Here in Wales we have had a mild autumn with lots of rain. Suddenly everywhere there are fungi in different shapes and colours sprouting up as if by magic.
The big pic in the collage really looks like a fairies garden I am think.
It really cheers me up to photograph such beautiful fungi.
Thank U for the gorgeous and lush pictures. Puts a smile 😊 on my face. And good thing because I had a very challenging day on my caregiving shift with my client who has dementia. The pictures make me feel peaceful. I’m here 4 U
Hugs 🤗 Shnookie
KimAs always another beautiful collage. I've never seen red growing, You have such beautiful nature around you and I know how much that means to you. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you dear Dolphin.Your reply warms my heart.
Yes I am so lucky it is breathtakingly beautiful here. I am here for a month with Pete this time and showing him all the beautiful places I have discovered. It means so much to me that he and I are getting over some of the difficulties we have had and he is beginning to fall in love with our little house and the wonderful magical landscape it is in too.
My very best wishes to you and to all.
Kim
It's great you can now both share this beauty.
Thank you for the lovely wishes. I hope you have a peaceful serene day
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Thank you Dolphin.You mentioned the red fungi. This is something which is quite common in British woods and has alot of interesting folklore around it. If you look closely you will see it has tiny white spots on the cap. They are the fungi which feature in children's stories, the bright red toadstools with white spots on them. They are poisonous and also cause hallucinations. It was said that "witches" used them to give the feeling of flying through the sky on broomsticks. They were also used in cottage homes crumbled into milk as a fly killer. It's common name comes from this practice, it is called Fly Agaric.
Hope you found that interesting, apologies if not.
All the best.
Kim
I love it. I always like the info you provide. Once you said toad stool I knew just what it was. I did zoom in and that is just awesome.
Wow... lots of great back ground. I'm sure a hallucination makes you feel like you are on a broomstick lol.
Thank you for taking the time to educate me Kim. Wait till my friends here the story of the toad stool.
Thank you for the beautiful fungi pics....I am a 'mushroomer' and love mycology. I love the alien like diversity of shape and color, to me they are beautiful and wonderful. Wild chanterelles and butter over pasta is awesome.
Hi Fauxartist.I so agree. We are also mushroomers and love to collect field and horse mushrooms. We have so many on our village green some years. I am sure some of my neighbours think "there is that mad old woman collecting toadstools again"
We particularly love a variety with the common name of Shaggy Inkcaps. They have to be picked young before they produce ink. Have you tried those? Another great variety is Boletus Edulus, the Penny Bun. They are treasured all over Europe.
You are lucky to find chanterelles, I have never found any. They sound delicious cooked the way you describe.
Thanks for your interesting reply.
Best wishes
Kim
How do you cook your inky caps because they are so fragile I've never tried. We actually have them pop up in the garden here. I know if you drink alcohol, you can't eat them, they are natures Antabuse.
Where I live now there are also various varieties of bolete's...which are one of my favorites, I love Porcini's, but there aren't as many varieties here as there were in Oregon when I lived there. If you found a Lobster mushroom growing with the chanterelle's, they were safe, but if they were growing with the Amanita muscaria, they were toxic. One of my favorite mushrooms is called: Candy Cap, it smells like maple syrup. But the Matsutake Mushrooms smelled a little like cinnamon and butter when you cooked them, they were elegant in taste and texture. They are also a highly prized species in Japan, and many buyers would come to Oregon when they were in season because they were almost as lucrative as the Oregon White Truffle. I used to dehydrate the extras we picked, good in soups for later.
We want to make a dedicated mushroom growing frame again...and use the proper mycelium for the pink oysters and brown portabello. But have to finish the landscaping of the back field first, then it's chickens, ducks, greenhouse, and mushroom hot frame.
This is all really interesting for me to read about. It sounds as if you have a wonderful big garden. Your plans for it sound fascinating. I have never heard of creating a mushroom frame.I found it interesting what you said about Shaggy Inkcaps and alcohol and so re checked what you were saying as I had always been aware that you cannot eat common Inkcaps with alcohol but you can eat the Shaggy Inkcaps with it. Information I read said that is the case however other information suggested it is better to avoid alcohol with all Inkcaps. I have decided that I will remain aware and certainly avoid eating more than a very small quantity with alcohol. We tend to only find one or two caps and would have them with a meal with wine and never had any ill effects.
