May / Jun 2007 Volume 35 Issue 3
Summer Foray at
By Dave Miller
9 am, Sat. July 28
until Noon, Sunday July 29.
Where:
Friday Night (Early Arrivals):
7PM-9 PM Meet at The Feve,
Saturday:
9:00 AM Registration & Coffee and Doughnuts.
10:00 AM
Forays Depart - Group A
Hale Road Loop Trail Group B: Meadow
11:45 Forays Return
12:00-1:00 Lunch (Bring a potluck covered dish to share, large fridge on-site.
1:00-1:30 Brief descriptive talk by Joe Strong of
1:30 Afternoon Forays depart, including other
3:30- Forays return and set out specimens on display tables.
4:30-5:30 Technical Program-The Boletes, Walt Sturgeon.
5:30- Review Collections/ tablewalk-Walt and others.
6:30 Dinner at the Feve in Oberlin.
Sunday:
9:00 AM View collections/answer questions and impromptu mushroom tasting.
12:00 Noon Clean up/ Depart.
Accommodations:
Camping:
Hotel and Motels:
The only Oberlin Hotel is already booked, but there is a somewhat run-down Sunset Motel just outside town at 44077 Old Rte. 20 (440/774-1629). There are clusters of big chain Motels at several locations:
To get to these from Carlisle, Go back to US Rte. 20 East/OH
301 North and head toward
There are many B&B options, I will tell you of three of them, each of which has several sites, the funds collected from the boarders go to good causes and range from $50-$60, are located within the Oberlin city limits, so they’re as close to Carlisle as you can get. I’d highly recommend these options.
There is also an exhaustive list available on
Directions to
From Downtown Oberlin:
go north on
From the South: Rte.
58 north to US 20, which is just 2 mi. south of Oberlin. Turn rt. (east) onto US Rte 20 and take the 2nd.
Exit, Rte 301,
From the North: Take the OH Turnpike to Exit 152 or I-480 to just before the OH Turnpike. Follow signs to Rte. 10 (Norwalk, Oberlin) on I-480 stay to the left, and take Exit 1, which will take you SW, and then joins up with US Rte 20. Continue on this SW to the LaGrange Rd. Rte 301 exit. Go left (south) on Rte. 301 and follow directions above. If exiting the OH Turnpike at Exit 152, follow signs to Rte. 10 (US 20) Norwalk, Oberlin, a right off the ramp after you’ve paid the toll. This will take you through two stoplights, then a right onto OH Rte. 10. From there follow directions above.
We have booked the Carlisle Room and the Black River Room. We’ll be in the Black River Room for big groups and mushroom displays and in the Carlisle Room for slide presentations.
Salt Fork
By Pauline Munk
About 12-14 folks showed up for this earliest morel hunt and
came up with no mushrooms for anyone! As
if that wasn’t bad enough, the usual lunch place,
Morels!
By Dick Doyle
We had seven people show up for our mini morel hunt at the Denison Bio Reserve on Sat. April 28th. Everyone in the group, except me, found something. Rick Sarahman, a new member, found 5 black morels; Dave Smith found 3 yellows; Brenda Howard and her daughter, Emily Wise found two half-frees; Mary Ann Barnett found some fresh wood ears that she can use in her biology class at Newark High School; and Greg Hostetler, not yet a member, found 25 beautiful yellows and grays. I, the great leader, found nada-zilch-keine pilzen! I may go out again tomorrow to improve my success rate!
Ed. Note: No word on that 2nd try by Dick Doyle. Is one’s success at finding morels inversely proportional to one’s tenure in the OMS? Hmmm!
A New Blog
Elio Schaechter, author of In The Company of Mushrooms, emailed us about his new blog, Small Things Considered-The Microbe Blog-whose website is http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/ “I would like to call your attention to my blog, sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology. Most of the entries are about bacteria, but I am sneaking in as many about fungi as I can. Perhaps readers of your newsletter may find some of this material of interest.” And I, as your editor, would highly recommend reading his book, too!
The Pothunter’s Periodical
An ongoing review of existing
edibles during the mushroom season.
By Dick Grimm
Ed. Note: Following are excerpts from the first 3 of Dick’s latest on following the mushrooms. I’m only quoting parts of them to give you the unmistakable flavor of his observations, because much of it concerns mushrooms whose season has already passed. If you like what you read and have email access, you can ask Jerry Pepera to put your name on the list and you will receive up-to-date info about the progress of the mushroom season and what you can expect to find out in the woods.
# 1: From early April:
It is the beginning of morel season. April is for black morels, Morchella elata. The black morels grow about 3 to 5 inches tall. They are deep brown in the pits and the ridges are black. The stem is white.
