Who is mushroom hunting?

   / Who is mushroom hunting? #1  

Redneck in training

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South Central Iowa
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I mushroom hunt since I was a little kid. My mother would send me to the woods to get her fresh mushrooms for soup. We also dried and pickle mushrooms for winter. I stopped mushroom hunting for some time after immigrating to the USA due to having other stuff to worry about. Then we moved to small town close to the woods and started again. My wife is a city girl and mushroom hunting was kid of scary to her. But after she learned she became somewhat fanatical mush hunter checking the woods for morels few weeks before the season actually starts. Now we own our own forest so it is just matter walking outside of the house.
We pick morels in May, several kinds of oyster mushroom, "butter" mushroom, champignons (button mushroom), puffballs and few other kinds during summer and hen of the woods during fall. Our favorite is morel but we consume pretty much any edible mushrooms we find on the property.

Yellow oyster 3 Sept 25.JPG
Pleurotus citrinopileatus
Vacuum packed redy for flash freezing.JPG
Vacuum packed for flash freezing
Puffball.JPG
Puffballs
Maitake 005.jpg
Maitake - Hen of the woods
Maitake 002.jpg
Maitake - Hen of the woods

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Dryad's saddle - edible but kind of tough

 
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   / Who is mushroom hunting? #2  
I'm not hunting mushrooms, but a bunch of taking over my pasture. Some are as big as dinner plates but i have no idea if they are edible.

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   / Who is mushroom hunting?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I'm not hunting mushrooms, but a bunch of taking over my pasture. Some are as big as dinner plates but i have no idea if they are edible.

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They might be. If they are pink on the bottom of the head when young (small) or almost black when older and have "skirt" then they are in fact button mushroom you buy in store. They love pastures fertilized by cow or horse dung.

When we used live in town I always threw water and leftovers from preparing button mushroom from balcony to our backyard. Year after there were hundreds of button mushrooms. Year after that all my neighbor lawns were also full of mushroom. Some were mad and some started picking and eating them.

Eating Meadow Mushrooms
Edible Wild Button Mushrooms Aka Agaricus Bisporus
 
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   / Who is mushroom hunting? #4  
Doesn't seem very sporting.

mushroomhunting.jpg

Bruce
 
   / Who is mushroom hunting? #5  
I'd probably pick the wrong kind and end up dead or in jail.
 
   / Who is mushroom hunting? #6  
Wild ones taste nothing like store bought. So much better wild.
 
   / Who is mushroom hunting? #7  
I've had a wet winter and early spring. I've had the odd mushie pop up in the past but nothing like this year in the horse paddocks. I wouldn't have a clue if they were consumable... I'll have to look into it.

A couple of years ago my Aunt was visiting and plucked a number of small mushies growing around the house lawn. They went great in that nights salad & barbecued with the steak.
 
   / Who is mushroom hunting? #8  
Spring brings two types that I recognize - puff fall & shaggy mane. Wild mushrooms are the best.
 
   / Who is mushroom hunting? #10  
Nice looking mushrooms, I hunt but not as much as I used to (crippling arthritis), I have to use the RTV to look for the elusive critters. The Hen of the Woods is my favorite Fall mushroom, I like them almost as much as the Morels.
 
 
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