our favorite fungi
Last Friday night Jude and I attended a talk by Shannon Berch, a mycologist and
professor of botany at the University of British Columbia. The overflow crowd of
50 or so was gathered to help Dr. Berch kick off mushroom season with a workshop
at Heriot Bay Inn, the hub of the island.
It was a delightful evening. Dr. Berch shared a wealth of information about our
favorite fungi. The Inn featured a special mushroomcentric menu, and provided
attendees with mushroom-filled pastries.
On Saturday, most of the participants went on an all-day field trip to collect spec-
imens. On Sunday, they displayed their findings. Here are some of them:
And the famous Amanita muscaria — toxic, hallucinogenic, star of Walt Disney’s
“Fantasia” and collector of workshop evaluations.
BONUS SHOT: just to let you know things aren’t too soggy on the island, here’s a
recent shot from our garden:
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Anchor Struck 
Great post, Allen – we’re blessed here in Arkansas to have lots of mushrooms too, mostly edible; some poisonous, of course! When I lived for a year in Spokane, WA, we went mushrooming several times; different species than Arkansas, but lovely – and yummy!! I’ve got a great book on mushrooms – pics, etc., which friends always want to borrow, but I don’t let them leave with it – ha! I’ve lost too many wonderful resource books that way, sad to say!
I’ll keep you posted on our upcoming adventures in learning to build a year-round hoop house for growing veggies – and then building one! I just finished writing a grant for 4 of us to get the training in Michigan next spring, then build the 3 hoop houses, and stock them with various plants. It will be an exciting project, and a lot of work, but that’s what’s nice about sharing such a project with neighbors and/or friends – you don’t have to do it all!! Thanks so much for the mushroom show – surely did enjoy it! And your last shot of the sunflower in your garden was icing on the cake – that’s my FAV FLOWER!!! Best to you and Jude……….
Thanks, Charlotte. We plant lots of sunflowers because the bees love them, they’re so cheerful and they yield so many edible seeds. We found out at the workshop that the lobster ‘shroom (the seventh photo down) is edible, so we sauteed one for supper last night. Not bad at all. When you’re ready to share about the hoop houses, will you do a guest post on the blog?
But wait! I thought a number of us were among your favorite fun guys, and yet, no photo.
I only use glamourous, flattering photos, and I don’t know how to scan pics from our yearbooks.