Today was a mushroom hunter’s dream. It’s an understatement to say they were everywhere. We’ve had an enormous amount of rain in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. We’ve had flooding at the house but finally, after all of this rain, the water table is restored at SAFF from our prolonged summer drought. All of the springs are flowing and the waterways are moving. We saw water flowing in the wet weather gullies in the north and south. It’s a beautiful sight.
We took a walk in the rain around Saint Andrews Forest Farm yesterday and saw plenty of fungi to our delight. The animals had eaten some of the Honey mushrooms. These are highly nutritious. We were fascinated by the fairy ring of Honey mushrooms up top which showed this Armillaria to be maybe 15 or 20 feet in diameter. Most of it is underground mycelium.
We’d been waiting for these to emerge along with the Entoloma abortivum which are actually honey mushrooms parasitized by Entoloma. Each year they show up together and it is a helpful identification factor. They are delicious and we are having them for breakfast this morning with our eggs.
We also found a few more patches of pawpaws growing along the southern wet weather gully! They are easily spotted right now as they are beginning to go dormant for winter as evidenced by their yellowing leaves.
We couldn’t wait to get back out to clear some more trees from the roadway. We used the chainsaw, loppers and the string trimmer to clear out another chunk of the road. This time we made it just past the culvert with the shoe lasts. We were pleased and exhausted. The road is covered with leaves, pine needles and other forest debris so we keep pushing the debris aside with our foot to find stones underneath. It’s a compacted dark gray stone just like our driveway up top. The roadway goes along the northern boundary from the top clearing to the back line near another road. It stretches for acres and gives us truck access to the whole farm. A man stopped by a few weeks ago and said he was a member of the family that owned the property. He said the road ran all around the farm and also mentioned tobacco was grown on SAFF. It’s almost all forest now. We hope to figure out where the tobacco was grown. We’ve been bringing our homemade compost out to the farm to nestle in our new plantings and nourish the soil.
We also checked our lion’s mane experiment right off the clearing. Last fall we inoculated beech logs with lion’s mane mushrooms and yesterday we saw the mycelium creating something that looks like it may be what we hoped for.
Then we took a walk around and found Shrimp of the woods, Entoloma abortivum, a choice edible mushroom down by the waterway at the bottom in the pawpaw patch. We found it last year in the same spot. These are early and we expect much more with the next rains. The temperature is perfect for mushrooms. We are waiting on rain.
We also continue to forage for pawpaws on public land to and from the farm. We found three more fruits yesterday. Each one has been a tropical delight tasting of mango, banana with hints of caramel and vanilla. Even better, they are full of seeds we are going to plant to further our pawpaw grove and increase production by adding more dna and, in the long run light, to the area.
Yesterday was a lovely day at SAFF. It’s gotten cooler and feels much like fall all of the sudden. On the way over, we stopped at the pawpaw patches and found about eight more ripe fruit. Each one has 10 to 14 seeds inside in two rows. We probably have several hundred seeds. Some we have already planted in pots to overwinter outside and cold stratify in nature. Others we have cleaned and placed in a container in the refrigerator to cold stratify for 70-100 days and then we will plant. We will determine best practices from our experience but we hope to add many more trees next year. We are excited to use these to sprout new trees for our pawpaw grove that hasn’t been productive for us yet. While down in the pawpaw patch, we noticed the Sourwood tree. We have quite a few of these down by the main waterway at the bottom of the slope growing, in some cases, right next to the pawpaws. We are still thinning out the forest in every location to allow more light in and room for our trees. We are especially doing this around our older pawpaw trees to encourage production of fruit.
We went out to the northern edge and found where the road began and we cut back small trees growing up through the rocks of the road. We cut back grassy areas. We cleared everything we could easily. We got a third of it cleaned up except for the largest pines we will have to use the chainsaw to remove. We imagined this would take us much longer to clear. We were beyond thrilled to get that much accomplished in one swoop.
