at these striking plant standing above and also if you zoom closer you can see some smaller plants poking through the snow with narrow green points. This wild plant’s leaves taste similar to cucumber when fresh, I’m not fond of this plant cooked as a pot herb though.
Bluebead lily can be a very common plant in some eastern forest. I collected a tiny fraction of what was in this area with the thought of finding some new uses for these spring shoots besides cutting the fresh leaves up in salads, so time to go home for some culinary adventuring.🦉
It has been over 18 months since my last post on wild foods so yes we are back as I found the sight of these peeled Japanese Knotweed shoots to pleasant not to share with you.
In my view and even with my phone camera pics these shoots appear quite appealing even unpeeled. My first experience with J K shoots goes back about 40 years with a not so tasty pie which inspired many years of little use of this abundantly available spring edible. Today peeled, blanched and then soaked and later on cooked with 3 apples into an applesauce it has suddenly become a wonderful food as well as a photogenic spring shoot, a big thank you from me has to go out to those experimential folks sharing info on wild foods at this time. Japanese Knotweed is probably also quite nutritious as well with at least some resveratrol but not near as much as it has in this plants fall roots. if you shied away from J K shoots it may be time to give them another try says eye. 🦉
Last post on Matsutake for 2018 is on the not so obvious Maritime matsutake appearing in wet areas sometimes with what seems young spread out conifers or possibly older stunted trees with abundant acidic loving shrubs.
You have to wander around and look close to find these ones. Oh, I see some light sandy brown in there.
Now bend down.
It takes someone who is not in much of rush to enjoy gathering these lovely Maritime Matsutake in knee to waist high shrubby areas, great fun for some of us though. Ciao
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