Asimina triloba dropping from trees in Central Virginia. Foraged on the way to the farm. Our first finds of the year in Afton Virginia. We collected 50 seeds from these pawpaws and have them stored to cold stratify over the winter. Almost another inch last week in Buckingham Virginia and more opportunities for storms in the next few days. We spread little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) seeds around the exposed areas at risk of runoff in storms yesterday. Another blue jay feather found up top near the driveway.Chantharellus cinnabarinus, red chanterelle, found throughout SAFF. A choice edible with false gills and bright red color found along wet weather lines. They are smaller than other chanterelles and hold up well in the pan. Aureoboletus innixus, clustered brown bolete, found near an oak. These are edible but we haven’t tried them. Pawpaws still hanging on in the clonal colony. We’ve been checking on them every time we’ve been out to SAFF.Annona cherimola, cherimoya, tree sprouting on the deck. This is a tropical tree which will need to be protected from our cold Virginia winters. Ganoderma growing along the main waterway at SAFF. Persimmon ripening on the trees up top.
We’ve been busy clearing paths for the tractor through the pawpaw seedling orchard, planting little bluestem on exposed ground and preparing to plant this year’s Asimina triloba seedlings. We have also cleared out some pines and hardwood trees crowded in around our American Persimmon trees and created an orchard up top near the road for them. Also, we planted several Juglans Regis, Persian walnut trees in the main clearing at SAFF. We have also been researching solar kits for home and SAFF and can’t wait to get what we need ordered and installed.
The past weekend has been a nice taste of cooler, fall weather on the way. The highs have been in the 80s yet there has been a nice breeze and crispness in the morning. We’ve been feeling so grateful for everything and especially the rain and the cooler temperatures.
Suillus americanus, chicken fat mushroom or American slippery Jack, an edible found in multiple spots. We’ve not tried it. Aureoboletus auriflammeus, flaming gold bolete, staining fingers orange. This is a young fruiting body.
We camped over the weekend at SAFF and not only did we see some cute critters but it was also a mushroom wonderland.
Amanita rubescens, blusher, with deadly lookalikes it’s not a beginner’s mushroom. They are abundant throughout the farm and are always eaten by bugs or animals. Need to be thoroughly cooked for 15-20 minutes to break down a dangerous hemolytic protein toxin. Foragers say it has a mild, nutty pleasant flavor. Some compare it to a mild meat or beef like richness. So far, we can only hope to find a good looking blusher to bring home and cook. Xanthoconium seperans, lilac bolete, a prized choice edible in the porcini family. Leccinum aurantiacum, red capped scaber stalk, found all over but heavily in the north pine and oak forest. Saturday foray from SAFF includes Frost’s boletes, Amanita banningiana and jacksonii. Chanterelles and lilac boletes. We also found one Lactarius indigo.
A young red Russula. These are nearly impossible to identify as there are hundreds of Russula species featuring red, pink or crimson caps. Colors change under certain weather conditions. With this one species, if you do a spit test and it’s spicy, it needs to be cooked thoroughly before eaten. If not, it can be eaten raw, although you really want to cook everything you’ve gotten from the forest floor, in my humble opinion. Russula crustosa, Green Quilt Russula, or the crusty Russula, is an edible mushroom known for its dry cracked mosaic-like cap in shades of yellow, tan or grayish green with white gills and stem. We found it up top on Dan’s Folly. It’s mycorrhizal with oaks and hardwoods. Russula parvovirescens, Blue Green Cracking Russula is considered a choice edible for its nutty taste. The cap looks like a quilt or stained glass and is particularly striking to find lying on the forest floor. Amanita flavoconia, Yellow patches, found near the top of A. Jacksonii Gully. Inedible as far as we know. Lovely to see. Retiboletus ornatipes, Ornate-stalked Bolete or gold stalk, is technically edible but usually bug infested. Boletus separans, lilac bolete, we wish we’d found a few days earlier. These are scrumptious.Pasimachus, warrior beetles, on the south side near Black Trumpet Way. They were fighting.
