This is my favorite forest for tree burls with several hundred mature conifers with impressive burls, on this foggy holiday some like this one provide quite an atmosphere to wander amongst.
Since I’ve never gathered the White Matsutake mushroom this early in Sept or in this area this leaves me to suspect this must be my first sighting of a Catathelasma ventricosum mushroom this year.
Yup, this is what we call in NA the Swollen Stalked Cat which is a good edible and is becoming more popular here in the west, though it has a long history of being used as a healthy food in areas like Tibet. Here it is often used in stews, soups, it can also be BBQ’ed and pickled. This one smells like cucumber.
Oh, nearing a brook I see a shrub I often forget about in the fog of the busy mushroom season, though this is an ideal time to gather the ripe firm fruit of Highbush cranberries which can be frozen and then thawed to make it easier to obtain the juice by pressing raw. I chewed and sucked on a few of the crunchy berries and then removed the large seed from my mouth, these are tart and refreshing and vitamin C rich. Well I’ve shared enough interesting stuff for today. ciao
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