One never goes by the months, and dates of the months, to hunt morels. Always go by the appearance of certain vascular plants and the blooming trees. I say the blooming trees because they are the most obvious. If you do not know the plants, fear not; you need only know a few. Skunk cabbage, and the flower…Hepatica…are good indicators. Also, when the May apples are about four or five inches tall and just about to unfurl. The red maples can be seen now as a red haze over the woods as one drives down the highway. The ridges of the hills (if you have hills) show a light green color rather than the darker green seen at the lower elevations. These are tulip trees (Liriodendron) and they are most friendly with black morels. Black morels also like wild cherry and hickory, as well. Remember…morels are fickle. These are likely spots but are not the sole habitat for black morels. Often they appear at the edges of the woods, too. They are, however, a woods growing mushroom unlike the yellow morel, Morchella esculenta, which may come up along old railroad tracks and RR embankments, old apple orchards, or rich soil in your garden, as well as in the woods. More on the yellows later.
By the end of April the black morels seem to peter out but
there is always some spill-over into early May. I’ll keep you briefed on where
and when. If you want a copy of the “spring things” key send me a self
addressed envelope and I’ll send it to you. My home address is Dick Grimm 13910
Shipley Rd. Fredericktown,
# 2: From mid-April
Pothunters Periodical will move along with seasonal edibles
and possible, dangerous look-alikes. If you are not familiar with the term
“look-alike” it means exactly what it says. Look-alikes are simply mushrooms
that resemble edibles but could be poisonous in various degrees from the
backhouse trots to goodbye Charlie! Understand, too, that there is always the
possibility of personal allergies involved. I eat strawberries and love ‘em, you eat strawberries and break out in hives or have the
wrong end of your body in the toilet (or both, alternately, of course). I have
a mushrooming friend in
Due to the screwy weather this year black morels don’t know what to do. There are reports of success but there is a lot of negativity going on out there. This week end calls for much warmer weather so if the black morels are just under the turf waiting, they could pop up in a hurry. “Ya wins a few ‘n ya loses a few…that’s mushroomin” The club always furnishes the area to hunt in, but to guarantee the mushrooms is not in the manual.
Next in line, is typically the “dogs” (uh, I’ll be nice about this) and the false morels.
The spikes…that’s the dogs in polite terms, usually fruit in large quantities, which means you have “a lot of not much!” They get a Latin name of M. semi libra, which means the long, whitish stem fastens itself about half way up into the cone-like cap. “Semi liberated” as would be a woman married to a part time male chauvinist (ouch!) The stem is bigger than the cap but all is edible, which is about the best one can say for it. It fruits about the same time as the yellow morel and are often found in the woods at that same time.
Just a bit earlier are the false morels. Some of these are edible and some are lethal so the best policy is ─ don’t eat any of them! False morels look like a morel incognito. The color is right but things end there. They can appear like a fishing worm orgy on a whitish stem, or a saddle (even the color) painted by a drunken artist. The saddle shape is there, it just needs some imagination without the horse and stirrups. Don’t eat these things even though some brave soul tells you that they have eaten them for years. They are bad actors and can be lethal under the right circumstances. They are quite large but lack the pits and ridges witnessed on the regular morels. Latin genera? Look under either Gyromitra or Helvella. I had a guy once say to me that he found some of those “helluva” mushrooms. I thought that was truly apropos considering the species involved. He had the wrong pronunciation but the right idea!
Close on the heels, if not in step with the false morels,
comes the most sought after mushroom in
Where? Very old Apple orchards, a lot of old railroad right -of-ways that have been converted into walking trails (or not) are good haunts, easy hunting here. If there are elm trees present (and there often are) concentrate on these areas. Elm valleys are super. Check around the trees that are dying, but not those long gone. When the bark is sloughing off onto the ground, those are the ones to check. If you find one morel…keep looking!
Later, under ash trees will often produce the “biggies”; this typically happens about mid May. It could happen later but the undergrowth by that time, especially the invasive garlic leaf mustard, leaves you a view of the forest floor at zilch.
Consider the oyster mushroom now, too. Likes cottonwood, aspen and check big old silver maples along city streets…but don’t run over someone’s cat or rear end another car while looking.
The Pot Hunters Periodical will be placed on my “list” to alleviate the time Jerry’s new job of Secretary Treasure will entail. He doesn’t need any extra work, and I can take over sending this information out as soon as I can figure out how to turn my computer on. Thanks to Jer for helping me initiate this extra service to the members for those interested basically in eating mushrooms. This will happen with the next issue (whenever that might surface) it could show up anytime. Some seasons are better than others for edibles so some issues will be quite small and some may turn into a novel like this one did.