After a busy week, we wrapped up a few local chores and errands at home in Staunton, and started the holiday weekend Friday morning with a specific mission. Inspired by our visit to a local nursery last weekend, we hoped to find ripe pawpaw fruit in the wild. In particular, we wanted to collect some wild fruit to eat, and also collect the seeds to grow new trees with and bring novel dna to our pawpaw patch. We are saving all of the seeds from our fruit and we are going to plant them at the farm. A dedicated search on the iNaturalist app showed us locations along our route from home to the farm in Buckingham County where pawpaw trees, flowers and fruit were observed and identified. Some of the observation sites along or near our route were private land, so we ruled them out. But we began to notice the pawpaw trees by the side of the road as we drove to and from the Farm. Especially where rivers, creeks and streams crossed the road. We saw Black walnut trees and many pawpaw trees. Having tried a couple ripe pawpaws last weekend, we figured it would be worth stopping to take a look if we saw accessible, fruiting pawpaw trees. They fall off the tree when ripe. So far, we have found about 20 in various stages of ripeness. A few were so far gone, we had to just plant them in a pot. We have at least a hundred seeds now and we have them stored in the refrigerator. We’ve also gotten to eat a few of these creamy, tropical-tasting native fruit.
The past three times we’ve pulled into the clearing with the truck, we’ve seen a young deer. It’s usually sleeping in the forest and it hears us and takes off. We don’t think it’s too afraid because it doesn’t run far though. We come upon it multiple times like it has become a game for the adorable creature. It’s always alone. We hope it stays safe and we understand it’s safest for it to not be comfortable with humans. We’re also seeing a lot of bear poop on the north side of the farm. No sign of our 4 or 5 year old male bear this year but we think it’s him. It’s nice to know animals are taking advantage of the nuts, berries, mushrooms and shelter the trees provide.
We walked all around the trails that were damp from an afternoon thunderstorm that hit just before our arrival. Right away, we saw new mushrooms emerging from the ground that hadn’t been there the day before. Sometimes it takes a few days for the mycelium to send up the fruiting body after a rainstorm —and sometimes it’s quick.
We basketed up our bounty and left the farm as the sun was setting. We were too tired to cook the mushrooms last night so we stored them in a paper bag in the refrigerator and hoped they’d stay in nice shape. It’s best to cook them right away and save them cooked either in the refrigerator or the freezer depending on how quickly they will get eaten. But these wild mushrooms, especially the chanterelles, need to be used quickly.
They were in nice shape this morning so we dry cooked them for a few minutes in a skillet on 7. Added olive oil and butter and cooked about 15 minutes. We let them cool and have them stored in the refrigerator. We are thinking of making a wild mushroom quiche.
We had not explored the north side in months and decided to spend this weekend making trails and looking for mushrooms over there. We are sure glad we did. With both days added together, we had about three pounds of mushrooms.
We started off down Mary Banning Way and found multiple types of boletes right along the path.
We have a lot of cooking to do with these choice edibles.
There are so many mushrooms right now after the heavy rain and cooler temperatures. We have Russulas and lactarius mushrooms to identify all over. Hundreds of red Russulas. Not as many boletes or Amanita right now. We found another patch of Eastern Black Trumpets to our delight and surprise as well as these beautiful and delicious ghost chanterelles.
We brought them home and cooked them up and everyone was pleased.
Tropical storm Debby is set to hit the farm tomorrow evening with rains expected to be 4-8 inches and peak wind gusts Friday morning at 34 mph. We can’t wait to see what this rain will bring since there’s been so many mushrooms already.
Mary Elizabeth Banning (1832-1903) was an American mycologist and botanical illustrator from Maryland. She described 23 previously unknown species of fungi. Her scientific achievements remained unrecognized during her lifetime. With no formal schooling or training, and during her free time, as she taught children and took care of her sick mother and older sister, she created the first mycological study of fungi in America with “The Fungi of Maryland.” This manuscript includes 174 13” by 15” watercolor paintings of various fungal species. She self funded her own study and lived in ever increasing poverty.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-lost-mushroom-masterpiece-unearthed-in-a-dusty-drawer
Banning dedicated her life to mycology and lived in a world where women could not be scientists. She has inspired many people with her love for fungi and who knows how many she has inspired with her accomplishments while facing tremendous hurdles and difficulties.
We blazed a new trail from SAFF’s north side to North Trail, and we have named it Mary Banning Way to always remember and honor this powerful, intelligent and creative woman.
We hope you look up her works.
St Andrews Forest Farm 