Whatcom County or West side Shroomers

M_D

M_D

Bringin' the Skunk
Forum Supporter
For you in the know, is it currently too dry to find mushrooms? My wife and I are beginners and have yet to find them on our own. We trudged around through some shroomy looking areas but found nuthin' other than bone dry duff. Since I didn't know if we simply need to find another area or wait for some rain, I figured I'd ask.

The consolation prize was a container full of late season blackberries so I'm gonna bust out my inner Julia Child and make a cobbler for desert.(y)


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I had to look up Whatcom County. I think it's a bit early/late, we need moisture. If you get a lot of coastal influence/fog, you can find mushrooms all summer near the beach. I think we need a good dumping of rain then wait a week or so. Mushroom hunting is one of my wife and I favorite activities since she's not much of a fisher and scared of water.
 
Ditto for my wife...nearly drowned as a child so she's not a big fan of water related activities...go figure :unsure:;)

And yes we need the rain, too. If I researched it correctly, we haven't had measurable rain since May...which is just crazy for our area. That aside, though, we were in an area that supposedly gets some off shore moisture so I wasn't sure if we simply need to keep looking elsewhere or wait for the monsoons.
 
Not seeing the volume of mushrooms that we'd usually see this time of year. There are a few around, wife and I found some she likes to use for fabric dying the other week. But it's mostly just "where's the rain"?
 
Josh said:
Not seeing the volume of mushrooms that we'd usually see this time of year. There are a few around, wife and I found some she likes to use for fabric dying the other week. But it's mostly just "where's the rain"?
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You got a picture of them? Is it dyers polypore? I was going to look for some this year to dye my homemade silk
 
Most years, it only seems to take a slight shower to get the shrooms a poppin', but this year, it's apparently going to take a little something extra. Not much happening in my favorite spots yet....
 
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Thanks for the replies, I heard on the radio this morning that we are officially in a drought…..good thing it’s official cuz I wasn’t sure yet ;)
 
For beginners Chantarells are great.

When fall rains really set in, November is best , go to areas with Salal, Oregon Grape, and mossy forest floor. My best area is in the western cascades in mixed forest in a river bottom..
Read some descriptions and look at some pictures.
Orange color, no gills, false gills that decend the stalk, some say they smell of Apricot.
Flesh is stringy like a chicken breast.

Highly recommended
"All that the rain promises and more "
By David Aurora

Gills that stop on the cap? Not a Chantarell
Stalk that snaps In half? Not a Chantarell.
 
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Rob Allen said:
Pretty but not safe to eat..
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If you boil them in a lot of water, and discard the water, they can be but are not worth the effort. In my wildcrafting youth we ate them on occasion to bulk up whatever else we might have found, but the flavor and texture aren’t good.

Also not worth it: collecting turkey tails to later make tea out of.
 
Jake said:
If you boil them in a lot of water, and discard the water, they can be but are notworth the effort. In my wildcrafting youth we ate them on occasion to bulk up whatever else we might have found, but the flavor and texture aren’t good.

Also not worth it: collecting turkey tails to later make tea out of.
Click to expand...
Oh no that water is what you want!
hyptonize-frog.gif
Disclaimer: do not drink the water

There's a patch of Fly Agarics that pop up like clockwork in the same spot every year in the Kroger parking lot. Haven't seen them yet this year.

Love him or hate him this clip of JR with Paul Stamets about the amanita muscaria is really interesting.
 
I have a little test to see how I did….

Here’s what I found
851D1920-5308-4E39-8C9B-42F1CB695E46.jpeg

5C30E971-105E-42D2-8295-81FA6C740980.jpeg

and here is the spore test

6AF9B184-3C9B-4CF3-95E7-6300A6D0D32D.jpeg

So are they:

a) Delicious Milk Caps;

b) Oyster Mushrooms;

c) White Chantrells;

d) Angel Wings; or

e) none of the above?


And the answer is ????
 
Rob Allen said:
For beginners Chantarells are great.

When fall rains really set in, November is best , go to areas with Salal, Oregon Grape, and mossy forest floor. My best area is in the western cascades in mixed forest in a river bottom..
Read some descriptions and look at some pictures.
Orange color, no gills, false gills that decend the stalk, some say they smell of Apricot.
Flesh is stringy like a chicken breast.

Highly recommended
"All that the rain promises and more "
By David Aurora

Gills that stop on the cap? Not a Chantarell
Stalk that snaps In half? Not a Chantarell.
Click to expand...
Chanterelles tend to hang in packs, too. The semi-poisonous (but not very dangerous) cousins often stand alone. Larger chanterelles are pretty unmistakable....
 
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