A hike in the woods....for mushrooms

My friend called me this morning and asked me to go mushrooming. We didn't get to go Friday. We also didn't get oyster mushrooms. It was cool but you could feel it getting warmer so I dressed with a warm jacket. Figured I could tie it around my waist when it got warm. I really needed it today cuz my allergies were bad and when my chest gets cold I get wheezy. At least this way I could hike.

 So we wandered past her barn, over the bridge over the creek and off to the woods. Its been pretty dry so there aren't many shroons out right now. Once it starts to rain, we will get more. Guess we missed the Oyster shroons but as we wandered we found some really big Lobster mushrooms.

 I recently read that its a mushroom that grows a red fungus on it which gives it , its color. They do hide under forest brush and stuff so you do have to look hard sometimes but once you do that, they are ez to spot. Bright orange! Kinda thick and lumpy looking, sometimes with furled edges. I bought one once at the Farmers Market here and wasn't too thrilled when I cooked it. It seemed tough. So I figure I will experiment with these.

We wandered thru looking for different kinds but didnt find any yet. And so once we thought we got whatever was around we headed back.   theres a dirt area and we often walk thru it looking for tracks. Shes teaching me how to know what animals are around out here. She hunts and fishes. The coyotes have been out so she brought her .22 with her today just in case. Also her dog goes with us for protection. He whines when any are near.

 And so she showed me the deer tracks, and then elk tracks. Told me how the elk tracks change depending on whether they are strolling or running. Saw some poop too and also come coyote poop. Told me what the cougars scat looks like too.

 And then I pointed a track out and said is this a bear? .........yup it was. I think she was surprised I figured that out. It wasn't a very clear track but .......Ive seen enough teddy bear paws to know the basic shape lol. And so apparently the bears went thru too cuz of the berries there in the woods.....and then we saw the scat.....full of berries. They are filling up for winter hibernation.    I told her I think I surprise my bf,,,,,,he doesn't know I love hiking, never saw me do it in Ca. But I did in NJ.

 

 And so once we got past that we were on the dirt road back to her house. We stopped at the bridge there that is over the creek. Lots of fat blackberries there so I picked more. Her dog saw us doing that and decided he would help. So he picked them and ate them lol.

 It was getting hot so once we got back to her house, I took off my boots and jacket and headed home. As you can see by the pic thats the mushroom haul this trip. That is my fist, which while I dont have big hands......its comparable to the size of these mushrooms. Im gonna do a bit more research on them but I think Ill dry these.  

      I washed and sliced them all. They filled up the dehydrator. I'm taking the trimmings and stuff I took off them to toss out in MY woods. I read that I could start some new ones maybe , if I do that. So maybe next yr. Ill have some of my own right here.   

 I cut one up to make Wild Mushroom and Chicken Alfredo for dinner that nite. The rest I sliced up to put in the dehydrator. This is whats left, in the jar after its been dried.

Berry picking on my friends farm...

Nice big fat berries everywhere on my friends farm. I picked last week and got about 8lbs. Since they are growing everywhere there and tons of them, I went back yesterday and will probably go once a week till they are gone.

 My friends dog loves eating blackberries so he follows us around. She told me not to put my basket down cuz he would help himself when I wasn't looking lol.

 Hes begging her now for some berries.....I gave him a few on and off thru the day. After all he protects us there on the farm. When we went mushrooming last yr. he came with us in the woods because he knew there was a coyote around. My friend says he never goes with her usually so she knew something was wrong.

 This is behind her barn. There's a huge length of blackberry bushes. We both picked alot but she gave me hers. She said she had some from last yr. Since I do canning I told her, Ill make some jam for her. Shes more of a hunter/fisher-woman while I'm more of the growing it myself and canning type. Its a good match.

 Some of her horses.........seems they like the blackberries too cuz I had to watch where I stepped when we picked behind the barn lol.

 Its so beautiful here, I just love coming to her farm. I remembered to bring my camera this time. Every time she and I do stuff, there's always something that we see that I say....darn I wish I brought my camera! She said why don't you just plan on having it whenever we do stuff lol .

 That's her house down there, we were up at the barn, in the pasture. Some days I can see elk out in the fields here. She often goes hunting herself. Got a deer last yr and the head is on her wall. She amazes me. She may make a mountain woman out of me yet.

