wind, rain and mushrooms

This morning brought a furious wind storm but, for the first couple of hours at least, no rain at all. Then, when the rains came in late morning, the winds mysteriously stopped. In weather conditions like this, only some of the larger birds were willing to take to the air; most creatures simply hunkered down.

The rain of the past few days has produced something that has been missing all summer: mushrooms! I found a very fresh chicken mushroom (Polyporus or Laetiporus sulfureus), a glorious Hen of the Woods (Grifola frondosa), a few boletes and russulas, and, next to a neighbor's driveway, a burst of Honey Mushrooms (Armillaria mellea), all good edibles. I took a few of the larger caps of the last-named and found a new and highly sinful recipe for them (suffice it to say that both butter and sour cream were involved). When I went back today, the heads the entire crop had been decapitated -- whether by the gardeners (in an unnecessary burst of diligrence) or by another, unknown mushroom picker, I cannot say. For many years, I was the only birdwatcher in East Quogue and now there are several. Perhaps the same is true in the field of mycology, the study of mushrooms, or, more precisely, mycophagy, the eating of mushrooms (to be a successful mycophagist you have to be at least something of a mycologist!).

Eric Salzman