Evening in the Park, and 22 days, 22 hours, 22 minutes, and 22 seconds to go...

Twenty-two days,


twenty-two hours,


twenty-two minutes


and twenty-two seconds


until I depart in the car for my camping trip.


Seriously.


Awesome.


Enjoy your day,

Mungo

Getting Monty in Shape for our Camping Trip

I am working hard to get Monty in shape for his camping trip coming up in September. We do a nice long trek around the park each evening. In a week or so, I am going to do a short traverse of a loop in the valley, to get him more fit than he is now.


If we get hungry, we could take the meat out of acorns, crush them, steep them in a water for a couple of days to rinse out the bitter tannins, and then roast them in the fire.


We would avoid this Tippler's Bane mushroom.


We would look for edible ones instead.


We would search high and low for milk bones and snuffle around and look for rabbits.


While an apple tree would satisfy me, Monty has a more sophisticated palette: June bugs, flying ants, worms, and milk bones.

That's all for now.

Mungo

My Special Friends: Dunkler Shirmpilz & Common Inkcap (Coprinus atramentarius & Lepiota felina)

If I were to find every single mushroom and fungus detailed in my new Mushrooms book, I would have 1,247 specimens more than I have located already.


But I am not going to let this fact discourage me whatsoever.


Today I met my special friends again in the backyard: the Common Inkcap (Coprinus atramentarius) and my suspicious looking friend Lepiota felina (apparently it has the common name of Dunkler Shirmpilz, which I think sounds rather awkward. I wouldn't quite know what to say if I was introduced at a party to Dunkler Shirmpilz).


Lepiota felina belongs to a group of mushrooms (Lepiota) containing some deadly poisonous characters.


It's funny, I wonder if we somehow contain genetic memories or some hard-wired aversion to certain things (snakes?), because when we moved into the house last year, I noticed a few of these mushrooms growing on the hard-packed ground behind the air conditioning unit, and thought "They look dangerous...".


And this was before I knew anything about mushrooms, except for those on pizza and those illicit ones that make fairies appear and trees develop personalities.


A sibling of Lepiota felina is Lepiota brunneoincarnata, also known by the cute name of "Deadly Dapperling".


It's deadly poisonous.


Details of Dunkler Shirmpilz (heck, I'd go around poisoning people too if I was given that name):

location: North America, Europe
edibility: Inedible
fungus colour: Brown, Black or blackish
normal size: Less than 5cm
cap type: Conical or nearly so
stem type: Ring on stem
flesh: Mushroom has distinct or odd smell (non mushroomy)
spore colour: White, cream or yellowish
habitat: Grows in woods, Grows on the ground

Lepiota felina (Pers. ex Fr.) Karst Dunkler Shirmpilz. Cap 2–3cm across, slightly umbonate, the whole cap is dark brown to almost black when in bud, the cuticle breaks up into minute erect scales as the cap expands. Stem 30–50 x 2–4mm, fibrillose, whitish sprinkled with blackish scales towards the base; ring membranous, white on upper surface, dark grey-brown below. Flesh white, becoming tinged brownish. Smell strongly fungusy. Gills white. Cheilocystidia thin-walled, clavate to obtusely fusiform, hyaline, surface squamules formed of tufts of elongated hairs. Spore print white. Spores ovoid, 6.5–7.5 x 3.5–4um. Habitat in coniferous woods. Season autumn. Uncommon. Not edible -avoid. Distribution, America and Europe.

From the photos, you'll notice a few of the salient characteristics described above.


A ring on the stem. It grows on the ground (well, you can't see that, but trust me it does...), as opposed to growing on dead wood. It has gills (not pores) and they are white. Look closely and you'll see tufts of elongaged hairs growing from the top of the cap (on which there are 'surface squamules'). I didn't take a spore print, but I'm pretty sure this fits the bill. Season autumn throws me off a bit, but it is getting a bit cooler around here. What the photos do not capture is the very strong smell emitted by this little life form. Not unpleasant, but a very concentrated 'mushroomy' smell.

Well enough of that.

