Bird-Man

If you just post a picture of them here that'll work.

Hey all, My wife and I are in N Georgia near Ellijay. Are there any mushrooms in season here right now? Thanks!

That is so awesome! I feel like my boys will be the same way if they stay on their current trajectory. Can you tell me more about shrimp of the woods? I have seen mushrooms that look exactly like the ones in your picture here in IL.

Amen, I was raised with the same ethic. It sounds like you folks in PA have a lot of hunting grounds. I've noticed there are also a lot of members here from PA.

Oh man, that mushroom is on my bucket list of ones that I really want to find. I saw one from the road on someone's tree earlier this year but nobody was home to ask permission so, sadly, I left it. How did it taste? I've heard they taste akin to crab/lobster.

Just this Tuesday I deep fried some hen fronds. I dipped them in a thin milk/egg wash then coated them in well seasoned flour. Fried in oil(peanut) for 4 minutes at 310 degrees. Those babies came out golden, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Very savoury and delicious and worth the effort.

I don't know the CA laws regarding collection of mushrooms but I have been to Muir Woods on 2 occasions, just north of San Fran and it is amazingly beautiful with large redwoods. If you don't find mushrooms you'll at least get an amazing experience.

When I was a kid we had a large ring if those growing in our yard every year. I remember always wondering if they were edible.

The golden/yellows are very good.

Old oak, I have officially found my largest hen of the woods, EVER! I saw it this morning in an overgrown area of a public park this morning and went back this afternoon to be amazed!!!! It seems to be in prime condition too!!

I can't speak to the specific medicinal qualities of turkey tail mushrooms mentioned by a previous poster but as to the ability to grow them, there is at least one online retailer who sells spawn for turkey tails so I am sure they can be propagated. Many of the online retailers also sell lion's mane mushrooms as well.

While on vacation in WI last week I found a decent 5lb hen growing. The soil up there was sandy. I found that even when I cleaned the hen very thoroughly it was still gritty when I cooked it. I can't remember, do hens grow around whatever they encounter? Is it possible that the sand was actually embedded into the mushroom tissue? It was so disappointing as I had to just throw the whole thing out...

Whew Hoo!! Hopefully those will flush again next year. I have one spot I have been checking weekly here that I found a bunch of chickens on last year. So far, no chickens, but I am keeping up hope.

I just happened to drive into a park today and saw these growing from the base of a maple tree! I am so excited because I love the taste of Oyster mushrooms. The dollar bill is in the picture for size reference as one of the mushrooms is very large. I also gathered some golden Oysters not pictured yesterday at a farm I work at. Those are equally delicious.

Is there not a market for black trumpets? I read they are wonderful tasting mushrooms.

Chickens opened up my wild mushroom world! I can still taste that first bite 3 years ago. I literally became giddy, I couldn't believe how good they tasted. I had never liked any mushrooms before. I hope you enjoy those as much as I do! Congratulations!!!

I found a decent flush of chickens I a tree last year and this year I have been visiting it regularly to see if it will produce this year. Do they produce every year or is it hit and miss, in your experience?

Hahaha, Staveshaver, I snickered to myself when you said that nobody wants the mushrooms you pick from their land, unfortunately for them. So true. I understand people's caution, but I do feel bad for the wonderful flavors they are missing out on. We have a decent amount of public land here as well, but I am VERY busy and a lot of the prime public land is a good 45 minute drive, one way so I resign myself to hitting my few very local spots. A friend of mine showed me a picture sent to him by his brother today-a large flush of very fresh chickens he found in a state park in our town. I was envious, to say the least. Happy for him though.

Hahaha, you are alluding to morel season! I use a local property tax assessor map website to find public land in my area and then go search there. I don't ask if it is allowed or not. I figure most people don't care. And yes, you are correct, our property prices are ridiculous, especially when you include the property taxes we must pay!

I found these today growing in my yard under a blue spruce tree. I am assuming that they are growing from a shallow tree root as my lawnmower blade knows very well that there are plenty of those. I can't be sure though without digging. The stem is somewhat woody and I can feel it snap when i bend it. I do not feel comfortable ID-ing honey mushrooms because of all the different manifestations they can seem to have. And the LBMs scare me so I generally throw them into that category as I can't differentiate between them.

I read an article that was in a local newspaper written about the recent surge in interest fire wild mushrooms. In it the author admitted to jumping out of her car and harvesting wild mushrooms from someone else's property. Trespassing and theft I say. It is so easy to ask permission. Funny story. My grandparents owned 40 acres in southern Illinois where I would spend all of my summers. One of my uncles was walking down the public road that ran the length of their property when he saw a man with 2 grocery bags full of morels walking out of my grandparent's woods. When my uncle informed the man he was trespassing he apologized and offered to give the morels to him. My uncle declined and told him not to come back without permission. When my grandma heard him tell that story she shouted, "NEAL, YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE MUSHROOMS!!!" Live and learn I guess . 😂

That is awesome! We just got a good amount of rain here in Northern Illinois so I am hoping that will bring some mushrooms out.

I am just wondering what your modus operandi is when observing/harvesting mushrooms on what you know to be private property. As for me, if I do see mushrooms on someone's property I always go to their door to ask permission before inspecting/harvesting the mushroom. If I get no response I treat it as a "no" and I leave. If it is a mushroom I am planning to sell, I offer the property owner money for the mushroom. So far, no one has wanted any payment for their mushrooms. I try to think about how I would want someone to respect my private property rights. This is just what I do. Is there anything you would do differently? Do you have any thoughts, insights, experiences?

Boy, I'm not sure what that is, but if it is a chicken it is very faded, and old and inedible at this stage. The underside makes me want to say pheasant back but the top is throwing me off. Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in.

Awesome finds!!! I hope to run across black trumpets someday.