Our Journey Westward » fungi

Fungi of Summer/Late Summer

Cindy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:42:21 +0000

Many people think fungi are only around during the wet and warm spring months. How are these for August and September fungi finds??

Unidentified Polypore

Silky Parchment

Mustard-yellow Polypore

Tapioca Slime

Likely another image of Silky Parchment

Likely some sort of Carbon Mushroom or a Slime Mold

Likely a Jack O'Lantern or False Chantrelle

This area of fruiting body was huge!

I have no idea what this is, but it looked like a mold.

Hairy Parchment

Possibly Carbon Balls or Red Cushion Hypoxylon

Possibly Bear Lentinus

I took these pictures near the edge of a creek on rotting logs and on a walk in the woods. They were everywhere! Finding fungi is one of my new nature study passions ever since writing the Fungus Among Us NaturExplorer unit! Since there are many thousand varieties of fungi, it’s sometimes hard to pinpoint exactly what you find. But that’s okay, just seeing them is enough for me!

Great Spring Nature Finds

Cindy — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:20:05 +0000

Here are some more very cool discoveries from a recent nature walk.

Can you see inside the hole? The picture below this one shows the mushrooms that were growing in the hole – and they were huge even if the picture doesn’t show that very well.

We wondered who enjoys this cozy little burrow.

Ants were busy, busy, busy going back and forth on this little path they had created between two ant holes.

Conks aren’t a good sign for the health of the tree, but they sure are pretty to look at!

We have several old brick piles from a house we tore down on the farm. Take a look at this amazing and fuzzy orange fungus! We believe it might be called Spreading Yellow Tooth.

Can you see the puff of pollen floating off of the plant? Every time we stepped on one of these plants, pollen dust went flying through the air like a little bomb.

What cool nature finds have you made lately?

Mushroom Nature Study

Cindy — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:59:28 +0000

Spring is such a fun time for studying mushrooms! It’s been raining a lot around here and a quick trip around the yard led to six different types of mushrooms found in about five minutes time yesterday.

Towards evening, we headed to a spot on the farm where leftover hay has been decomposing. What treasures we found there!

If you’ve never taken a mushroom walk, now is a great time to do it! Damp ground, decomposing logs, old leaf piles, and dung piles are great places to look.