teal50

We have had thousands of painted ladies the last two days. They have been like a cloud on the road, around areas with water. Amazing numbers. Think they are starting their migration and they must have had one of those sporadic population bursts. I hope they are still around today, I'd like to get some video or photos of them.

Was out Friday. Lots of Chants, Fairy Rings, and Lobsters. A few hedgehogs, King Boletes, and black trumpets. The mosquitos!!! First time I've ever desired one of those hats with nettings...amazing numbers and aggressive. If you're going out, dip yourself in a 55 gallon drum of repellent.

Was out yesterday for awhile before the rains/storms rolled in. Found a variety pack. They are just getting started and they were here & there, No large quantities. Chants, some hedgehogs, black trumpets, and one perfect King Boletus. Bugs are fierce!! With all the rains, mosquitos are thick with a bonus deer tick or two.

We like adding fiddleheads on pizza, done on the Green Egg. In addition, to tasting good,they add a neat visual element. We also parboil first.

With ramps, one can take one leaf and leave the bulb in the ground & other leaf to insure they will be there in the future.

We don't have a profusion of honey caps yet, we have not gotten the rain like some other areas. Will check again today. Once they start to come, there are generally loads of them. I always parboil them for several minutes prior to use and add a little vinegar to the water. It helps clean and tighten them up plus seems to take care of the GI upset issues that likely will occur if eaten raw. After parboiling I give them a quick rinse in cold water. One can freeze them this way and they can be used for months, acutally we've used them frozen up to the next season. We have eaten these for a long time with no issues by doing this. They can be used in any number of ways...excellent on pizza/steak etc. If we get some cool long fall rains...shaggy manes should start showing up.

Some honey caps are just starting to come up in the Little Falls area. We like these as they are quite versatile and available in large quantities. Remember to cook them, unless you want an unpleasant gastrointestinal disturbance. Many folks try them raw because they look so appealing...big mistake. We really could use more rain to get the fall mushrooms going. It was an excellent late summer mushroom season with the real bonus being a large group of The Prince...Agaricus Augustus. Don't run into those very often and they are a real treat. They have an almond to almost light anise taste. I will try to post some pictures of them.

Was out central MN area. Not a lot up for quantity yet. A few button chants. Small numbers of black trumpets. One log full of young oyster mushrooms...but they were so riddled with worms that they were not appealing. No lobsters around here yet. Fairy ring mushrooms came back to life with the rain. Hopefully, this last rain burst will get things going! Deer flies...well, what can one say...they've had a good year!!

It has been running in the Fort Ripley area for about 10 days. Started out very slow until mid-week than ran hard. Moderate run yesterday.

That one was amusing! Amazing what some folks will do.

Oops, sorry...thanks for providing the link I forgot to post: Here it is also: http://www.namyco.org/publications/mcilvainea/mcil_past.html

Here the link I used to find them. You will see a list by year...look under the 2013 NAMA Toxicology Committee Report for 2013, etc. Under 2009 there is also another interesting document labeled "Mushroom Mysteries:Was This a Mushroom Poisoning?" These reports are quite interesting as you will see some common "edible" mushrooms mentioned. As you indicated, many of these could simply be mis-identification and probably are. Others look like individuals who developed true hypersensitivity reactions that they may have developed over time. I am a bit concerned over the Leccinum mentions. Have eaten those for some time with no issues. May be dropping them, as there are plenty of others available.

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting. There are other tox reports available through 2013. Morchella (morels) are frequently reported for GI distress and this confirms they should not be eaten raw. Other "edible" species are also mentioned as causing toxicity. We are rapidly approaching "honey cap" season and a lot of people pick them. Make sure to parboil these before freezing them for future use or cook them before consumption. They can cause a most unpleasant GI distress, as a number of folks have found out.

Thanks, will check both out.

Thanks!

I am considering doing a charter boat fishing trip in June out of Duluth or a little ways north. Any suggestions on which charter operation to use would be appreciated.

I had some like that two years ago, from several trees. Decided to boil it down to see what it was like...produced an oddly flavored syrup that was not good. It was sweet but had an almost metallic, chemical harsh aftertaste.

We had a small sap run last Sunday in the Fort Ripley area and some during the week. Yesterday it was running very well and I expect even better today.

I've tried many recipes over the years for pickled pike...but the absolute best, to me, is one from Amy Thielen's new cookbook called Midwestern Table. It uses Lemon and Basil. Never had better. Minnesota girl and that cookbook has a bunch of excellent recipes...highly recommend.

Went out for a short time this afternoon once the rain was done. Loads of honey caps...they were all over. Picked some Birch boletes. Many sulfur shelf in the woods..most were beyond debility. Found nearly 5 gallons of shaggy manes in perfect condition. Lots of other types up including amanitas. Now is the time to get out there. Be safe.

Welcome to this thread. The primary thing to do is get yourself several good guidebooks. Many have been listed in a previous thread. Learn to ID mushrooms not just by trying to look at pictures, but by their characteristics such as spore print color. Concentrate on those that are easy to ID, safer to ID, and locate. If you can find an experienced shroom hunter to assist, that is very helpful. There are a lot more than morels out there. A few you should be able to find fairly easily and are not too difficult to ID are puffballs (there a lot of different types, including some that get up to volleyball or bigger size, sulfur shelf, shaggy manes, meadow mushrooms, chanterelles, black trumpets, oyster mushrooms, and honey caps. If you have oak on the property..in the fall you should be able to find enormous amounts of honey caps..very versatile mushrooms. Enjoy and be careful!!!!

I've purchased all of mine from places like Barnes and Noble but I'm sure you can find them on Amazon or online. I need to correct one title...magic fingers mistyped...Mushrooming Without Fear rather than Mushrooming with Fear as I posted. There are many fine mushrooms that you can easily find in MN other than Morels. Shaggy Manes, Puffballs, HoneyCaps, Chanterelles, edible Boletes, Oyster Mushrooms, Sulfur Shelf, and Meadow Mushrooms are fairly plentiful if we have decent conditions. This allows you to pick mushrooms from spring to freeze up. Be careful and have fun. Lots of great flavors out there...there is an old quote. There are old mushroom pickers but there are no old, bold mushroom pickers.

Others of mentioned two that I use a lot Mushrooms DeMystified and Mushrooms of North Armerica. You cannot have enough guide books. Pictures of mushrooms may vary a bit from book to book depending on lighting/ age of mushroom etc. I like being able to compare in several books. Learn to ID your mushrooms exactly by gill type or lack of gills, stalk (if any), spore print (not hard to do) and other identifiers from the guide books. Until you know a mushroom perfectly, do not rely on pictures along..read the description. Making a mistake with a mushroom is not like goofing on a fish ID. Other books to look for are Mushrooming With Fear, Mushrooms Wild and Edible, Eyewitness Handbooks Mushrooms, and the Glick The Mushroom Trail Guide. Peterson and also Simon & Schuster make Field Guides. If you are not sure, don't eat until you are. There are many types that are fairly easy to ID in Minnesota and I don't think you'll have difficulty finding them. The DNR also used to put out a small pamphlet on MN Edible Mushrooms.

I've had consistently good fishing going into storms including yesterday afternoon and into early evening. Sunnies and crappies were crazy in about 15 to 16 feet. Small lake and I was the only one on it. Ice was about 6 inches.

When I lived just above Little Falls, eelpout were quite common late fall right until the river froze. They only bit after dark. Some were quite good sized.