 This was my haul this week. When I got home to wash them and get them ready to freeze, I measure them and put them in marked plastic bags so I know how much I have. This week I got 10lbs! I promised my friend some jam, but I also promised my bfs folks, and my kids and grand kids since they love it too. (BTW I bring long tongs with me when I go picking. They help me move the canes or pull down tall canes without getting all ripped up by the thorns.)

Andther day of mushrooming and I got booty!

I think I got a couple lbs. of mushrooms today. There's Chantrelles at the back, Boletes on the right and a few coral mushroom in front. 

My friend  called today and asked me if I wanted to go mushrooming again. It was a stunning day, warm and clear so I said yes! This time I made sure to bring my own boots lol. And so I headed over there. 

Saw this lil guy on her front porch and then saw lots more as we wandered the woods. This is the first time Ive seen any up here.....so I wonder does that mean winter will be bad?

 This time her dog followed us on the trip. He loves me cuz I'm the cookie lady, I usually bring both dogs a cookie when I pick up eggs. But her other half is out of town right now so she wasn't sure why he followed us, he doesn't usually. She thought maybe cuz he knew she was alone now. But later on we figured it was cuz there were coyotes wandering around. Dukey whined at me once and growled near her but we didn't know why. Its a good thing she was packing a gun tho cuz after that we heard coyotes . Dukey kept trying to wander off and we had to call him back. He could be killed if they separated him away from us.

It was a bit scary cuz I know they travel in packs but she had the gun and wasn't afraid to use it. She goes hunting for elk and deer on her own so I know Ill be safe. I teased my bf today when I decided to go and said , I'm becoming a mountain woman lol. Sure felt like that today out there. And so I took some pics of some weird mushrooms I saw. I had the lil digital and it was hard to get good pics but you can see enough to know most of these you wouldn't eat.

Here's the dreaded red mushroom with white spots that's poison. I HAD TO get a shot of this cuz the only ones I ever saw were in fairy tales. They are real. 

We saw a few of these. They are so pretty. The tops are fuzzy and look like brown velvet. 

Another freaky shroon, this one yellow with spots. I just know it looks icky and Id never touch it. 

Then there were some weird fungus growing on logs. This one had petals. Kind of hard to see it here . Someone told me it looked like a cow patty. I can assure it its not, it was growing out of some wood. 

No clue, just thought they were pretty. There's lots out there that are but I won't touch any except those I'm being taught about. 

This one is kinda cool too.....another fungus. More petals almost looks like a flower.

 See how dark and mossy it is? Awesome! Lots of little streams and fallen logs with lichen and moss on them. We also wandered thru the old orchard where the trees are too old now to make fruit. But there's all kinds of trees here. 

My friend picking coral mushrooms. She marked the area awhile back. I just loved the moss covered stumps and was going to take a pic of those. Then she said there's my marker and got her shroons lol. 

 We headed back to the house, my back was killing me. I really wanted to stay out more but couldn't. I'm really hurting tonight, but it was fun. And we saw these fresh deer tracks and you can see a coyote one near it. This was around where we heard the coyotes noises. Didn't see any but that doesn't mean they weren't watching us in the woods. We did see one pile of feathers on the way out...I thought perhaps they were seagulls because they were gray and white. I asked her if any of the chickens were missing but she didn't think so. So when we got back, she decided not to let them out. The coyotes would have gotten them for sure cuz they were close. In fact when I was heading out to my car we were there talking and Dukey and Oliver when running down the lane past the chickens. We had to call them back......we think they heard the coyotes.

Dukey was so cute tho , when he came back he leaned right on me like he was protecting me. I said your a good boy taking care of us and gave him a scratch. S asked me if i wanted some pumpkins and I said yes. I have some here but Ill bake off the pumpkins and scrape out the meat and freeze them. She liked that idea and so we went to get two more she had at the barn down the street. I'll cook them off and pack them up and she can freeze them. I have 3 Cinderella pumpkins here already that I need to cook.

And so I headed home. Finally cleaned all the mushrooms and I think I'll just dehydrate them now. This way Ill have them to use when I need them. Right now I have other stuff to do and they will rot. Don't want all that good work to go to waste. So I put them in the dehydrator and Ill let them go awhile tonight and finish them tomorrow. My bf says they are pungent but I don't even smell them. lol.

