James and I have been incredibly busy recently with our many, many projects. Unfortunately for you guys, that means we have been MIA from our blog! Well, don’t worry. That is all about to change. While searching for black morels, which have been mostly non-existent this year, we stumbled into some very interesting fungi growing along the snowbanks.

Now for all of you who have never been to the Rocky Mountains looking for mushrooms in June, many unique fungi appear during this time of year around 9,000-10,000 feet in elevation. As our early summer temperatures skyrocket, snow begins to melt quite rapidly, creating many seasonal streams and tons of water runoff. This is also the period in which black morels begin to show up, soaking up all of the water rushing down the mountains. However, this year was abnormally cool in our upper elevations, causing the spring season to progress slowly. The aspen trees, which leaf out when morels like to fruit, have already been showing their leaves for almost 2 weeks now. This is true all the way up to 10,000 feet in elevation. However, Calypso Orchids, strawberries, Osha, and other ‘signal’ plants are barley beginning to grow. Bill Windsor, who is a long-time member of the Colorado Mycological Society and a Colorado black morel expert, informed many at the recent foray about these issues. These signal plants show to many of us who hunt morels that the ground temperature stayed too cool for too long. Bill mentioned that his black morel spots are barley fruiting if at all, and that in many areas of Colorado, the window of opportunity to find morels is coming to a close.

As I mentioned above, June is when our snow begins its melt off period, and even if we don’t have many morels in June, this moisture bank that comes surging down the mountains sustains many types of interesting fungi. The pictures below this post were all taken this year, and show the mushrooms that I am about to talk about.

The fungi that is pictured at the top of the post as well as below, is the very common, but none the less beautiful, Guepiniopsis alpinus, also known as the Golden Jelly Cone. This unique fungi can be found fruiting from dead wood, and like the other fungi, is found in areas where a snow bank has just receded or next to a snow bank where the water is melting into the ground. Their jelly like texture and bright golden color make it easy to identify.

The next photo is the largest of the snowbank fungi. Hygrophorus alpinus is a stately mushroom with bright white flesh. It has gills that are decurrent (running down the stem) and a mucus-like veil when young. Their stem tends to be rather bulbous at the base. This fungi is also an edible mushroom! It is actually one of the only Hygrophorus in Colorado that is known to be an edible species. James and I cooked some of them up just in butter and olive oil, salt and pepper. They had a very unique flavor, but to me, a slightly slug-like texture. I think if you cooked them until they were crispy, they would actually be quite delicious.

The last picture is of the very common Caloscypha fulgens. It is distinguished by its fairly uniform, cup-like shape, its ‘hunter orange’ hue, and the blue staining around its underside. These fungi tend to be found growing in conifer duff in open areas. They are so bright in color that they almost look like trash at first glance.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos of these strange fungi. Check back with us soon for pictures of our Pink Oysters that have fruited beautifully, as well as our standard Pleurotus pulmonarius that has fruited quite nicely as well.

While I was working on expanding mycelium I got an excited phone call from James. He said, “You can probably guess why I’m calling…” and I said, “Are you standing in front of some morels?”. “Black morels! About 30 of ‘em!” he said, and before I knew it, I was driving up into the mountains to go see them. I arrived to the spot and hiked up the stream into a grove of aspens. There was James and Clem standing there with big smiles on their faces. We went down to the stream and James sent me down to find them on my own. What was amazing to me is that they were growing right in the middle of the creek about halfway underwater! When I had first read in books that the Native Americans called morels ‘land fish mushrooms’, and I could never quite understand why until I saw these beautiful specimens swimming in the creek like trout. Even though they were soggy, with a little drying out they made a delectable cream sauce over barbecued chicken. But the most amazing part to me was that when they were fresh they smelled like fresh trout! Amazing! Suddenly the name ‘land fish’ begins to make more sense. So the first report of black morels has arrived in Colorado, and with it tons and tons of rain. We may have had a rough blonde morel season but that doesn’t mean no morels for us Coloradans. So keep your eyes peeled if you are around 9,000′ in elevation and are seeing moist aspen groves, especially if the leaves are just starting to come out, you might get lucky and spot some of these gorgeous little morsels! Check back soon for dates to the Amateur Mycology black morel forays, as well as more pictures and HD video of the whole experience. Happy hunting!

