Fall Jack Pine understory

Huckleberries plants now with red leaves makes it real easy to also notice the blue to black fruit.

Huckleberries really show their numbers in this Jack Pine forest come fall, click on the photo to see the numerous berries.

Hucks and Matsutakes.

Here we see our largest Maritime woodpecker who climbs backwards down the tree trunk to get low enough to reach back for some berries. These plants are usually waist high on humans so this is the easiest way for them to pick yet they really stretch their necks to get it done.

This Pileated Woodpecker (click on my cybershot photo my friends) seems to be on the same visiting schedule as me as we met here last week in the evening. This one chooses to stay around 100 feet from me and circles around me for 10 minutes or so. You may have noticed there has been a clearcut on both sides of this 200 foot strip of Jack Pine so many of the fruiting plants, matsutake, birds and all the rest are dealing with the changes. ciao

White Matsutake photos

Large White Matsutake mushroom.

Another view.

 

A nice group photo.

 

A smaller one in deep moss.

Now out of the moss and almost into the basket. ciao

 

Longing more Matsutake

It has been 12 days since I last visited my favorite White Matsutake grounds so after work I dropped in on my way home to see if any new ones have emerged in the dry weather we’ve been having.

I suspect the drier than usual soil conditions may have something to do with the long stems you are seeing on these White Matsutakes.

The nights have been approaching frost so I was pleased to see quite a few fresh mushrooms in good shape, a nice after work gathering for sure. ciao

White Matsutake Has Spoken

You walked an over grown path 2 decades ago to discover the wonders of this forest. You have returned every September since, early on you gathered the Hollow-stem Suillus as you could not identify the many white and deeply buried mushrooms of these woods.

Many years passed when you read of the Matsutake the much loved and historical mushroom of Japan, could these beautiful mushrooms half way around the world be the same mushroom or a distant relative?

Though you sampled this mushroom and marvelled at their smoky spiciness it still wasn’t enough to say these were the White Matsutake until finally an expert 14 years later verified what you had suspected.

Things naturally change as today you notice the markers on some of the trees. They will soon be cutting some of the old spruce, pine and hemlock. Reflect at the shrine and do your part to promote leaving some of the wild and wondrous areas as they are. Those who can purchase such places to protect them from some of the more negative unnecessary changes please step forward.

White Matsutake grounds

Yes it’s that time of the year, time to check my favorite White Matsutake grounds. I noticed some newly emerging Suillus cavipes as I started onto the path which made me suspect I was a little to early especially since it was dry this week, but there they were a few nice smaller Matsutakes and at least one group of the larger ones.

Most of the mushrooms were in needle duff very close to conifer tree  trunks.

Here is the above mushroom lifted from the duff, they were more difficult to remove intact today due to the dryness.

Another one deep in the duff.

This one’s stem is thicker and still it needed lots of wiggling to lift it without snapping the stem.

Large mushrooms with wetter caps and stems in moss.

This was a nice start to the White Matsutake season in my area. I’m going to do a couple small post on some other mushroom I found in these woods as well tonight as they were at their best. ciao

White Matsutake shrine

This is my last trip this year into my favorite white matsutake grounds. Years ago I noticed there was little man-made debris in these woods except for this rather unusual piece which has filled up with conifer cone pieces as the squirrels are eating at the top of the bowl and the little shrubby plant is a new addition to the bowl this year. The white matsutake shrine is around 500 feet from the woods path in a very dark woods where you can only notice a meandering line of light by looking back to the path you have entered from. I have never even meet another person on the woods path itself over the last 20 years though I only walk this area 5 or 6 times per year.  Usually I choose a new spot or 2 to rest and enjoy nature along with a stop at the shrine for a more traditional moment of thankfulness and contentment of being. ciao for now

Found the wild Oyster mushrooms hang out

The fall version of the oyster mushroom which fruit on sugar maples and beech trees are now starting to appear.

I only found this one tree producing so far but it did supply close to 3 pounds of fresh mushrooms in excellent shape.

While I prepared the oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) for the fridge, I was also cooking some White Matsutake stems peeled into ribbony strips which can be eaten pan fried with soya sauce or added to soups.

A few of the fresh Oyster mushrooms also eventually entered the pan which were quite good as well, though I find battered and deep-fried Oyster mushrooms are my prefered choice for enjoying these wild mushroom which may appear in the Maritime provinces of Canada well into Dec, in fact I found some freshly fruiting on Jan 02/12 which was quite extraordinary and a tasty surprise to start the year.

White Matsutake appear quite magical

Here are the first ones I noticed on my walk after work this evening.

This is the above 2 mushrooms lifted from the soil.

A nice cluster.

Again we see them removed from the soil, you may have noticed the majority of the stem is deep in the soil.

A couple more. These 2 mushrooms will be cooked tonight and enjoyed with vinegar and soya sauce. White Matsutake are also my favorite dried mushroom to add to chaga tea for a unique spicy flavor along with almond or soya milk.

Sometimes the complete mushrooms will be a few inches under the moss, these ones fortunately had long enough stem for me to see the caps as you can see by this one standing by the tree.  Occasionally I will notice the shape of the cap under the moss and gently poke around for them.

Look the white matsutake mushroom in the basket appear to have a halo above them, yes it was a magical evening. ciao

Cat purring in the pines

Peeling and preparing a few mushrooms for the drier and thought it may be fun to show you how much Catathelasma ventricosum (swollen stalk cat) and White matsutake (pine mushroom) look-alike.  Check out the 5 mushrooms to the left of the bowl.

So here is a the close up, click on to see better——a sniff test would make it to easy,—– which mushroom of these 5 is the Cat?

White Matsutake are starting to show

I stopped after work for a quick peek incase the white matsutake mushrooms were starting to fruit in my favorite spot.  There were a few boletes and gypsy mushrooms so I suspected this was still a bit early for white matsutake as gypsy mushrooms mostly are gone by the time white matsutake starts, but I was surprised to find a few small white matsutakes already up.

A deer must have nibbled the top of this young white matsutake but was unable to pull the deep stem out from the ground, I needed to patiently wiggle the stem free myself and the below photo is this mushroom removed from the soil.

I Should find some of the larger version of white matsutake arriving in these woods in coming weeks.

Here is a photo of the white matsutake part of my basket and the other half will be shown in a little while.

ciao