Dave M. reported picking another 10 pounds of Stropharia this afternoon from his woodchip pile. Luckily he shared some with me and I am enjoying them with dinner.

Also on our afternoon walk my mom found a nice fresh grouping of Agaricus arvensis (the Horse). They are beautiful mushrooms that are very good to eat. I love their characteristic cogwheel ring and their faint odor of anise. They typically grow in grassy areas and I often find them along roadsides.

With the plentiful rains of the past two weeks and now warmer temps, many spring mushrooms are fruiting. We are finding more oysters and the same Pholiota variety that was common last spring, but even more exciting are the reports from those folks in our club who tried their hands at growing their own mushrooms. David M. found plentiful growths of Wine-cap Stropharia this week on his woodchips. Kitty S. also reported the first fruitings of Shiitake on logs that were inoculated two years prior. It is a fun way to see decomposition in action and get a good meal to boot!

The wet spring has encouraged mushroom growth in and around the area.  In our St. Germain woods, we have been finding many false morels (Gyromitra esculenta) and oysters (Pleurotus ostreatus).  Past club members, Dick and Darlene Volmer, who moved to the Green Bay area last year, hit the jackpot last week finding many morels and Dryad's saddle (Polyporus squamosus) fungi.  The timing is a bit late for morels this year due to the late arrival of spring weather.