The Colorado Mycological Society has kindly asked James and I to do a foray for the club this Sunday. We will be searching for the often difficult to find Morchella esculenta, popularly known as the Golden or Blonde Morel. This year has been a very interesting year for weather for the front range of Colorado, and due to our great but late rains, the morel season so far has been very hit and miss. Some of the only areas we are finding them held their moisture during the drier part of early May. It is our assumption that this is why they were only in a few areas this year. However, Michael Kuo has a very good section of his book Morels about what he refers to as ‘Morel Theorizing’ where he pokes fun at much of morel hunter ‘science’ and discusses some of the leading ‘theories’ and morel know-how. If you haven’t already, purchase a copy of his book; it is a wealth of information. So, to make a long story shorter, we have no idea if we are going to see blonde morels this weekend. But I know we will have fun looking for (and theorizing about) this amazing fungi.

If you would like to attend this foray, we will be meeting in the Safeway parking lot on 28th and Arapahoe in Boulder Sunday May 22nd @ 9am. If you are a member of the Colorado Mycological Society the foray is free, non-members must make a $5 donation to Colorado Mycological Society. It is well worth it! Support your local mycological society!

As far as we know… which of course isn’t a whole heck of a lot (you are visiting Amateur Mycology after all) we are the first to find blonde morels in Colorado this year. We have video evidence for those of you who do not believe, which we will be posting soon along with pictures! They were found at about 5,000-5,500′ in elevation yesterday. The soil temperature was ranging from 49-53 degrees F in the areas they were found (we for some reason can’t remember exactly where). We are using fairly cheap digital candy thermometers to read the soil temperatures around the general area, as well as directly in the vicinity of the mushrooms. So for all of you in Colorado, hope for a little rain and get out there looking! I think we got a little rain this afternoon….

The last Saturday in April in the small Nebraska town of Peru, there is a gathering of people from across the country all hunting for one mushroom… the elusive culinary delight, the Blonde Morel! James and I have plans to visit this festival, film our trip there and back, and plan on hunting the Morel the whole way! Our trip will start here in Colorado, but we plan on driving there because we will be following the Platte River almost the whole way there! For those of you who haven’t hunted Blonde Morels before, that means we are driving past Morel habitat during the entire drive! If you would like to visit the Great Nebraska Mushroom Hunt visit their website, www.nebraskathegoodlife.com for a schedule, driving directions, as well as any other information about the festival. And if you can’t make it and wish you could, check back soon for a full episode of Amateur Mycology Video Magazine all about this trip. Hope all is well out there, and if you are in Colorado and haven’t already, get out there and start looking! There is fungal life about!

Yesterday, James went out and found a Polyporus squamosus, the dryad’s saddle, fresh and still in button stage. In February we found some Flammulina velutipes fruiting on our oyster and enoki stump in Littleton, however, also known as the winter mushroom, Flammulina velutipes can be found in almost every month of the year. This morning I went out to my earliest Coprinus comatus spot in the front yard, and sure enough, there were 4 mushrooms! Now 4 mushrooms may not be very many, and this particular spot is watered by the sprinklers in the mornings. But every year they pop up in this spot, mushroom season has officially begun. If you search wetter areas, in particular places in the city where they have just turned on the sprinklers, you should have a good chance of seeing some fungal life. Pleurotus, Flammulina, Coprinus, and maybe few Agaricus should be around. Another good place to start looking is around creeks and rivers along wetter areas, especially spots with a good seepage. We will keep you updated on the progression of the Colorado season as it goes along. Morels should be popping up within the next month, along with all of our early spring fungi. If you haven’t already, check out my post on Morel habitat for more information. Asparagus should also start sprouting up soon as well! Good luck out there and happy spring!

The Olympia Mycelial Network is happy to announce plans for the first (inter)national Radical Mycology Convergence. A fungi-human relations congress of sorts, this convergence will be a unique opportunity for humans to build stronger connections with our fungal allies. They hope to create space for inspiring discussions on the future of radical mycological efforts and their implications. Proposed workshops include Do-It-Yourself mushroom cultivation, mushroom identification, and mycopermaculture. There will also be opportunities to put theory to practice by working on a mycorestoration project in a damaged habitat. But really, it will be what we all make it. Plus, this event is scheduled for September 2nd-5th, 2011 in Cascadia (aka the Pacific Northwest), one of the best times and places in the world to see mushrooms.

Amateur Mycology will be attending this conference. James and I will be giving two presentations, ‘Green Mushroom Cultivation’ and ‘Applications for Mycelium Beyond Mycophagy’. We hope to see you there!

The Olympia Mycelial Network is currently looking for general helpers, organizers, workshop facilitators, presenters, workshop leaders, cooks, and anyone else with an inclination towards fungi. If this sounds like you, please contact them via email at radmycology@gmail.com to let them know.