Mushrooms

Last fall, my friend Lynda met me at my house for a walk and pointed out a fabulous orange mushroom growing off to the side that she thought looked like a chicken of the woods. Knowing nothing about mushrooms, I checked it out, cross-referenced it with several mycological websites and expert’s videos, and yes, I had a chicken of the woods mushroom (Laetiporus cincinnatus) growing in my yard! I harvested it the next day, cooked it up, and immediately became mushroom obsessed. One of our oaks also hosts two hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa) a little later every fall, and the miles of woods behind the house has more mushrooms that I’ve been able to identify yet, but Lynda and I found a nice lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus) and some gorgeous resinous polypores (Ischnoderma resinosum) there before winter set in.

Because I’m still a novice mushroom hunter and don’t know anyone more experienced to go foraging with, I’m limited in the edible mushrooms I’ll allow myself to harvest. Missing my foraging excursions, I purchased a few mushroom kits from North Spore over the holidays and have had one harvest already from each — lion’s mane, yellow oyster, and pink oyster. With the second harvest, I decided to bring the mushrooms in my studio for some photos to highlight their beauty, and the pink oyster mushroom was the first to reach the harvesting stage.

It’s so gorgeous and delicate-looking, and couldn’t be easier to grow, even with the minor hassle of setting up a humidity tent. Gil and I have been expecting it to take over the kitchen, given the rate at which it grows, but I’ll cook it tomorrow, just to be safe.

I’m looking forward to photographing the other two soon. It isn’t often I get to shoot living things for my job, especially not things I’ve grown.