We have had a good amount of rain in our area this summer. Everything is a lush green from the thunderstorms we seem to get every few days. With all that moisture come the mushrooms.
The only real experience we have had with mushrooms is some mushroom rings that would grow on our lawn in Ontario; I cannot for the life of me remember which house it was but I know we had them.
Here, with essentially a forest right beside our lawn, we have many different kinds of mushrooms. I thought I would share some photos of them with you.
These mushrooms have grown right next to the tree line a few feet from our driveway.
They are about six inches high and the tops the size of a dessert plate.
These mushrooms remind me of the toadstool type mushrooms in fairytales.
Some mushroom types like to grow in clumps.
Others will grow right out of a tree.
These ones look like seashells.
Some of the trees have older growths on them which I suspect is a hardened mushroom.
I don’t know enough about mushrooms to attempt to determine which are edible. I have learned from some research that any red mushroom is NOT edible.
There is something whimsical about mushrooms. I imagine a tiny group of fairies living among these tiny mushrooms hiding under a fallen tree stump.
I was out picking a few Saskatoons for a snack and I spied a clump of orangey something in the croak of a willow stand. Upon closer inspection I could see 4 inch mushrooms hanging from different spots on the tree.
I looked at the same tree a few days later and the mushrooms were gone. Likely the squirrel left them for a few days to dry then took them to his winter hide away. I often saw the squirrel in winter, sitting on the firepit wall snacking on a dried mushroom. I guess the squirrel will have a lot of mushrooms for this coming winter. I have heard that you should be ok with the mushrooms that a squirrel selects to harvest for food. That being said, I also saw a red mushroom hanging in a tree so who knows??
When we moved to our “farm”, as my brother Russell calls it, I imagined watching the birds and wildlife but I am pleasantly surprised with how many different flowers, berry plants and mushrooms that I have discovered. Almost every day is a new discovery.