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!

Our most recent project has been to expand our mycelium onto a large amount of substrate. We have been acquiring large quantities of wood-chip from the City of Littleton, as well as wheat straw that we have been inoculating with various mushroom varieties for use over the summer. This spawn will be used for many purposes including starting a brand new mushroom farm called Jackie’s Farm in Brighton, Colorado as well as for many types of mycorestoration and mycoremediation. Since Oyster mushrooms have been known to be great mycoremediators we have mainly been expanding an oyster mushroom that we have dubbed ‘the ground oyster’. It was found in Denver last year in a golf course growing in the middle of a green. At first James and I figured it was growing on a rotten root that must have extended into the green, however, much to our amazement it was growing from the dirt itself. Under closer inspection it was concreting the soil and rocks together with mycelium. Not only that, but it was one of the largest clusters of oyster mushrooms we had ever seen. This strain of oyster mushroom has shown particular vigor in culture and grows through it’s substrate with lightning speed and efficiency. The picture shown above is a handful of the ‘ground oyster’ mycelium holding the pieces of wood together with much tenacity. There is a little picture gallery to look at below showing some of the things we were doing yesterday. Check back soon for updates on this matter, as well as a tutorial on how to expand mycelium many different ways.

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Clitocybe nuda, otherwise known as the wood blewit or the bluefoot mushroom, is fairly rare here in Colorado favoring more temperate climates of Europe and North America. This week we found quite a few of them in Denver. It was amazing to see a fairy ring 30′ in diameter fruiting these beautiful purple mushrooms, and the best part is they are edible! The French, the Dutch, and the English cultivate it for export all over the world. In fact, just recently I was in Whole Foods and noticed they had bluefoots imported from France. The good news is we also have this mushroom as a part of the Amateur Mycology Culture Library, and is destined to be an integral part to our mycoagriculture projects next year! I tried cooking some of the ones I found in Denver in a stir fry this evening and they were absolutely amazing. They also kept their wonderful purple color, which gave wonderful contrast with red bell peppers and snap peas. Delicious!