Spring Mushroom Foraging & Identification 

Thank you! Always appreciate your kind words of encouragement - appreciate you tuning in! Happy Trails!

I'm so glad! Really appreciate the positive feedback - it has been a pleasure putting these together and I can't wait to get the next video out your way!

That is so interesting ... a lot of times people don't think of mushrooms as being a protein source, but in times of need, even the less tasty mushrooms find their way to the table. Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard!

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No doubt - that is similar here too! Fall is definitely prime time (and my favorite time of year to be out on the mushroom trail!) But Springtime out here brings some good foraging (most notably the Morels and Spring King Boletes). Appreciate you tuning in! Happy Trails! 🍄

Super interesting to have that firsthand historical reference! Here is what viewer @Schwammerlfee commented on a video that I put out several weeks ago: "some mushrooms that are not especially tasty or nutritious that have been eaten in Germany when food has been short during or between the wars: Pluteus cervinus, Russula ochroleuca, Tapinella atrotomentosa, Porphyrellus porphyrosporus, to name some. Those are big enough to not go hungry and could be found frequently when tasty ones couldn’t be found frequently. Sometimes those mushrooms still are referred as 'war mushrooms' " I found this super interesting too!!! Such a cool opportunity to learn from everyone in these comments. Thanks for tuning in, and Happy Trails!

@@MushroomTrail thx for sharing 😌, I’ll dig into it = ask my relatives. Very impressed you are interested in the history of the mushrooms 🎊

Mushrooms really had (or maybe have in some parts of the world?) a big part in so-called survival food, I love digging into mushroom history and/or plants as well.

@@Kaaarlotta❤

Thanks so much for sharing - I really appreciate both your kind words of encouragement and your perspective. I couldn't agree more about your reference to generational amnesia. So well put - and so spot on. It is really difficult to be passionate about protecting something without knowledge of why doing so matters or understanding the intricate way that things on this planet are interconnected. Directly experiencing those connections and forming real world relationships can go a long way towards building back those understandings. Wild places are truly one of our greatest treasures ... they bring us alive and enable us to experience the way we connect with the world around us. And if nature is our favorite school, fungi just might be my favorite teacher! Curious to get your take - are there still currently places in the UK where one can tap into truly wild places? It has been a long while since I passed through, but I remember some impressive greenery in the north. Not sure if it's still that way (or if there is public access) but would be interested to learn more. Really appreciate you tuning in!

Honestly, you said so much with the word 'interconnected' - Thoroughly understanding symbiosis is so important; mutualistic symbiosis, parasitic symbiosis, and commensalism. Nothing is not needed when it comes to the natural order of things, everyone has something to bring to the table, and there are innumerable poignant philosophies we've completely missed as we became farmers instead of Hunter Gatherers. In essence, we completely forgot how to be sentient human animals, and now we're all trying to adapt to an environment and way of life that is literally Millenia's worth of foreignness to our bodies and spirits. I genuinely painted a sign in my flat that says: "DON'T WORRY - YOU DIDN'T EVOLVE FOR THIS SHIT." - you'd be surprised how much it helps. We are so derogatory as a species in respect to our dominant western (colonialist) societal narrative towards nature and wildlife... (oh boy you've really got me started now haha...) anyway, for a starter, what about the way we describe humans as being, well, animals. That shouldn't even be an insult. Pretty much all creatures are just trying to go about their business and sur-thrive the best they can... Why call someone a parasite, when they have an important role to play? We forget the longevity of natural cycles, we live much too quickly and miss much too much. Honey Fungus clearing swathes of land for a new forest to regenerate. We don't have the time, we're too busy making other people feel redundant. I also believe in the concept of 'Natural Violence' and 'Synthetic Violence' - and that we anthropocentrically confuse these two constantly. The sad thing is, all of our problems boil down to the simple fact that none of us are living how we should be living, apart from the Sentinelese perhaps... and we're collectively not informed about anything prior to the Roman invasion at school here, because, yeah, all history worth mentioning began in AD43 apparently... but anyway, the reason hippies are vilified in the west is because they have a tendency to point out that we are living on a finite planet with finite resources, but that kinda goes against linear economic growth. It's never going to be an economically sound thing to do to listen to nature, so I'm reluctantly pessimistic for the babies born today. They will have fire in their hearts though, I can feel it in my bones. As far as wild places go, Scotland does have some of the UK's only temperate rainforest conditions, so there are a lot of wild places, although I've never been up there, but down here, (and I'm basically opposite the Isle of Wight), it's absolutely nothing like the size of the places you can visit in the USA. It's all managed woodland, and very hard to get lost in. The term Forest is a political term here, and commoners have been getting subsidies from the government since medieval times. It is necessary for livestock to be out maintaining certain habitats, but not to the extreme they are. I have a feeling the population has risen a fair bit since then, so the ratio is the problem. It's all about ratios now, it's off balance all over the shop. You don't get the sense of being wild and free here as much as I'd like, but it's not at all lost on me that it is a privilege in and of itself to have been born here and to call this place my home. Gratitude, I guess that's key too. : )

Thank you! I really loved learning that piece of mushroom history from you - so very interesting! Thanks for sharing, and Happy Trails!

No doubt! The past few days have created some fairly prime conditions up here in PNW ... plenty of rain followed by some warm sunny days. We'll see what comes out this week! Always appreciate you tuning in - good luck out there!

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Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for tuning in!

Very welcome - glad you enjoyed it!

I keep thinking any day now ... surprised that they haven't shown up in my typical spots yet. Seems like the warm weather this weekend will likely bring them to surface. Time will tell.

Quick update - someone just commented that they found about a pound of Verpa bohemica near Rockport yesterday (4/2) ... not fruiting at my spots yet, but glad to know they're starting to show themselves! Good luck out there!

@@MushroomTrail Nice! I was out on the trail Sunday and didn't see anything but a ton of cottonwood buds but I'll be back at it again this weekend .

Thanks so much! I don't currently have anything like that scheduled, but you never know... it's a possibility! Appreciate the kind words and will be sure to let you know if any group walks find their way onto the calendar!

Indeed! 👍

The two main things that I look for with the Deer Mushroom is to confirm that it is growing from wood and to confirm that it has free gills. It also tends to be good sized and, as noted, has pink spores (and cap/stipe as depicted). It also tends to have a "radish-like" smell. On the other hand, members of the Entolomatacease family include a number of toxic mushrooms and are quite diverse. The Nolanea species that I frequently observe here in Western WA lack those two characteristics of free gills and growing on dead/decaying wood. They also have a totally different stature, a silky stipe, and a much different looking cap. But because of the fact that they also have pink spores, caution is definitely advised.

Several analytical studies have looked into the betaglucans and triterpenes of the Red Belted Conk. They suggest anti-cancer (especially in regards to colon cancer), anti-fungal, and anti-diabetic to name a few. Still lots to learn about this one's potential!

Some mushrooms do display bioluminescence, but the Sulfur Tuft (Hypholoma fasiculare) featured here only displays fluorescence when exposed to specific UV light. Still, that glowing neon green color is quite a sight! Wild to think that this unique glow is a result of electrons being excited and then falling back down to their ground state.

@@MushroomTrail I would love to see a show that had them on it. I think they are beautiful 😍

Thanks - appreciate the feedback. I'm always curious to know what peoples' viewing experience is like. I'll take that into consideration👍