One of the things we are learning to accept with dry summers is annual forest fires. This image was taken on Saturday from Mount Erie in Anacortes. The camera filter exaggerated the sepia tones but I think it still captures the apocalyptic feel outside over the past few days. Where is all of this smoke…

Lesson Plans for Mushrooms There has been an increasing level of interest among educators for lesson plans or curricula related to mushrooms and the fungal kingdom. I have started creating lesson plans targeting middle school students and will begin sharing by this fall. In the meantime, I have a list of what I feel are…

I have had some of the best luck finding summer mushrooms in the Olympics and along the Straight of Juan de Fuca on Vancouver Island. If I could choose anywhere right now, I would pick coastal Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Still, I managed to find a Bears Head (Hericium) last weekend in the western…

Have you found a small yellow mushroom growing with a houseplant? It is quite likely to be a mushroom native to tropical areas but found throughout the US with potted plants. This mushroom known as Leucocoprinus birnbaumii Leucocoprinus birnbaumii more Where did it come from? These mushrooms are native to the tropics however they are…

Toadstool is an informal word for a mushroom with certain aesthetic. These mushrooms have a typical umbrella-like cap and central stem growing from the ground. The term toadstool does not refer to any specific mushroom. The most classic example of a toadstool is Amanita muscaria or Fly Agaric. This conspicuous mushroom has a red cap,…

Learning to forage and identify mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest takes time. I would like to share some of my favorite sites and apps to help speed up your learning. Even experienced mushroom foragers would likely find a few surprises in here. The best time to pick mushrooms Chanterelles, boletes, morels, and other edible mushrooms…

A group of us met up in the Lake Wenatchee area on Saturday to look for spring kings (Boletus rex-veris). Both morels and spring kings are found predominently in the eastern Cascades. Morels are the first to show up in early May and boletes later in the month and into June or even July at…

Overview One of the best places to search for morels is 1 year-old burn areas. This large 2021 burn is 20 miles west of Naches, WA. In the past week or two, low elevation areas around the burn finally started to fruit.  Members are invited to meet up in the area this weekend (May 21-22)…

Bring on the morels! Low-elevation morels have been popping around the Pacific Northwest since early April however it’s still early season for much of the region or even possibly still covered with snow. Most of the mushrooms people are finding in the Salish Sea region are landscape morels or Morchella importuna. This are dark, conic-shaped…