2 inches of rain this week! What a dream come true. Amanita polypyramis, Plateful of Pyramids Lepidella, named after the pyramid like warts on the cap. We found these on Mary Banning Way up top near the driveway. It’s poisonous and smells like chlorine. Chris surrounded by multiple types of mushrooms on Chanterelle Trail.We found our first chanterelle in two years just a few feet away.We found multiple Lactarius species including this Lactarius psammicola. Lactarius psammicola, underside view with lactation from the gills.Trametes cinnabarina, Northern Cinnabar Polypore, found up top on a conifer. Sabatia angularis, Rosepink, flowering in the woods, clearings and on trails.Amanita jacksonii, an edible found near Three Pine Trail.
Wildfire smoke and haze obstructing the view of Afton Mountain on the drive home last night. Over an inch of rain in the gauge. We hadn’t checked it when there on Tuesday. The rain was from last weekend. We were happy to see it.
When driving over to the farm we saw smoke from the wildfires up north settling in around the mountains and hills. We wore our masks while outside to protect our lungs from any fine particulate. We had farm chores aplenty yesterday afternoon and also took time to have a mushroom walk.
Found on Amanita Way right off of the main clearing. They turned a lovely blue quite quickly.Because of the way it turned blue, it could be Ink Stain Bolete, Cyanoboletus pulverulentis, Sensible bolete or Lanmaoa/Baorangia.
As we drove up to SAFF, we saw mushrooms right away on both sides of the driveway so we knew we’d have to walk through the woods.
Amanita flavorubens, Yellow American Blusher, is edible after being thoroughly cooked. Foragers note it tastes similar to lobster or prawns after cooking. We haven’t tried these yet. We usually find them already nibbled on and bug infested which probably means they’re delicious. Insects and animals know which ones are safe and tasty.Unidentified bolete with a small bite gone. Hazy, smoky sunlight filtering through ripening the pawpaw fruit in the old clonal colony.
These red and yellow boletes are what began our mushroom obsession. They come up and some turn blue very slowly when touched or sliced while some turn blue as quick as oxygen hits and it’s a blue so deep it appears black. They appear to bleed. This Chrome-footed bolete does not stain blue at all which is what helped us come to an identification. Even so, we are “pretty confident” but not 100% so they didn’t come home with us.
Harrya chromipes, Chrome-footed bolete found right up top at SAFF before passing through the gate. We found a group of these infected with Hypomyces.
It’s so fun to witness the emergence of boletes again after the long drought. It’s been in the high 90’s here with chances for rain this weekend. We hope to get out to SAFF to look for more mushrooms.
Boletus separans, lilac bolete, is a choice edible that we did take home and eat. We’ve foraged it before so we recognized them right away. It’s associated with oak trees and sometimes pine. The taste is prized for its nutty flavor and pleasant odor and texture. They are delicious and we’ve found them all over SAFF. Agaricus sylvaticus, Blushing wood mushroom, is a common edible mushroom found in groups in coniferous forests. We found it on the north side just near Three Pine Gulch Trail. Another red and yellow bolete. This one stains quite easily, as you can see from the thumbprint. There’s red droplets on the base of the stem which looks like guttation which is an indicator of Neoboletus sp. Either Red-mouth bolete or very close lookalike the Scarletina bolete. These are both edible with precautions. It will be a while before we confidently eat these. But it’s fun to puzzle out their names and identities. Tipularia discolor, crane-fly orchid, opening flowers now at SAFF. Goodyera pubescens, downy rattlesnake plantain, is one of the most common orchids native to eastern North America. It is exciting to catch it flowering. Unidentified red and yellow bolete found along Jacksonii Trail about halfway down. Several lush mosses and a fungi fruiting directly from them. These little brown mushrooms haven’t been identified.
Wolfina aurantiopsis, a rare cup fungus found in oak and pine forests on decaying hardwood sticks. It was found on Dan’s Folly along the south set back line in dark woods.