If you are interested, get your name on the list. By the next issue I should have mastered the art of attachments, downloading, and all those “goodies” Jerry does for me now. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…I agree. I’m even having trouble remembering the old ones.
This service is free of charge to members and any questions you might have along the lines of edibility I think I can field. I’ll give you the information but I can’t spoon feed you or think for you. Misinterpretation of dialogue or careless, fearless mycoaction on your part will be your responsibility.
Direct questions to: dickiephyls@netzero.net Keep shroomin’ Dick.
# 3: From early May:
Every year during morel season and just beyond, I would go on a search for Rodman’s mushroom (Agaricus rodmanii). This mushroom also goes by Agaricus edulis, A. bisporis, and some call it A. bitorquis. Morels are excellent, I’ll give you that, but Rodman’s mushroom tops all in the Agaricus genus to my way of thinking. It rivals Morels in flavor and the flesh is much firmer than most of the other Agaricus species. This Agaricus likes lousy, hard ground, often of a clay content. Old alleys, ball diamond edges and around the pathways. but the very best spot is between the curb and the sidewalks on the older streets of the city. They like the open areas where the grass won’t grow and no one tries to make it grow. This mushroom once was very plentiful and driving up and down these old neighborhood streets usually paid off. Rodman’s mushroom sits low to the ground. Sometimes it never lifts itself completely above the surface. It has a squatty, fat, robust stem and a double ring that flares both upwards at the edges on the top side and downward on the bottom side. The gills are a soft rose color, not the bright pink of A. campestris. However, at maturity they have the same chocolate color as the meadow mushroom and other Agaricus, as well. Better ride shotgun when hunting this delicacy so whilst you’re gawking you don’t rear end some unsuspecting soul in front of you. One needs a designated driver.
Agaricus campestris seems to have depleted in the past 3 or 4 years and I’m certain the urban supply has been all but wiped out by weed killer and chemicals from lawn care services. Look for weeds (dandelion and other leafy weed sorts). If the lawn has none and the grass looks like a million dollars, you might just as well head for the pasture field where weeds are acceptable and the growth treatment relies on old dobbin or Seabiscuit. Elsie and Clarabelle contribute, too. I now have commercially treated lawns on either side of me that used to cough up a nice supply of Pink bottoms. I live in a rural area. In the past couple of years both neighbors used a lawn service to beautify their lawn and “Whamo” -- no more A. campestris.
Oysters are due now. Check the
Small Surprises
By Damian Pieper
(from Symbiosis, the newsletter of the Prairie
State Mushroom Club, via the May-June, 2005 issue of the NJMA
News.)
The little tan “Glow Gill”, Panellus stipticus, is rarely more than ¾ of an inch long or wide. It has a bracket-type of sporocarp, that is, a cap with an eccentric stem, or stipe, attached to one side of the cap rather than at the center. It is not a mushroom designed to catch your attention with bright colors or large size. It remains rather inconspicuous, even after you have become familiar with it. You could walk in the woods for years without even noticing it. And when you do see it, you will probably shrug and think, “Oh no, another LBM.” Nevertheless, it is quite an amazing mushroom.
If you should happen to spread your sleeping bag next to a log bearing a good cluster of them, then awoke in the middle of a moonless night, you would never again think of it as just another boring, impossible to identify LBM. For then you would see how extraordinary it is, because you would see it glowing softly with its own light.
No one knows for certain why some mushrooms glow in the dark. Actually, they glow nearly all the time that they are alive; we just can’t see their soft glow in the much brighter light of daytime. My own theory is that their glow attracts certain kinds of insects or other small creatures that carry away the mushroom’s spores to suitable new habitats. Small critters most likely do not see light and colors the same way that we do. It would be interesting to know what wavelengths of light are produced by bioluminescent fungi and what wavelengths are most attractive to sow bugs, carpenter ants, Nyssa wasps, and all of the other little critters who routinely hang out around, on, and inside, dead wood.
If you have not yet become familiar with this inconspicuous little fungus, I recommend it to you. “Neat” is always the first descriptive word that pops into my mind when I see it. Its tan coloring is smooth and uniform, seeming never to vary or fade. Its gills terminate at the stipe in a sharp line such that you can have no doubt about the exact place where stipe and gills meet perfectly. No sloppiness here, no gradual transition from one to the other. You will never get a headache trying to decide if this particular cap is “typical” or one of infinite variation. So uniform it is, that you will be hard pressed to tell any cap from any other apart from variations in developmental size.