Got home tho, after stopping for milk and a few things at the store.....and I'm beat. So no dinner tonight.....we ordered pizza. I'm gonna go sit on the heating pad tonight. I am gonna be hurting badddddd tomorrow......but it was worth it.

An unexpected fun day.

(King Boletes)

A local store around here moved to a bigger place and opened today so I decided since I have to grocery shop that Id start there. I wandered to the other end of town to check it out. Pretty much like the old store only a bit bigger.

And then I headed out to grocery shop and doncha know it started to pour.......sigh. Earlier the sun was out and I was enjoying it so much. Now I got wet and I'm just getting over being sick. And so I shopped and headed home. I was supposed to get eggs today from the egg lady too but she didn't call me back before I left so I called her and left a msg. When I got home, still no msg.

And so I started to put stuff away and get something to drink. Came on the puter to see whats new and the phone rang it was S. the egg lady. So I drop what I'm doing to get the eggs. She only had 3 dozen for me.  I usually get 4 because she has a waiting list as it is. This way when I get low I call her. While I was there we had a nice visit. We always do that catching up on stuff and who's canning or cooking whatever.

She went out to the coops to see if there were anymore eggs and came back with enough to give me my 4 dozen. She cleaned them and packed them in the carton, then said you cant get them any fresher than this, they are still warm. I love this!! I told her hubby D. that I'm gonna tell my bf the birdies pooped out the last dozen just for him. D cracked up laughing.

I mentioned to S. if she was still going to go mushrooming. She went when I was sick so I missed it. She said tonight she was going hunting, it was her last nite to do that.  And so D said he would take me. I had to borrow D's big boots and had a hard time walking in them. He was laughing at me cuz I was struggling to keep up with him in them. But I'm really outta shape too and it embarrassed me cuz I think hes older than me and wasn't even winded.

I swear from now on I'm going to take my camera with me every time I go there . I always see such neat stuff. We headed down the back lane and off to a  fork in the lane. Up into the woods we went. Gosh I haven't been in deep woods like this in many yrs. I followed D wherever he went cuz I didn't want to get lost. We wandered and found different kinds of mushrooms but most were not edible. He found a Bolete tho and showed me what to look for . He found some baby ones too. I only found one but I was so happy cuz I did that one by myself. I made sure he checked it tho. Seems its the end of the season for them so some are not good anymore either. We found one big one that wasn't any good.

(underside of Bolete mushroom, spongy no gills.)

And so we kept wandering down the gravel lane and up into another area of woods. Seemed like deep dark woods and I asked D......are there lions and tigers and bears? He says....bears and I said OH MY!!! and then laughed.  I did see some poop piles but thought they were from the elk tho. So here we are trompin thru the woods and he didn't bring a gun! He wandered off and I couldn't see him .........from that point on I decided to stay close. Eventually tho it started to get dark and both of us with glasses......they were getting so misty we couldn't see. We headed on back to the house.

As we got past the last gate to the lane on the way to the barn there was a cow staring at me. D was wondering how it got out. And so he told me to go up to it and I freaked......I mean its got horns and hooves. I said will it kick me? He says no......I sure hope not. I mean I wasn't afraid but I don't need to get hurt. And so I went over to the cow and it started to move away from me. Ok so I see the game now......move it in the direction of the gate. D was opening it.

Now this cow was being funny and not going to the gate, then I got it there and two more got out! And the first one followed them . So now we have 3 going in different directions and we have to get them all to the gate so D can close it. lol . It actually was kind of fun even tho the cows were not cooperating at first. They found some yummy grass outside that gate and it was hard to make them move. But they didn't know me so they would when I got near them. Finally we got them all in. I never did that before!

And so we headed up to the house. My back was screaming cuz I was struggling in the boots and lets face it I'm freakin outta shape too. Must have hiked quite a bit. So we get to the house and now I'm trying to take off the boots. Now I have big calves, I always have even when I was young and thin. And my legs must have gotten a bit sweaty with the rubber on them and so my calves wouldn't let me get them off.....they made a suction and I was stuck! Finally I was able to work them off but that's hard to do while standing. Got in the house and got my eggs and stuff and D gave me more mushrooms to take home. 