It’s been extra busy lately and we are feeling lucky to get a chance to run over to SAFF and take a walk around. We have gotten near daily rain for which we are grateful. Each time we’ve gone we’ve seen the pawpaws are doing well. Almost all of the grafts are producing leaves. We’ve also seen a few interesting mushrooms which is thrilling.
Amanita rhopalopus, American Club-Footed Lepidella. Mycorrhizal with oak and pine. It’s very large with warts and a strong chlorine smell. Cladonia furcata, many forked Cladonia, along Ridge Trail. A species of lichen with intermediate sensitivity to air pollution. Extracts of this species kill leukemia cells and have potential value in the treatment of cancer. Leucobryum glaucum, Pincushion Moss, bright green from the recent rain, is a common moss of eastern North America and Europe that we find all over SAFF.
We hope everyone is staying cool and safe on this holiday weekend. This heat and humidity has kept us focused on indoor projects and activities for a week now. 102 degrees Fahrenheit today at the farm. We went over early to check on the grafted pawpaws and give them some water since it hasn’t rained. It was extremely hot and humid down there in the clonal colony. The fruits are holding on despite the drought and heat. The grafting project appears to be a success with 80% growing new leaves through the Scion wood.
Wilson cultivar in the old clonal colony across from the Pawpaw Peninsula. Kentucky Champion cultivar on the Southside Gully near Fern Trail sprouting up through the top. Terrapene carolina, Common box turtle, down in the main waterway trying to stay cool. Prolific cultivar in old clonal colony shooting out through the top of Buddy Tape. A bark inlay graft with leaves pushing out from the Scion. Rebecca’s Gold cultivar in the clonal colony. Asimina triloba fruit developing at SAFF. An unidentified bolete found along Ridge Trail.
Amanita parcivolvata, the ringless false fly Amanita or False Caesar’s mushroom. This is edible but avoided by many because of its poisonous lookalikes. Amanita banningiana, known as the yellow Caesar or Mary Banning’s slender Caesar. It is prized for its taste but caution is advised due to deadly lookalikes.Amanita canescens, Golden threads Lepidella, grows near oaks. Found up top in the main clearing. Inedible.
What a great day we had yesterday at SAFF. We went over to check out how much rain the farm had gotten. The gauge was at .2 which is better than none. But much less than the 1.9 inches our weather app reported. Nevertheless, we still had mushrooms growing. Even some we hadn’t seen before. It was like a dream come true.
The pawpaw fruit in the old clonal colony is getting bigger. We are planning a trip to see what pawpaws are doing in our foraging spots along the Rockfish River soon.
Xanthoconium purpureum, found growing under an oak up top in the main clearing. It’s edible although this one has been claimed by bugs. Small bolete popping up on Chanterelle Trail we hope to see mature.
Amanita persicina found in groups throughout the farm near pines and oaks.
We went over to put up boundary markers and no hunting or trespassing signs as well as forage for mushrooms. Hunting season begins Saturday October 5th (early archery season starts). We took down trees growing too closely together and used the trunks as a natural fencing inside the tree line along the road frontage to discourage hunters from chasing deer onto our property. We’ve also been told hunters run dogs through properties to scare up deer. We are trying to create a hunt free zone, except for mushrooms, and to keep anyone chasing animals off our land. We also will put up several more cameras later this weekend. We had technical issues yesterday but worked it out this morning.
Coral fungusA family of Amanita jacksonii, American slender Caesar, we brought home and processed for eating. Top of A jacksonii Younger A jacksonii An A. jacksonii just emerging from its volva. These are the most delicious. Eastern fence lizard, Sceloporous undulatus, we found hanging out on a black cherry stump up top in the clearing. Amanita spreta, commonly called the Hated Caesar, is an inedible variety. They were large and showy found in the north side near pines. We continue to find these blue staining boletes and have narrowed down their identification to four different species. For now, they remain unknown. Unknown blue staining bolete. Inocybe lilacina, Lilac fibercap, is a poisonous mushroom found on the north side of SAFF. Suillus salmonicolor, Slippery Jill, found everywhere on SAFF near pine.Suillus, slippery jacks, associated with pines.