Because of these character-istics,
I think of it as one of the easiest fungi to recognize to species in the
field. But there is still good cause to
check the underside of every one you find.
There is second similar species, which has on the underside pores
instead of knife-blade gills. And that
other species is known from
E. Newton Harvey in Bioluminescence
(1952) writes that P. pusillus “was described by
Articles for the next
newsletter
Deadline –July. 23
David Miller
352
David.H.Miller@oberlin.edu
Roasted Pork with Mirepoix
By Jerry Pepera
1 boneless loin of
pork (4 lbs)
1 tsp dried
rosemary
2 tsp herbes de
¼ tsp chili powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground.
black pepper
½ tsp virgin olive
oil
2 lbs. onions,
peeled & cut into ½ “ dice
2 lbs carrots,
trimmed, peeled & cut into ½” dice
2 lbs mushrooms,
cleaned and cut into ½ “ dice
12 cloves garlic,
peeled
1 cup water
½ cup V-8 juice
¼ cup dry white
wine
1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
Sprinkle the
exterior of the roast with the ½ tsp salt and the ½ tsp pepper, chili powder,
and 1 tsp herbes de Provence.
Brush a very large
cast iron skillet with the oil. Place
the skillet over high heat until it is hot.
Add the pork and brown it over medium to high heat for 10 minutes,
turning it in the pan as it browns, until it is evenly colored on all sides.
Meanwhile, combine
the onions, carrots, and mushrooms and garlic in a bowl. Sprinkle them with the remaining 1 tsp herbes de
Remove the browned
pork from the skillet and set it aside on a plate. Add the onion mixture to the drippings in the
pan, tossing the vegetables to coat them with the drippings, and sauté for 1
minute over medium to high heat. Return
the pork to the skillet, placing the pork on top of the vegetables, and add any
juices that have accumulated on the plate.
Preheat the oven to
325 degrees F.
Place the skillet
in the oven for about 1 hour. Turn the
pork over and
roast for about an hour longer, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted
in the center reads 170 deg F. Remove
the skillet from the oven. Transfer the
pork to a platter, cover and set aside for 20 minutes.
While the pork is
resting, combine the water, v-8 juice, wine, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce
in a bowl. Add these to the drippings
and vegetables in the skillet. Bring the
mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add any juices that have collected around the
pork to the sauce.
To serve, place
vegetables, sliced meat and sauce in a deep platter.
Enjoy!
Bacteria “Surf” Underground Fungal Mycelium
Scientists demonstrate the existence of
underground ‘highways’ for bacteria
Everything is just a question of contacts
It looks like a giant green ball of wool.
With a bit of imagination the mycelium could also be likened to a huge
motorway interchange with countless roads and junctions passing over and under
each other on different levels. But what
Leipzig-based microbiologist Dr. Lukas Y. Wick is observing so intently on his
screen is in fact a photograph of a mycelium taken with a confocal
laser scanning microscope. The
thread-like hyphae have a diameter of just 10
micrometers-one-seventh the diameter of a human hair.
Nevertheless, fungi
are some of the world’s greatest biomass producers. A single gram (1 tsp.) of field soil can
contain up to 100 meters[1/20 of a mile!] of
mycelium. Wick’s actual research objects
are much smaller still. He is interested
in soil bacteria. Bacteria can weaken
the human organism, but they can also be useful, e.g., by breaking down
pollutants. “For the bacterium a harmful
substance is not harmful,” explains Wick.
“It simply
breaks down the carbon compounds, producing the energy and substances that it
needs to live.” But before it can do
this it has to get at its ‘food’. Air
and lack of moisture present insurmountable obstacles. “This is why certain pollutants are broken
down so slowly in the soil. Often it is
not a lack of biochemical capacity, but rather a lack of contacts.” The scientists at the UFZ
are therefore studying the paths followed by the bacteria.
Probably the world’s largest motorway
network
Mycelia appear to
act as a kind of underground highway for bacteria. This is the conclusion reached by Lukas Wick and
his team. In the lab experiment they
succeeded in demonstrate-ing that the bacteria move
through the soil on the mycelium. The
ingredients: one pollutant, separating
layers made of glass pellets, uncontaminated soil and a bacterium called Pseudomonas putida. The bacteria have to fight their way through
all these layers to reach the phenanthrene, their
‘food’. Phenanthrene
is a widespread pollutant produced during every combustion process: at gas stations, in car exhausts, during
forest fires, in cigarette smoke and in old municipal gas works. “We deliberately make the bacteria work their
way upwards against gravity so that people can’t say there could be a small
amount of water trickling down and carrying the bacteria with it,” says
Wick. “We have tried to rule out any
doubts and objections from potential critics.”
