Kind of off the beaten path but.......

[Tyrath]

Been pouring here this morning and I couldn't take it anymore and made my walk about the farm. As some know my appreciation of Mushrooms is not limited to Zoogies and Chagas On my walk around the woods path I found these, well worth getting soaked to the bone to have 25 pounds of Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms in the basket!

 

[Lady Lavendar]

Those are lovely! I miss seeing mushrooms in the forest. All jungle here and not many mushrooms.

 

[Tyrath]

Those are lovely! I miss seeing mushrooms in the forest. All jungle here and not many mushrooms.

One thing we have in abundance in the hardwoods of Southern IL. are tons of edible wild mushrooms. Chantrelles are my favorite, These Chicken of the woods come in a close second, and third would be the shelves of oyters that grow year round on the dead elm trees. Morels are the most popular but never held much appeal for me. Just weighed them and the one in the first pic came in at 14 pounds and the second 7 pounds. Biggest one I ever found was last year and it was 32.75 pounds. Might break that record this evening there 18 more that just started popping this morning under the old dead oak tree these grow under every year.

 

[kelmo]

*thinks garlic and butter*


and bacon!

 

[Tyrath]

*thinks garlic and butter*


and bacon!

Went with wrapping bacon around them, beer battering them and deep frying them for lunch. Will do bacon ends and garlic butter for dinner

 

[Lady Lavendar]

Gosh, do you mind drop in guests for dinner? It would be a long way to go, but I love mushrooms! Where I used to live we had chanterelles. Oh my, they are my favorites, as well!

 

[Tyrath]

Very long way to travel for a mushroom dinner You bring the pineapples and I will put the pig in the pit. Do a Island theme customer appreciation party in the woods this fall!

 

[Lady Lavendar]

Sounds grand! You da kine!

 

[Velius]

You should learn to take some spore prints and build a DIY habitat for em.
You can put a great setup together for 50$ tops.

 

[Tyrath]

You should learn to take some spore prints and build a DIY habitat for em.
You can put a great setup together for 50$ tops.

Unfortunately Chicken of the Woods and Chantrelles do very poorly cultivated. On the other hand the oysters, meadow, straw and button mushrooms do very well by inoculating sterile straw bags. Then we get into the peoples republic of Illinois mushroom laws and regulations, NO THANKS LOL I am already buried under the USDA and IDOA Meat and poultry regulations, the egg regulations and now the FDA fruit and vegetable FSMA regulations. Not to mention 6 health department Jurisdictions and the State Department of Public Health. I get no less than 12 on farm inspections every year and usually another 12-14 inspections at farmers markets. The last thing I want to do is add another layer of regulations and inspections from another Governement agency (IDNR) into that mix with mushroom spore.

 

[Velius]

Ouch. That's a whole lot of red tape.
Mushroom hunting seems to be a big thing there. I have some people I drop in on from time to time and 2 of them go out frequently.

 

[Tyrath]

Ouch. That's a whole lot of red tape.
Mushroom hunting seems to be a big thing there. I have some people I drop in on from time to time and 2 of them go out frequently.

It is. Used to be not so long ago you could collect spore inoculate the grow media and sell it. Now days the spore has to carry documentation of which lab it was produced in and the strain number. The Commercial mushroom growers lobbied the State hard for that and the prohibition of the sale of most wild mushrooms and spore. Morels being the only legal wild variety. All that being said Nothing illegal about harvesting wild mushrooms for personal use from private lands.