Dec 18, 2012
I just came back from the pacific northwest. I went for two reasons, which were family and mushroom hunting. I found many, but not the one I was looking for. My favorite is Trametes versicolor , commonly called Turkey tail bracket fungus. This little powerhouse is so pretty! It does the whole neutral monochromatic color scheme thing all by itself. It's quite common, which just baffles me even more that I couldn't find it up north. Not only does it resemble a frilly fairy skirt, or the tail of a turkey, it's ecologically amazing. For starters, it can be used to clean up collected pollutants from disastrous oil spills and is well known in Asia for use in cancer treatment.
Anyway, I just ended up collecting some neat little mosses and lichens and came back home. Then we had this crazy rainstorm that blew over my fence. Turns out that old stump it was being supported by finally let go. When we propped the fence up again and removed the debris...guess what I found!!!! I realize they're common, but I like to think they heard me calling.
NOTE: DO NOT eat mushrooms collected in the wild unless you have a professional mycologist confirm that the specimen is EXACTLY what you are collecting to eat. The Master Gardeners of Solano County do not recommend people hunting and gathering mushrooms.
