** Don’t consume anything if you’re not 100% confident in the identification **

This past fall I got into foraging for mushrooms. It started with lions mane which isn’t exactly what I found. There are a few hericium species in the area and I would guess that what I find most often is bears head tooth but I have seen a coupe different forms of clusters and teeth.

In addition, I have gotten quite lucky with coming across some chicken of the woods. Particularly enjoy this.

Even came across some hen!

In the early spring I came across some wild onions (ramps?) growing around my house.

The greatest single day of foraging I have thus far had used up all my beginner luck for the year. I have stumbled upon my very first morels!!

Can’t believe I was able to pick them out from above. Here is the bird’s eye view.

Hopefully not the last!

Another lucky find. One of the nice things about learning on the go as a lover of the outdoors. You’ve got lots of opportunities to discover when you’re out for a plethora of purposes.

This time I came across a tree (birch) with a bunch of white mushrooms on it. With an idea of what oyster mushrooms look like, I saw the similarities and grabbed one and a photo. Took a spore print that night.

Spore Prints are crazy. It only took two hours for this many spores to fall. I even thought this was an older specimen and expected it to take longer. It really shows why you need to have an appropriate mesh or woven bag when foraging so that you can spread some spores.

Between the tree it was found on, the spore print color, and other physical characteristics I was able to identify this as an Oyster Mushroom. Also got a second confirmation identification.

I went back the following day to harvest. They were a little more yellow and were crawling with bugs.

Luckily I came across another cluster on a different tree that was fresher.

New spot and another variety of mushroom to keep an eye out for. Need to keep learning about trees and scouting for more.