While the morel haul was not as plentiful as last year's visit to Goosepond Trail, the group managed to find Yellow morels, Morchella semilibera, Nolanea (Entoloma) verna, Peziza repands, Agrocybe acericola and Coprinopsis micaceus. I was not able to attend this first official walk, but JJ Murphy, the walk leader and COMA's walk scheduler took photos for us and wrote the following commentary:
'The morning was sunny and pleasant. It had rained on Sunday, but Tuesday and Wednesday were really windy, with gusts up to 50 mph. It didn't get out of the 50's until Thursday, so we had only two warm days this past week. I have never seen so few
mushrooms of any kind at Goose Pond. We went no farther than those stone staircases, and that may be part of the
problem. But I really hate to frog march people down the trail.
Rena made us all stop and listen to the wood thrush and the oven bird. Good for her. She also says that she uses this peziza in her hot and sour soup. I'm grateful that so many COMA members enjoy all of nature.
Anyway, I took photos of every fungus we found and what we thought it might be. Peter Russell knows a lot and can explain a lot. He's a keeper - like the Brandts.
Al Turri found the first morel, a semi-libre. Everyone was happy to see him back. It turns out that he lives very close to where Sue Rose works.
Vreni found a nice patch of chickweed and remembered my pesto. She was happy with that harvest. For our picnic she brought
home-made dandelion blossom honey and shared her recipe. I cannot wait to try it.
By the time we got back to the cars, the humidity was rising, so our timing was perfect.