Saturday, December 21, 2013

Oyster Mushrooms and Knitting

Eating wild mushrooms can be scary.  I am familiar with and comfortable eating chanterelles and lions mane, and I am vaguely familiar with a few other varieties.


Last week I saw these beauties growing on a log by my woodpile. I thought to myself "Oyster mushrooms" but didn't take the time right away to research them. Finally I sent a picture to my friend. She agreed- oysters. I did a spore print of them. It came out white as it should have. I still didn't eat them.

Yesterday I hit the mother lode. I went for a walk around the property scouting mushrooms and came across this log.


Some of them were past their prime, but some were perfectly fresh and bigger across than my hand! I snapped into action and had my friend send pictures to her mushroom expert. I sent pictures to the folks at the Mushroom Club of Georgia. Both sources agreed they were oysters.


Then it was time to research poisonous look-alikes online. Good news, as long as you aren't in Japan or Australia, there aren't any. Next I searched for cream of mushroom soup recipes! Dinner was delicious and I'm still here to tell you about it.

Another thing I've picked back up since Thanksgiving is knitting. I so loved the scarf-vest thing that Katniss wore in the latest Hunger Games movie, I decided to make myself one. I know, I know, in my other spare time. A friend of mine liked it so much, she placed an order. So now I'm working on another "Katniss Cowl".


She made the mistake of saying "you should knit socks". Now I have a bug in my bonnet to knit some socks. Do any of you have any tips for me? I've ordered some #2 double pointed needles. Said friend brought me a book of sock patterns along with the yarn for her cowl.

I better get going. I need to get Kat's blood to the post office before I milk this morning. Fingers, toes, eyes, and everything else crossed that she is pregnant. Merry Christmas if I don't "see" y'all again before then.

7 comments:

  1. I'm the only one here who will eat mushrooms, I have never had wild ones, too scared I guess. Our ancient ancestors probably had them all figured out and I am just ignorant about them. They are good eating!

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    1. It's one of those things where it helps to have a good teacher and do plenty of research. If you're not 100% sure, don't eat it! The nice thing about Oysters, Lion's Mane, and Chanterelles is that there's nothing poisonous that looks remotely like them.

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  2. How lucky you are to find mushrooms. They look amazing. And I bet they were even more amazing to eat.

    And I am so jealous. I so want to make a sweater or vest from my ewe Lucinda's wool. I will, one day. I hope you post pics of the finished cowl.

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    1. They were yummy! I'm hoping this rain brings out more. It's really cool to forage for your dinner.

      How cool would it be to make a sweater starting with the sheep! Way more interesting than my wool from Hobby Lobby. My dad took a picture of me wearing the cowl. I'll have to get him to send it to me. It really wasn't all that hard.

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  3. Those mushrooms look delicious but I don't know if I would be brave enough to eat them.

    I won some hand knitted lumberjack socks once. I love them on the outside of my jeans with my boots. It might look weird but I think it's cute! I can't knit to save my life but here is the link http://upcountry-living.com/2012/9/11/how-to-knit-a-lumberjack-sock Feel free to make me a pair ;)

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    1. Are the lumberjack socks comfortable even with a seam and no heel? The pattern looks super easy and I loved the story behind them. Thanks for sharing. Odds and ends of wool will have to come your way!

      PS I taught myself to knit on YouTube. The internet rocks.

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  4. Merry Christmas to you and yours !
    Fondly,

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