Devils Hop Yard- Family mushroom fun

Maybe its because we all grew up together in a time and place when being outdoors was the norm. 

We don't view being outdoors as a scary place filled with bugs, spiders, snakes and things to be afraid of.

We embrace it and try to take time to immerse ourselves in it.

I love hiking and exploring with my family.

Its not all about rushing through the walk.

We stop and explore..uncover..go off the beaten path.

Last week Sickstas, brothers and their spouses- (whom also share our passion for nature) met at Devils Hop Yard

For some autumn leaf peeping..

Exploring..

Sage and Sickstas two puglets joined us..

We all had a picnic lunch..

Wandered around the picnic area

I took a few photos..

reflections..

I wasn't the only one taking photos this beautiful day…

Over the bridge…

time to explore some more..

We all have the mushroom bug..

Looking for edibles and appreciating the shapes and sizes of them all.

Most go unidentified.

Old puffballs full of spores..

I believe these are gem studded puffballs..

Barb has the best find of the day

Lions mane..Nice edible!

Some huge old Reishi mushrooms..

Can you guess what this is?

Leave your guess in comments below..

Turkey tails..

We all took a bit off to chew as we hiked.

A huge cache of puffballs..

We poked at them to see them spore out..

smoke..

More unidentified mushrooms..

I know I have a few mushroom experts that read this..

Please comment if you know what this is.

thanks..

Sicksta Lori takes more photos than I do.

She should have a blog.. don't you think?

Little Brown mushroom

You never know what you might find in a forest..

Brother John found this spider and threw it at us girls trying to scare us..

We aren't afraid of spiders..

Sicksta Tink goes to pet it!

Some odd fungi..

This looks similar to Reshi..

Family exploring the woods..we leave the path..

Barbs eye catches what looks like lace coming out of this tree trunk..

Amanita species..

Heart…

The path ends at a waterfall..

We split up and take different paths to the falls.

Brother John and I climb up a steep wall to the top of the falls..

I spot these beautiful berries and grab a few photos..

Sicksta Lori..have you identified these yet?

Wood and rusty bolts..

I walk to the overlook..

I see the falls..

and walk down to them to take a few photos..

Brother stays at the top..

See him?

there he is..

It was wonderful sharing this day and exploring with my family..

More eyes.. more things to see..

Lets do this again!

Well…next year…

because we are currently in Homey…headed west..

Oregon or Bust!

Mushrooms!!

Mushrooms!

and festivals in honor of all things fungi!

I love to attend mushroom festivals.

We will miss one of my favorite mushroom festivals in Oregon this year. We will arrive a week or so late for the Yachats Village Mushroom Fest.

We should be in time for another favorite mushroom festival.

Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Festival in Eugene, Oregon.

Until then

Wild Mushroom Festival at the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Connecticut.

We attended the event last Sunday.

It was a beautiful day!

 

With the  fifteen dollar entrance fee we were given four tickets to try foods made with mushrooms..

I tried the bread pudding with wild mushrooms from Zest Fresh Pastry.

Delish!

I also tried the mushroom ice-cream made by Mystic Drawbridge Ice-cream..

It was made with Candy Cap mushrooms and was

Amazing!

If you are not familiar with candy cap mushrooms…you will wonder how they taste in ice cream.

Candy caps taste like maple syrup.

I have a few bags of candy cap mushrooms a friend gave me. I like to give gifts of a few candy cap mushrooms to friends and family.

Not to eat..but for them to put in their pocket book or a container.

Whenever the container is opened you get the most wonderful aroma of

Maple Syrup!

This table below was decorated with art by the students of the Denison Nature center.

I loved the felted mushrooms!

Mushroom books for young children..

This looks like a wonderful book.

The Dead Tree

Traces the life cycle of an oak tree and describes the animals that depend on it for shelter and food.

Mushroom art for sale..

If I had a larger home i might have purchased this.

 

All by artist Frances Topping

Click on her name above to see her other wonderful works of art.

Now to the guests of honor..

Mushrooms!

And friends of mushrooms..

the experts!

Hi Bill Yule!

 

A boatload of Hen of the Woods

Grifola frondosa

A most wonderful medicinal and delicious edible.

Found at the base of old oak trees.

A spectacular Chicken of the woods!

Laetiporus sulphureus

Another delicious mushroom when picked young and soft.

The shrooms in the back of the photo are Jack O’Latern mushrooms..

They glow in the dark…

We took one of the mushroom walks to see what we could find in the woods..

I believe this is

Cortinarius Violaceus

Hen of the woods

Maitake

Chicken of the woods

LBM

Little unidentified mushrooms..

Russula of some sort..

Honey mushroom

Old Turkey tail mushrooms

And an unidentified caterpillar..

Back to the festival we check out the booths..

This large wooden mushroom was raffled off to a lucky winner..

Mushroom infused oils…

We sampled some more food made with mushrooms

This was a delicious risotto made with assorted wild mushrooms.

Wine, beer, coffee and a Wild mushroom tea made with Reishi.

 

A few books on display near the mushrooms..

Back to stare at the mushrooms..

A great sculpture of one of my favorite shrooms

A Morel

it was a fun time with my family!

Mom and Dad in front..the rest of the gang above.