Good evening, friends,
I’ll be honest: this year going into Mycofest my stoke levels were lower than they had been in previous years. Friday morning the brakes on my car broke (not the technical diagnosis, “the front left caliper blew out” for all you gearheads). This was alarming, but that’s the cost of doing business when you drive a car from 1992. We then swung by a wake Friday afternoon before a five hour drive to Mycofest. We pitched our tent in the dark on muddy grass. Simply put, the vibes were awry.
We woke up on Saturday fortunate to find that the recent rain had also washed all the bad juju away. A little Saturday morning yoga (led by my friend Megan who was on the Ecuador trip) and then I got into the woods. Here’s a fungal recap from the weekend:
Cordyceps militaris
Bonnets (Mycena spp.)
Bolete Mold (Hypomyces spp.)
Fairy Pins (Phaeocolicium Polyporaeum)
Bird’s Nest Fungus (Crucibulum simile or laeve)
Ergot (Claviceps) on rye and other grasses
Metarhizium sp.
Slime Mold
Arthophaiga myriapodina
The mushroom of the weekend per the legend John Plischke.
There weren’t too many large, gregarious fungi but the little mushrooms sure had a weekend. It once again goes down as one of my favorite weekends of the year. Great to see old friends and make new ones. I also gotta shout out Mister Jeff and his infectious energy, checkout his youtube channel. Same time next year, gang.
Schedule
Lots of rain in the forecast this week, the remnants of a hurricane matter of fact. Should make for some memorable mushroom walks. Here’s what we’ve got in August:
8/17: A walk with the Stamford Land Conservation Trust at the end of Mill Stream Road at 10AM.
8/18: A walk with the Mid-Hudson Mycological Association at Fahnestock State Park at 11AM.
8/24: Mushroom Mania Festival at the Adirondack Experience. I’ll be leading a couple walks at this mushroom festival with other, way more capable mycologists, in the Adirondacks.
Aubrey
References:
Hodge KT, Hajek AE, Gryganskyi A. The first entomophthoralean killing millipedes, Arthrophaga myriapodina n. gen. n. sp., causes climbing before host death. J Invertebr Pathol. 2017 Oct;149:135-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2017.08.011. Epub 2017 Aug 10. PMID: 28803979.
Great photos of exciting finds. Be sure to update us on the ash leaf find results. Love these posts. Thanks so much.