Mountains of Mushrooms!

  This whole summer has seen us in one of the worst droughts on record for the area. It was really strange because folks all around us were getting weekly rains. Here, within one square mile, nothing...nary a drop!  I gave up on the inground gardens, watered the potted plants and put out bins of water for my wild critter friends.  I could not water all of the trees so they soon lost their leaves in an effort to survive. The threat of wildfires kept me raking and mowing like a maniac!  Several mornings, the smell of thick smoke caused me to go into a frenzy of removing dead leaves!  Then, last week, we got rain!  Not much but enough to ease the mind.  For three days, a slow drizzle settled the dirt and the soul.  All in all, we only got a half inch over the course of three days but it was very appreciated.

  During those three drizzly days, the fungi world came alive. The poor things obviously have been sitting dormant for the duration of the drought and, suddenly, were able to burst forth in happiness!  Early one morning, I came across a huge mound of the prettiest, tan-colored mushrooms.  An old, rotted stump had played host to this colony!  As I mentioned, it was huge...a mountain of mushrooms, so it seemed.  The clump was about eighteen inches in height and about that in diameter!  I was enthralled by the find and wanted to find out more about these beauties!

  Pondering just how to go about identifying mushrooms, my thoughts turned to my oldest son.  Mark is up on all sorts of things and is quickly learning about fungi...a newfound interest.  So...I quickly sent him the photographs.  He suggested that these looked a lot like Ringless Honey Mushrooms.  He then asked, "Did you eat them?"  Yeah...sure...I eat all unidentified mushrooms.  NO!  I did not eat them because I had no idea if they were edible.  He then informed me not to eat them raw.  They had to be cooked.  I think I will leave that eating part to him but I was appreciative of the identification.  The name suits them well as they are definitely honey-colored!    Sad to say, a few days later, my mountain of mushrooms had dissolved into a gooey, gelatinous mess!  My pretty, pretty mushrooms were now a fly-covered gunk!