Shaggy mane mushroom along the Okanagan Rail Trail near Winfield, BC

Edible mushroom along the ORT near Winfield, BC.

I am not a mushroom aficionado, although I admit to enjoying them in a good stir-fry or chilli.   And I have never picked mushrooms, other than to remove them from my lawn, let alone eat them.  Yet, I am strangely drawn to them; their characteristics play to the storytelling of magical worlds which we imagine in our minds and on paper.  I have often photographed mushrooms, mostly with the help of toys I keep around for just such a purpose.  See the photo below.

A type of milkcap mushroom I photographed being worked on by a toy farm tractor.

Shaggy mane mushrooms are very edible and delicious, although they have to be picked at the right time and used promptly.  They are also called shaggy ink cap mushrooms because, within hours of being picked, they will turn into a black oozing liquid that will likely cause a different reaction if ingested.  This is their natural fate anyway, although the process takes a few days if left alone.

I saw this morsel (not morel) alongside the Okanagan Rail Trail (click here to see my blog on the trail) while cycling.  We stopped and I took several photos of it from different perspectives with my iPhone.  Then, I let it be.  This is where some may take a boot to the fungus for the sheer act of destroying something.  I got a lot of joy out of the mycelial fruiting body, why not let others do the same?  

It's too bad I didn't have any of my toys for shooting such wonders with me as I could have had a lot more fun.  It's just as well, my wife would have finished the trail without me, and then what would I have to eat?  I know, there's a mushroom somewhere on the Okanagan Rail Trail.  In fact, I have a photo of it ....

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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