The bacteria made it to the top only in places where there was a
mycelium running through the soil. In the
identical parallel experiment without a mycelium the bacteria were unable to
surmount the barriers. “With this paper
we have shown that there is an infrastructure.”
Just follow your nose
The bacteria in
this lab experiment are so-called chemotactic
bacteria. This means that they measure
the concentration of their ‘target chemical’ and then move towards where the
concentration is higher-as if on autopilot.
“A bacterium is not a stupid creature-it has adapted to its environment
and goes where there is food.” Only one
type of bacteria was used in the model experiment. In nature, however, there are countless
different bacteria, which give rise to new questions: for which of them is it an advantage to be
mobile and for which is it not? It will,
therefore, be some time before the processes in the soil are fully
understood. The future aim of the
Helmholtz researchers is to model microbial landscapes and to investigate what
happens under the influence of different factors. For this they will make use of a tool that
has already helped to predict the spread of resettled animal species—ecological
modeling, which in future will also be able to provide forecasts about the
spread of bacteria. This knowledge will
make it easier to remediate contaminated soil, perhaps making the ‘fungal
highway’ not only the largest in the world, but also the only one to help
return nature to its original state.
2007. www.ufz.de
Calendar
of Events
OMS Events
Email Jerry at
Other impromptu mini forays, as follows:
An open invitation to anyone who wants to mushroom hunt in Fredericktown. Call Dick Grimm (740) 694-0782, and if he’s available and there are mushrooms in the woods, he will go.
July
Aug. 25—Christmas Rocks State Nature
Preserve—
Oct. Sand Barrens-North
Email Jerry as instructed above.
July 27-29—Summer Foray at Carlisle Reservation, Lorain County
Metroparks, near Oberlin. See
lead article in this Log.
Sept. 29-30. Fall Foray, Deep Woods, Hocking
(440) 236-9222.
Sat. Nov.10th. Annual Dick Grimm Banquet.
Details tba.
Ohio & Regional
Bio-Blitz:
Sat June 2nd,
5th Annual bioblitz for Geauga Park
District, Bass Lake Preserve.
July 7-8th. Bio-Blitz at
Deep Woods, Hocking
Amerihost Inns
12819 Ste. Rt.
664S,
740/385-7700.
Inn Towner Motel
740/385-2465.
The following
websites have B&B,s,
campgrounds, etc.
www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/default.htm
Sept. 7-9th.
Sept. 15—WPMC’s Gary Lincoff Mid-Atlantic Mushroom Foray, North Park PA. See their website www.wpamushroomclub.org.
National & More
August 16-19---NAMA Foray in
See NAMA’s website, www.namyco.org, for details.
If you’ve never attended a national foray, many of us can tell you it’s a great experience. There will be numerous opportunities to meet fellow mushroomers from all over the country. They also have a varied program of talks, workshops, and social events all of which makes this a very worthwhile event to attend.
Campsites available in the Park, call
Membership Application for
the
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY STATE ZIP
TELEPHONE FAX
EMAIL ADDRESS
Enclosed please find check or money order: $10.00 (family) annual $125 life
enrolling me in the Ohio Mushroom Society. My interests are:
Mushroom Eating/Cookery
Photography Nature Study
Mushroom ID Cultivation Other (specify)
Would you like to be an OMS volunteer? In what way?
How did you hear about our group?_________________________________________________
SIGNATURE
May OMS provide your name to other mushroom related
businesses? Yes____No
Return form and money to: Ohio Mushroom Society, c/o Dick
Doyle, 14 Sunset Hill,
Reminders: Please send your E-mail and mailing address changes to Dick Doyle at the above address.
2007
Chairman
Walt Sturgeon
(330) 426-9833
Treasurer/Membership/Circulation
Jerry Pepera
(440) 354-4774
Jack-Of-All-Trades
Board Member
Dick Doyle
(740) 587-0019
Corresponding Sec’y
Joe Christian
(419) 757-4493
Newsletter Editor
Dave Miller
(440) 774-8143
All-round Special
Person
Dick Grimm
(740) 694-0782
Debra Shankland
(440) 734-6660
Program Planners
Daphne Vasconcelos
(614) 475-4144
Pete & Pauline Munk
(440) 236-9222
Jennifer McAnlis
(440) 256-2106
Hospitality Co-chairs
Janet & Jack Sweigart
(419) 634-7216
Sharon Greenberg
(330) 457-2345
Cathy Pepera
(440) 354-4774