Well in her defense (she is sitting here)....I have spent more money on dumber stuff.......Yes Dear....
Well in her defense (she is sitting here)....I have spent more money on dumber stuff.......Yes Dear....
Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
Evoking the 50 year old rule...
First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27
After all these years the BLAH, BLAH, BLAH I heard early on about stuff has slowly turned into a roll of the eyes or a shake of the head. I don't know about you but I call that progress.
My problem is mostly psychological (sitting on shrink's sofa now, lol): I get enthusiastic about the idea from a friend at local gardening club, get the logs and mulch basically for free from tree trimmers who dump it on my driveway. Gardener friend (mycrophile) gave me some fungus spores or a starter (for free) plus instructions. Good production for a few years. Then I get busy with next project(s) no longer keep it moist enough, termites invade the logs and mulch and I'm thru with it. But it was a lot of fun, very interesting, cost was mostly just time. Much better than watching TV!
On identification of Flora and Fauna and Fungi: I can correctly identify only a small percentage of these in the areas that I camp, hike and paddle most often but am amazed at how certain some other people are at their identification of organisms in the wild. I have learned not to argue with them and try not to make sarcastic remarks but it takes a lot of self control. Some are certain that very common highly edible mushrooms will kill you in a minute (perhaps if you are a rare individual that happens to be allergic to most fungi). Others try to kill all dark snakes in the water because "they are all water moccasins", or swear that a plant is Virginia creeper when it has multiple indications that it is poison ivy or at the very least one of the others in the Toxicodendron genus. Once I was temped to suggest to this recently certified master naturalist that she take the leaves and rub them under her arms to verify it. LOL, problem is that an individual's allergic reaction to oils/resins in this plant can vary over time, come and go. You may not react for years to a fungus or toxic plant, then react badly, then years later not react much at all. Hence the "universal edibility test" and common sense. (And leave the snakes, insects and spiders etc alone!! you can go a long time without the risk of killing or eating them!) Occasionally some fool with hear that iguana meat is good, yes it is, IMO. Then they will try to eat the wrong monitor lizard or cane toad (invasive in S-TX, LA, FL).
LOL Are your eyes rolling back due to the delicious flavor of some freshly gathered and prepared morels and is your head nodding/shaking in agreement and delight like the folks from India do?
Bottom line not much a person can actually learn from a computer/internet, best to spend some time in the forest and garden with someone with years of experience, a true Mycophile. (I am NOT one but have met a few.) The old saying goes "The most important thing in a gardener's garden is the presence of the gardener."
Or "power of observation": i.e "speculative tracking" most important in animal hunting/fishing also in fungi hunting
Actually I think Rick was referring to my comment about DW.......but Hey.....
I agree the older Native American lady that lived in a shack down the same road as a friend......show us kids a lot of things....many that I have forgotten.......
Fun to hang out with.
Still remember, asparagus. cattail root, puffballs....and baskets from oak strips.
Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
Evoking the 50 year old rule...
First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27
This is a fantastic answer.
For some bizarre reason, especially on internet forums, ignorance is constantly spouted off, as being sound advice. i.e.: Don't eat mushrooms, they don't have nutrition, and are poisonous.
What a load of rubbish.
Would you pass up eating apples off an apple tree? No? Why? Because YOU KNOW WHAT AN APPLE IS.
Mushrooms are no different. As part of survival teaching, I teach all there is to know about identifying edible mushrooms, showing identifying features, showing any poisonous varieties which may be similar, and how to test those i.e.: spore print and other ID features. Ignorance is no excuse for lame advice . I wish people would stop posting rubbish on internet 'survival' sites, saying that its good advice to steer clear of edible funghi.
A full cup of hen of the woods has 22 calories, 4.9 g carbs 1.4 g protein and a crap load of vitamin D. Not exactly nutrition packed. How do you teach to identify potential negative reactions many people have to even nonpoisonous species like chicken of the woods? 22 calories isn't worth the potential downside to me. Then there is the calories spent looking. An apple is considerably more nutrition with much less risk. Most warnings are for those that are not 100% certain of what they are picking.
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Last edited by jdbushcraft; 03-23-2015 at 12:23 PM.
Anything is easy if you know what you are doing.......I stick with what I know.
What do you suppose happened to the poor sucker that tried Preparation A thru G?
BTW, being non-poisonous doesn't mean something tastes good.........Just saying.
Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
Evoking the 50 year old rule...
First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27
...
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the only mushrooms i know how to identify on sight will make you trip...
that reminds me of something i heard several years ago in SFAS...
"you will hear people tell you that this course is easy. well, no sh!t they say its easy, they already DID IT!! anything is easy when you have already done it!"
today, i would say that learning another language is easy. but when i had to do it, i wanted to blow my brains out from the frustration...
I love mushrooms...and sometimes grow my own....
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...-are-coming-in
BTW just picked about a dozen 4" caps last week.....third picking.
Kinda hard hauling around the box in the woods, though.....LOL
Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
Evoking the 50 year old rule...
First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27
In a survival situation, people want full bellies, they don't think how many calories are in the thing they are eating. Lactarius Deliciosus is one of those mushrooms that a beginner can ID, straight away, with many, many ID features, that cannot ever be mixed up with something else. We also teach to par boil first, and throw the water away, as another way to lesson any 'queasy stomach' concerns. Personaly I have never heard of anyone, or ever witnessed any of my students ever have a problem with them.
the point of the id'ing cooking and tasting, is it allows students to have a much broader understanding of what learning and learning skills on a new subject means. It is an introduction into a whole new world to most of them, because most Anglo Aussies have zero skills when it comes to foraging.
And if the shrooms are there in season, then you betcha we make great big meals of them. A bit of olive oil, dried chilli, garlic and black pepper, and then fry up deliciosus until they just start to burn, and ………..maaaaate……..their aint nothing better in the world. :-)
Learning is fun, experiences in real life are fun. We end up getting contacted by friends and ex-students every time they go out 'mushrooming' in the local pine forests, to hook up with them and have a great day out.
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