Fungi Fair, Athol Massachusetts

[urbpan]

After driving by the location three times I finally found the fungi fair. Inside the Millers River Environmental Center, an almost overwhelming aroma of cooking mushrooms accompanied Noah Siegel's presentation on beginning mushroom identifications. Participants had brought their mushrooms in to be identified, and laid them out on long tables out in the light of the beautiful day. I discovered that I only had to be about 20 miles out of Boston to see that fall was well under way in the rest of New England. Another 50 miles away from Boston, in the almost sickeningly quaint mill town of Athol, there was no doubt what season it was. Accordingly, I stopped at a farm stand to buy apples and corn.

Comments

[bdot.livejournal.com]

while everyone back there is in sweaters, we out here are wearing tank tops and trying to beat 95-100 degree heat! the mushrooms are cool. how many were you able to identify?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'd rather be wearing shorts and sandals.

I recognized a good percentage of what was on the table, but I didn't linger to attempt identifications.

[bdot.livejournal.com]

the shorts and sandals are a nice side effect, but the heat is really wearing me down! the heat wave is supposed to be over in a few days.....

[(Anonymous)]

Fungi Fair! Wish I'd known, although probably wouldn't have had enough time to go. Used to go mushrooming in the Blue Hills with my dad and Polish grandparents when a child. We got Boletus, Russulas and something they called Goat's Beard (looks like sea coral, and can't remember its Latin name). Ah, mushrooming days . . . they'd discuss the weather for weeks in advance: whether it was cool enough yet, rainy enough, whether both in combination were going to fit correctly on a weekend. They fried everything in butter. Delicious!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

"Goat's beard" sounds like Hericium.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

beautiful

[ndozo.livejournal.com]

Looks like fun. THis project looked fun too: http://findermaker.blogspot.com/2009/09/mushroom-shelf-tutorial.html

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea! I'm tempted to give it a try, although it seems a little like turning a deer trophy into a hat rack.

[aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com]

"Turning a deer trophy into a hat rack," I should suggest this to my dad to see how he reacts!