Honouring winter’s hardy ones

Here are a few young white birch trees prostrating to winter’s first thick coat of snow in my area. I suspect most these trees will straighten up once again, though it will be close to the summer solstice before this will occur

A few miles down the road and closer to the Bay of Fundy coast there appears to be no snow here yet, though the temps are cold enough and at the base of an elm tree stump one of winter’s only fresh fruiting mushroom (Flammulina velutipes) also known as Velvet Foot. This mushroom often appears anytime the temperature rises above the freezing mark for a few days.  Wishing you all much hardiness.

The fungi trees are blooming

It’s time once again for mushroom foragers to set their sights a little higher once the overnight temperatures consistently reach the freezing mark. This is when you’ll find the fungi trees naturally taking their turn in offering bountiful crops to the creatures in their surroundings. There are plenty of very good and choice edible mushrooms these decomposing trees put forth in the fall as I have mentioned one of these the wild oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) in recent post. Today I’ll show 2 more which I have noticed early this morning.

Here are some wild Velvet foot mushrooms (Flammulina velutipes), these mushrooms when grown commercially are called Enoki and do not look anything like the wild ones due to limiting the light exposure and increasing carbon dioxide levels in the growing area which results in a white small capped mushroom with a long thin white stem. The wild ones I gathered today on a decomposing elm tree will be dried and then powdered to be used as a spice.

This white mushroom seen halfway up the central tree is Hericinum americanum and is considered to be quite choice with a seafood flavor. It has a close relative who is commercially grown under the name Lion’s mane and besides its pleasant taste it also has impressive medicinal properties. This one will be enjoyed tonight. ciao