In answer to your question on how to cook them, I make a stiff batter with egg, flour and milk and coat them with that then shallow fat fry them. They are absolutely delicious and have a wonderful flavour, I think much like a truffle.
I have studied fungi a little too but you are much more knowledgeable. We went on what are called Fungus forays over here in the UK. An expert takes you out to the woods and meadows to find and identify different types of fungi. We went on a course for a few days once where we learned to look for, identify and cook edible species.
I don't know what a lobster mushroom is, perhaps we have a different common name for it. Do you know it's Latin name ? I had no idea that a species can be poisonous if growing with a poisonous species and edible if not. I will be aware of that. We tend to stick to certain species we know very well and only ever eat those but I will be aware of what they are growing with from now on. Meadows rather than woods are our hunting grounds these days.
We eat Shaggy Inkcaps, giant puff balls and Boletus Edulus. My husband can also eat field and horse mushrooms but I can't anymore. I found that after I had my daughter they cause sickness if I eat them.
Thanks very much for your fascinating reply.
Best wishes.
Kim
I hear ya about eating some mushrooms. It's so interesting how one mushroom effects people differently, some people like the taste of one that I may not get why really. Others can eat some mushroom's, but with caution as they don't really know if any liver damage could be accumulative over time. Some you can only safely eat cooked. I'm a wimp and beyond taking risks with what I got left still working, I am much older now and my days of Forrest hunting are over, I live in the country with lots of fields, so I just go out there now and find Agaricus campestris, a common field mushroom here which are great in the pan with butter.
I had a vet. Forager tell me that info about shaggy caps, so maybe they were referring to the common ink cap and not the shaggy mane, then I looked it up and this is what was said:
Take care not to confuse the shaggy mane mushroom with the common ink cap mushroom (Coprinopsis atramentaria). With their similar name, and similar appearance when young, it’s important to correctly identify the specimen you’re about to harvest. Thankfully, common ink cap mushrooms are edible too, however they come with an additional warning. These mushrooms must never be consumed at the same time as alcohol. It is even recommended to avoid alcohol for up to 3 days after eating any common ink cap mushrooms.
I don't drink so I think it won't be a problem trying the shaggy caps either way. There are lots of varieties of bolete around here, but I will check with the local foragers to be sure what I can eat. I think I like them almost better than chanterelles to be honest.
Here's one of the groups in Oregon for help in identifying mushrooms:
Re: Lobster Mushroom:
Russula brevipes and Lactarius piperatus are the host mushrooms in which Hypomyces lactifluorum is created rendering this edible. Be sure you have properly identified this mushroom before picking. Be sure the inside “meat” is white and always cook thoroughly before consuming.
But because they are a fungus of a fungus, they can consume other species of mushroom as well, like the chanterelles,...and then they are awesome. They actually taste a bit like lobster bisque...hence the name for the look of them as well.
Thanks for your your amazing reply, I have learned alot from it.
Hi Fauxartist and anyone who reads this.I have attached another collage of fungi I took on the same walk through the woods.
Nature is wonderful I am sure you will agree. It can really raise your spirits to get out into it whenever you can, whether it is a city park, woodland or your own garden or courtyard.
My thoughts and best wishes to everyone suffering from mental health problems at this time.
Kim
I love the three little pink guys.... I actually use a pick of the Amanita muscaria for my avatar, it's just sooo beautiful.
So I see
Beautiful. Often I am amazed how things others wouldn't look at twice like fungi are also lovely.
I had an aunt who loved mushrooms, she had little porcelain and ceramic mushrooms she decorated her home with. She would have enjoyed these photos.
That's interesting, I just bought a wooden red painted toadstool with white spots to hang on the Christmas tree.How are you now, really hope you're feeling a little better?
My very best wishes
Kim
Baby fairy garden 
therapy, renovating my garden shed.
