Today I scuffled. What the hell is scuffling? It's basically raking, in opportunistic places such as at the bases of exto-mycorrhizal plants like some of the genera Pinus, the family Ericaceae, and wherever we see squirrel digs. Small rodents, like squirrels tend to eat the fungi and then poop out their spores... so basically I'm looking for their favorite shit spots and digging. FUN!
The drive today took us to Grants Pass. We met up with a well known Mycologist named Kaz. What he has done for the academic community I do not know, but I do know that he knows his mushrooms.
My previous attempts at truffling failed. I turned up nothing but rocks and dirt. I figured maybe my eye was just not yet tuned in to the mycological world. Today proved me wrong.
ALAS! My first truffles!!!!!!
They look like potatoes. Unexciting to most, but after digging for over an hour, while probably getting the worst case of poison oak known to man (I will find out in a few days), to have unearthed these magical little tuber fuckers was the highlight of my day. I screamed "TRUFFLES" loud enough mycologist in Indonesia could hear me. Ummm.. yea, mycology isn't for everyone.
Here are some more photos of mushrooms that I found along with some great scenic shots I got on serpentine Forest Service land.
Slug-a-wug
Found this guy in a squirrel dig. i.e. this is a squirrels shit hole!
Fields of Dodecatheon hendersonii at Limpy Creek Botanical trail head.
Limpy creek
Sarcodes sanguinea. This guy is a parastic plant that rather than being saprophytic, living on dead plant or animal matter, it actually lives off of fungi! The roots of these guys contain fungi and extend into the root systems of surrounding conifers.
Serpentine soils covered in Mimulus guttatus.
Rhizopogon truncatus. Bright yellow fungi found underneath Sugar Pines.
Immature Boschniakia strobilacea. I find these guys to be the coolest thing, another parasitic plant.
I envy the variety of life in yours.
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