I've already described Coprinus atramentarius, but here are the details from the Rogers Mushroom book:

location: North America, Europe
edibility: Poisonous/Suspect
fungus colour: White to cream
normal size: 5-15cm
cap type: Conical or nearly so
stem type: Ring on stem
spore colour: Purplish to black
habitat: Grows in woods, Grows on the ground, Grows on wood

Coprinus atramentarius (Bull. ex Fr.) Fr. Tippler's Bane, Grauer Falstentintling, Coprin noir d'encre, Common Inkcap. Cap 3-7cm high, ovoid at first, then broadly conical when expanded, with the margin irregularly puckered at first, then becoming split; gray to gray-brown; dry, smooth or silky with minute scales or veil remnants, especially near the center. Gills free, crowded, broad; white then lavender-gray then inky black and soon deliquescing. Stem 70-170 x 9-20mm, hollow; whitish; dry, silky-fibrous; fibrous white partial veil leaving ring zone near base. Odor faint and pleasant or none. Spores ellipsoid, smooth, with pore at tip, 7-11 x 4-6µ. Deposit black. Habitat usually in clusters on the ground near rotting or buried wood or in grass. Found widely distributed throughout North America and Europe. Season May-September (November-April in California). Edible but dangerous because it causes alarming symptoms (nausea, palpitations) when taken in conjunction with alcohol; indeed, it has been given to alcoholics to cause these symptoms and eventually cure their habit. Comment Good black drawing ink used to be made from the deliquesced caps by boiling the black "ink" with a little water and cloves.

Suffice it to say, I had chicken pot pie and mashed potatoes for dinner.


Neither of which contained any mushrooms.

Cheers,

Mungo

Count Down to Algonquin Park Camping Trip

I have booked a back country spot in Algonquin Park, and I am beginning to prepare for my next camping trip.


Just to get into the lake, I have to start off with a long portage. I have decided to rent a light canoe so that I can carry it on my shoulders, and have my knapsack on my back, and do the portage in a single trip. After a long paddle through a couple of lakes, I will make camp on a lake with only two camping spots on it. I suspect I will be the only one on the lake over the week though... oh, and Monty who will snuffle about and chase after squirrels.


I am going to list out my gear and equipment later today, and then test everything for weight over the next few days. It is hard to cull a list of gear - I always want to bring just one more thing...


My biggest debate right now is whether I should bring my tent or just my tarp... if it weren't for the bugs, I'd bring my tarp in a heart-beat - even in heavy rain, I'm happy in my tarp.


Well, this will be a solo trip and I think I'll be able to go nice and light.


I will share my final list as I get closer to it all.


Won't be long now - about 4 weeks away. Thanks to Spring for encouraging me to go!


Cheers,

Mungo

Mushroom Identification - Gently Fried in Salt, Butter and Pepper, on a Baguette

After work today, I got home and found Spring relaxing and reading a book. I had stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work and picked up some chocolate cheesecake ice-cream by Ben and Jerry's. After plonking some into a cone, Spring was a very happy customer.

Monty and I sat for a while in the backyard while I read my new Roger Phillips Mushrooms book - a comprehensive guide with over 1,2 50 detailed photographs of mushrooms and other fungi in it (that's what the cover says). I am freaking out excited happy happy happy with this book. My bushcraft knowledge is lacking in this area - I know Oyster, and Aminita Muscaria or Fly Agaric mushrooms, and maybe 4 other ones, but that's it.

Mushrooms: A Comprehensive Guide with Over 1,2500 Detailed Photograph

Then as the light began to fall, I grabbed the hound dog named Monty, put on his harness, clipped on his leash, left the house and began a walk into the back park.

I found three distinctly different mushrooms - and I didn't even wander into the valley to find these. All three of these mushrooms have gills (as opposed to pores)..

Once we got home, I put them all onto a tea towel and took a few pictures, the first of the whole lot:


The first ones that I picked up were huge Field Mushrooms - Agaricus campestris L.


Habitat in pasture; late summer to autumn. Very common. Edible excellent. I carefully reviewed the book to make sure that these are what I had - without a doubt, they were Field Mushrooms.


I saw them up at the top of a grassy field in the back park - bright and white against the green grass.


I didn't have a bag with me at the time, so I had to carry them all in my hands. They were large and heavy.


The family Agaricus' common name is the Wood Mushroom or simply Mushroom.


Tomorrow I will grab a few more, and slice them up and put them into a frying pan with butter, salt and pepper and put them on a french baguette for a nice evening meal.


