Threadjacking!

[Dandontdare]

This is the best year for mushrooms since I started picking them.  Currently replete after a giant lunchtime bellyful of a strange sand-dune variant of agaricus campestrus, and looking forward to getting hold of some shaggy inkcaps this afternoon from one of my regular hunting grounds - assuming I got this mornings identification correct and I live that long.

I went on one of those wild foraging walks once - fun but bloody useless. The guy kept finding tasty and nutritious stuff, but every story seemed to end with "but be careful because there's a plant called blah-di-blah that looks just like it and is poisonous", so I've never trusted any of the stuff he showed us.

and the last time I went mushroom hunting it was something else entirely.

[TordelBack]

The guy kept finding tasty and nutritious stuff, but every story seemed to end with "but be careful because there's a plant called blah-di-blah that looks just like it and is poisonous", so I've never trusted any of the stuff he showed us.

I've been having loads of fun with foraging over the past few years (mushrooms, fruit, edible plants, seaweeds, shellfish, abandoned camping gear), mainly because it's an excuse to go wandering about parks, fields, woods and beaches with a sense of purpose but at a pace that the kids can maintain.  Uncoincidentally most of my best mushrooming spots are within 200 yards of a playground or beach. 

The trick vis-a-vis not dying is to never, ever, eat anything you are not absolutely sure of.  With mushrooms this can often mean hauling a pile of samples of various ages home, taking spore prints and checking colour changes, and testing them against loads of reference books, and if you're not absolutely convinced you have your man, chucking them in the bin. 

The best tip I had was to work on identifying 1 type of edible mushroom at a time and no more than 3 in any one year, but get them right.

I'm up to 10 now, that I can confidently identify enough to scoff, but I still go through the whole testing rigmarole if I find familiar species but in a new spot, or there's an apparent variant characteristic.  That said, I now know where and more-or-less exactly when to get a good few types that I've now tried and trusted, and there's a pleasing ritual to it: Last week in September/first week in October, the park near the N7 produces ordinary field mushrooms in massive abundance, first/second week in October two spots near playgrounds produce inkcaps, third/fourth week in October the sand-dunes produce parasols, last week in October/first week in November the GAA ground beside my wife's work produces huge wood blewits etc. etc.

It's all a bit silly, but aside from the pleasure of learning new stuff, feeling like you're exploring when you're actually just taking the kids for a walk, and tasting new things, I have a freezer full of berries and mushrooms, jars of dried shrooms and nuts, various berry and flower wines and a couple of half-decent tents to show for my trouble. 

And my eye on a nicely maturing mussel bed that's exposed at the spring tide.

[Ancient Otter]

The trick vis-a-vis not dying is to never, ever, eat anything you are not absolutely sure of.

See that bit of advice? The author of "The Horse Whisperer" didn't follow that and...

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/13/filmadaptations

and a follow up story years later:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/ways-with-words/8641405/Horse-Whisperer-author-poisoned-by-mushrooms-given-daughters-kidney.html

[TordelBack]

See that bit of advice? The author of "The Horse Whisperer" didn't follow that and...

Mmmm, kidneys... 

[Sideshow Bob]

A pretty horrendous tale of eating the 'wrong type' of mushrooms which has had serious implications for all concerned, both health wise and relationship wise.....A very cautionary tale, so very wise words from TordelBack...

To be honest, I've got the greatest admiration for those who follow the 'foraging route', but living in a small town there is not much opportunity to go foraging........I couldn't tell the difference between a Toadstool and a Mushroom anyway, so the good point for me is that my local supermarket doesn't sell Toadstools.....

Cheers

[Skullmo]

That's nonsese, I live in London and there is loads to forage. For example I foraged an almost full box of KFC from a bin last night! Delicious free fun and getting back to nature to boot.

[Hawkmumbler]

Sounds like a Bolton delicacy.

[Bubba Zebill]

Scientists have discovered a planet that exists in perpetual darkness...it is alone, it has no parent star.

[TordelBack]

Scientists have discovered a planet that exists in perpetual darkness...it is alone, it has no parent star.

As long as it doesn't have a Shakaran World Engine at the back or the giant face of Walt Disney Hank Epsilon on the front we should be fine.  But if it's drawn by Henry Flint at all we're in trouble.

[Spikes]

Scientists have discovered a planet that exists in perpetual darkness...it is alone, it has no parent star.

Those scientists dont live on Alderaan, do they?

[Frank]

Scientists have discovered a planet that exists in perpetual darkness...it is alone, it has no parent star.

Those scientists dont live on Alderaan, do they?

Planet Melancholia, I think. It's a dull, airless world in the Von Trier system.

[Hawkmumbler]

Scientists have discovered a planet that exists in perpetual darkness...it is alone, it has no parent star.

Those scientists dont live on Alderaan, do they?

Planet Melancholia, I think. It's a dull, airless world in the Von Trier system.

I hope this planet doesn't send me into a fit of depression where I fuck my groom/ brides best man/ bridesmaid in a golf course sand box. Because that would be just silly.

[Frank]

Important news for all patriots and pedants. According to The Flag Institute, it's called the Union Jack (6m 25s), even if it's not being hoisted by a sailor.

[TordelBack]

It's cold and dull out there now.  I'm not sure I like this, can we go back to July?

[Spikes]

The Wicker Man Blu-Ray is out tomorrow!