This was the
Year of the Mushroom at Higgins Lake. There was a very short Morel season in April/May (we never heard any word of it), so the abundance of the fungi late in the summer surprised us. This one is pretty, but poisonous, a Yellow-orange Fly Agaric.
They start to flare out and flatten as they age.
They were quite abundant in various stages of maturity. This one is older, as it is flattened on top now. The edges will eventually curl up into a convex shape.
I found all these around our yard and while walking near the cottage. Amazing how many different sizes, colors and shapes we saw. And I didn't even have a camera for many of the odd ones we saw on our walks. These patchy Yellow-orange Fly Agarics were eye-catching. They start out small and round, like an egg yolk pushing up on a pedestal, grow up and flatten out, then go concave if they live long enough. The scaly patches stay there the whole time.
Some were plain and boring looking. These shelf mushrooms growing on a tree are pretty common.
These Turkey Tails on a stump are poisonous, but have a pretty pattern up close.
A Chanterelle in a hole in a log at the neighbors' house. They'd talked about how some folks 'plant' plugs in holes drilled in logs to grow mushrooms, so this may have been an experiment. But two days later, this choice edible was gone, so some animal had a gourmet dinner.
Bright Yellow Witches' Butter on the end of a log.
Another of the patchy, Yellow-orange Fly Agaric. They look like jeweled globes when they first come up. The camera/light makes them look paler than in real life. They really are bright yellow.
Can't you just see a hookah-smoking caterpillar sitting on one of these?
They come in white, too, and they all go flat on top eventually. The bright red ones with white patches are a classic poisonous mushroom. They, too, are around us. This buff/white one may actually be a Gemmed Amanita, another poisonous version of mushroom with the scaly patches on top.
This rosy hued variety of mushroom is easy to spot in the forest greens and browns. But it isn't edible.
Probably an Amanita, a poisonous bunch. Lots of the 'shrooms looked similar, and I didn't carry the field guide with me on my walks to properly identify the different kinds.
These orange and yellow ones came in fairly numerous groups all through the forest. The light makes them look washed out, but they were quite bright orange and yellow.
This ugly one was out by the front lake shore. It's a 'Painted Suillus' and is considered 'choice', so I picked the young ones and sauteed them up. Delicious! Too bad there weren't more of these or I didn't realize how good they were before they all got old. It only grows under the white pine, so it is limited.
This one came from the back yard mulch and was also edible. I had to check it every which way as a similar orange one, the Jack O'Lantern is very poisonous. These stayed firm when cooked and were a pretty bright orange. I only ate the young ones.
These inky mushrooms encircled the stump out by the mailbox.
I just think this one is so sunny looking. It's poisonous, but still nice to look at.
Like a delicate beige parasol.
This little guy was growing next to the fire pit.
Tiny, but bright orange coloring makes this one visible in the grass.
Another Yellow-orang Fly Agaric coming up. Sunny side up.
Tiny, but such detail.
So many of the mushrooms around here end up looking like funnels or saucers or vases.
A line of newly popped Yellow-orange Fly Agaric mushrooms in the leaf litter.
This is a young Spiny Puffball. I had no idea that the young ones are considered 'choice' eating if you get them when they are still solid inside. Next year.....
As the puffball ages, the outer skin cracks and breaks, exposing what is now a brown inside.
The inside eventually dries up and becomes the 'puff' ball that emits the brown puffs of spores when tapped or stepped on. I can remember playing with such things and pretending to send smoke signals with them.
These puffballs were all along the same stretch of a two-track trail we walked. It was like a time-lapse photograpy to see the different stages of maturity so close to each other.
The insides were still not dry on these, so they didn't 'smoke' when tapped.
Puffball emerging.
Another puffball that is still wet. Looks like an old deflated leather ball.
More patches of the orange mushrooms that seemed to be everywhere.
Side view of the red and white one. I believe it may be an Emetic Russula and is poisonous.
Looking down on the same mushroom. A deep pinkish red.
A grass level view of the Yellow-orange Fly Agaric or Gemmed Amanita.
Underneath it as it grows to concave on the top.
My yummy Painted Suillus in the grass by the lake shore.
The yellow ones are 'Chicken Fat Suillus' and are also edible. The neighbors' granddaughter came into the yard chasing her puppy and asked Jason "What's wrong with your yard? Why are there clumps of insulation everywhere?". The yellow mushrooms looked like old blobs of that spray foam insulation from a can!
A look at the orange gills of the young orange latex milky mushroom or a saffron milk cap. They are listed as 'good' eating but I only had a few at a time.
The small groups of them were abundant, but they grew quickly and something else kept knocking them over, so something was feeding on them besides me.
These large white mushrooms were everywhere. I don't think they are edible at all, though.
Something's been nibbling on this one at the edge. And how did that hole get there?
Well camoflaged in the brown dried leaves in the woods.
This Velvet Cushion mushroom is aptly named. It looked so soft, but it is listed as poisonous, so I left it alone. I only ever saw the one.
Even the bright pinkish red tends to fade after a rain or with age.
The perfect gumdrop shape as this young one pushes up.
The top of this one looks just like a golf ball, out of bounds. Wait, it it mine?
The Chicken Fat Suillus from the front yard that I ate. They don't look as nice as they taste. I froze some of each to use later, but wish I'd gotten to these home patches before they were all matured. They get chewed on a lot, too, but I only picked whole ones like this.
These tiny white bubbles were on a mossy log in the forest track.
Hard to find such intact examples in the woods as they get nibbled or knocked around by the animals.
Me taking a selfie as we walked back along the bike path.
Believe it or not, this stuff was a 'choice' edible a week or so ago. We noticed it but didn't get around to checking the guide book until it was too late. Now it's all curled up with age.
This one scares me. It just looks evil! It would make a good sci-fi monster in my mind. I think it's an Old Man of the Woods.
A side view of one of the shaggy Old Men. The field guide says they're edible, but "become unappetizing as they age". I'll say.
A new mushroom pushes up through the sandy soil along the forest path. It looks like someone buried an egg.
These are pretty non-descript, soft brown mushrooms, but it looks like Alice in Wonderland has been tasting one of them.
These look like delicate Japanese parasols. They are a light blue in color, pretty unusual.
These orange cups are supposed to be edible, but they are so small and limited in number that they wouldn't be worth the effort. Pretty though.
The dry cracked surfaces of these mushrooms indicate they've been undisturbed for a long time.
Many of the mushrooms we saw were huge. This one is as big as my outstretched hand and it wasn't the biggest we saw, by far.
This big meaty looking mushroom may have been a choice edible, but without the book, I didn't pick it. It was huge.
The ones that come in clumps and look so delicate, I don't bother with.
It's always interesting to see what the mushroom carries with it as it grows.
The delicate wavy brown caps blend in with the plethora of tiny acorns littering the ground. The forest oaks have dropped a ton of tiny acorns this year.
The tiny orange caps stand out against the bright green moss on the ground.
Autumn is starting to show in the leaves, too.
Hard to believe these are mushrooms from this angle.
New mushrooms growing on the old, decayed mushrooms.
A typical scene on the forest floor.
Ruffly brown and dried up, this was once a good eating mushroom that we didn't know about until it was too late.
Next year, I'll start scoping out the mushrooms earlier, so I have more time to really figure them out.
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