If you undertake growing some mushrooms from spawn, here is a great way to soak your straw bales.

There are several varieties of mushrooms that can be grown in straw beds including the delicious winecap stopharia (Stopharia rugosoannulata). Other varieties of fungi can be grown by placing plugs of the spawn directly into logs. Spawn can be purchased from companies like Field and Forest in Pestigo, WI.

With the heavy rains, many fungi are starting to fruit. Of late I have been finding Oysters growing on aspen and Inky Caps (in photo) (Coprinopsis atramentaria). Both of these fungi grow on decaying wood. I really like the taste of Inky Caps but you must not consume alcohol within a few days before or after eating them. They contain a chemical called coprine, which reacts with alcohol giving quite unpleasant symptoms. Oyster fungi are considered good edibles by many, though I'm not too keen on the amount of insect inhabitants they usually have hiding inside.

There are a number of other wood dwelling fungi that have been appearing including brown cup fungi, Violet tooth and some small pholiotas.

This beautiful platter of Yellow Morels and wild asparagus was harvested in the Green Bay area this week. Yummmmm!

These were found today in northern WI, so if you have a secret spot you better start checking!

Finding quite a few false morels in our woods lately. Too bad they are not edible:(

Seems as though most of the fruitings are done for the year. Let's hope next year will be just as good, if not better!

After our first snow of the season we are seeing quite a few stumpies showing up on dead birch in our woods. We will see what tomorrow brings.

The drier weather this past week has curtailed a lot of the mushroom growth.  On our hikes, we have found quite a few old Suillus granulatus, several Rozites caperata and Amanita muscaria.  Also fruiting are the Deadly galerina, various Pholiota sp.  We just had a rain last night so there is still hope that we may get a late fruiting of the stumpies (Armillaria mellea), but since the Entoloma abortivum has already made its appearance, we may be out of luck:)

As a result of the frequent rains, the woods were rich in mushrooms. Ground, woody knolls and downed logs were decorated by the scarlets and golds of countless Waxy Caps (Hygrophorus species), bright jellies, the showy white forms of Amanita virosa and the bold yellow caps of many Fly Agarics with their scattering of pale patches. A wide variety of fungi were gathered, but we had to limit the number in discussion.

We discussed the dark, funnel-shaped mushrooms called Horn of the Plenty Craterellus cornucopioides. These excellent edibles usually grow in tight, upright clusters under hardwoods. The body of each mushroom is very thin-fleshed with wavy, down-turned margin .The inner surface of the “funnel” is dark grey-brown to almost black. There are no gills on the exterior fertile area .That surface is smooth to slightly wrinkled or veined. It is ashy-gray in color. The spore print is white. Another edible mushroom, C. Fallax is nearly identical, but has an ochre to ochre-orange spore print.

The Yellow-Orange Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria var fomosa has been prolific this September . It is a ”flashy” mushroom with an orange-yellow cap that is sometimes 6” across. The cap surface is decorated with a scattering of pale-yellow veil patches. Gills are pale cream. The sturdy white to pale yellow stem is circled by a whitish pendant ring and is often bulbous at its base where there are circling ridges of cottony or scaly material. Though beautiful, this is a poisonous mushroom containing toxic compounds.

A great edible, the Toothy Dentinum repandum has been fruiting vigorously the past few weeks. The Toothy has a chunky, irregular look and stands out well against beds of brown leaves and grass where it fruits. It is mychorrhizal with conifers and deciduous trees. We find it particularly with oaks. The cap surface is creamy-orange. The mushroom body is thick and brittle with inner cream-colored flesh. A cushion of pale spines lines underside of the cap

Many other mushrooms were gathered, as well.