The next ones I found were considerably smaller - I actually found these in my backyard in a bare area of earth behind the house, where no other plants grow. This is Lepiota felina (Pers.). They are super small. Whereas the field mushrooms were large 4' wide in diameter and 5 1/2 ' high, the small ones were 4/7' wide and 1/2' high. What distinguishes these are the ring membranes around the shaft (that dark line on the left mushroom), the tufts of elongated hairs on the top (obvious in the photo), and finally the fact that the top of the mushroom is slightly umbonate. That means there is a little bulge or crown on the very top. That's the brown part. The book says that this one is not edible, possibly poisonous. So - no butter, salt and pepper for this one. Anyway, it's too darned tiny to eat.


Finally, my backyard yielded some Common Inkcap Coprinus atramentarious (Bull.) The book says, as I have written before, that this Common Inkcap causes:

'...alarming symptoms (palpitations, nausea) when taken in conjunction with alcohol; indeed it has been given to alcoholics to cause these symptoms and eventually cure them. Good black drawing ink used o be made from teh deliquesced caps by boiling the 'ink' with a little water and cloves.'

Deliquescing is when enzymes within the mushroom cause an auto-digestive process and turns the cap and shaft black and slimy, and causes it to break down - or dissolve.


Well, that's all the mushroom exploration I have for tonight - and that was just a short walk in the back park. Can't wait to go into the valley again with my camera and to hunt for many more varieties.

Cheers,

Mungo

Mushrooms, Mushrooms, Mushrooms Galore!!!

I'm afraid that I've had to use three exclamation marks in the title of this post. Sorry.

This evening when I got home from work I pulled out several very spikey, thorny bushes and poked my hands - despite my thick gloves - about 20 times. Perspiring, I piled the brush up and tied them off as best as I could and placed them nicely by the curb. I just hope that I've placed and tied them in a such a way that they take it all away.

I was bushed and tired by the end of this, and Spring drove home at that point. She'd been to the hair dresser to have her hair done, and it looks really nice! She's not sure yet about it, but I know that it will take a couple of days to settle in, before she's satisfied.

As Spring went into the house, she pulled out a box from the mail box and asked me to put it aside, while she looked at the other post. Then she very seriously asked if I could help her out and open the parcel -which likely contained a book for her.

When I opened it, I recognized in an instant that it was Roger Philip's Mushroom manual: "Mushrooms: A Comprehensive Guide with Over 1,2500 Detailed Photograph".

I may not have done a jig or a high-step, but oh boy I felt like it!!! Finally!!! Exclamation marks be damned, I am really really excited about this. !!!


After my lawn work was all done and cleared away, I sat in the backyard with Monty. First I gathered up some mushrooms that had appeared in the lawn above some old rotting 4 x 4 planks. I haven't yet identified them, but I'll get to that...


Wahooo!!!!

Spring - my wife - is amazing. It was our 5th wedding anniversary this past weekend. We went out for dinner, talked for a long time, and when we got home we watched a DVD of our wedding and marveled at our clear memory of the events.


Soon the night began to fall, so I packed up, grabbed the beagle and we both went inside. More soon on mycological explorations. I am freaking out about this book... :-)

Thank you Spring,

Cheers,

Mungo

The Great Perseids and the Back Garden

Last night between 11:00 and midnight I sat in the backyard on a chair in the dark staring at the night sky.


The Great Perseids meteor shower was to begin overnight and I figured that I'd better watch a bit before I went to bed.


The moment I stepped outside, a huge light streaked across the sky, in the blink of an eye, leaving a white smoke trail behind it.


I tracked the path back to the originating spot in the sky, adjusted my chair and sat down.


Monty raced towards the fence and growled after a juvenile raccoon who was curiously staring at us, and then he very deliberately sat down in the potato patch and looked around.


Soon, all I could see of him was a white blotch and the white tip of his tail as he snuffled about by the compost bin.


Over the next hour I saw about a half-dozen large meteors leave smoke in the sky - Earthgrazers as they are known - and marveled at the view.


Another half dozen or so satellites slowly and steadily tracked across the starry sky.


The bright half-moon probably obscured the dimmer meteors though.


I thought that if I was not in the middle of the city, and instead in a canoe drifting in a lake in Algonquin Park that I'd be enjoying the vista quite a lot more.


Spring was sleeping, so I didn't wake her to come out and see.

Cheers,

Mungo