(This is sort of what it looked like, only more mist and greener.)

But I do wish I had my camera with me. There was a low mist hanging over the pasture. The trees where a bit misty too and when the wind is blowing right you can here the rumble of the ocean. We did tonight standing there. But it was just so beautiful there. And as we wandered back to the house the cows followed us along the fence mooing. I did talk to them and told them I loved them and how beautiful they are. I guess they liked me lol ...

And so I left and wandered down the lane. It was dark and misty. I decided to go thru town instead of around the lake. I wasn't sure I could navigate the dark back roads with these bad eyes. As I made my way around the bend there was this person. I couldn't see who it was very well but it looked weird . Looked like a guy with a gun with a bayonet and a helmet on in his pajamas. lol Now I know I was out in the hills and alone and this person waved to me..............so I locked the door. lol

I got home showed my bf the mushrooms and told him why I was so late. Hes such a sweetie he put the lights on for me so I could find home in the dark. And then I made a quick dinner. The phone rang and it was S.......she said hey didn't you see me? I waved to you. Now I know S was going hunting but I thought out of the area. Apparently she just went up her hill. And THAT WAS HER WAVING AT ME!!

Apparently that freaky lookin person was her lol. I told her what I told my bf and we both cracked up laughing. I told her about being out in the woods and she said there's a cougar out there too. OMG . Told her I saw some piles of stuff out there and she said the small dented marbles are elk poop. I said I saw some lg. black piles tho . She said that's bear scat. OMG it was all around me! ! ! And so we had a good laugh. I still cant believe that was her walking down the road tho. She was in her camos, lol not pjs. lol

And for those lucky enough to be able to forage for mushrooms, here's a nice site with lots of recipes. 

http://www.wildmushroomrecipes.org/recipes/category/boletes-leccinum-suillus
And something else I just learned when I looked up a link for recipes......Bolete is also Porcini mushrooms!! I didn't know that!

Yesterday was a busy day....and today will be too.

When I was a little girl Id spend summer with my gramma. Gramma would take me grocery shopping with her. Now gramma was always looking for good deals so she often shopped the marked down shelves. Some of that stuff looked pretty creepy to me. But she made do and bought what she could use. This brings me to today.

My friend told me shes getting stuff from the Grocery Outlet for her chickens. But they are giving her some pretty good stuff. Its way more than she can use tho. So she wanted to know if when she got the stuff would I want to come get some. I said yes but really didn't know if I would take it or not. So today she went and called me to come get stuff.

When I got there she had her pickup truck backed up to where the chickens were. I guess whatever she didn't want, she would feed them with. There were several boxes. Most looked pretty tired but was still usable. So we sorted thru what we could use and tossed the rest in the box for the chickens. There was a big box of cantaloupes but they were really not worth it , same with a bag of potatoes.

The my friend was tossing stuff into the chickens pen. One time she tossed a coconut and OMG it hit one of the girls. We thought at first she was hurt bad.....she walked funny and hardly at all and her wings were out and weird looking. My friend ran to see if shes ok saying omg Ill never do that again. By the time she got to her she was walking fine and on the other side of the pen so she must have just got knocked silly for a moment.

But they tossed more stuff in and lots of corn too. Omg the girls were having a party. I wished I had my camera with me then cuz it was so funny. They were so excited and running around tasting things. Before I left she let them out to run around a bit and she said boy were they full, they ate alot. It was fun to see tho since I never grew up around that kind of thing.

But I got several bunches of asparagus that were a little worn but still usable. We got tons of small oranges and lots of lemons and limes. I got several bunches of cilantro,  some nice tomatoes, some zucchini, a few jalapeños too. Also got one jicama, that's all I took since I don't eat it much. And we got one usable coconut that has no milk but tastes good. So tomorrow I'm going to grate it and put it in the dehydrator.

While I was there we started doing the produce. I had all I wanted in my car. But there were tons of limes and she didn't want them all. So while I juiced all the lemons and limes, she cleaned the yellow squash, zucchini and her asparagus.

I got one quart of lime juice which I'm going to freeze in ice cube trays to use for cooking. Ill do the same with my lemons here tomorrow. I did her lemons and limes too. I told  her how to snap the asparagus stems so she could blanch them. She cleaned the squash and froze that too. It was a nice afternoon tho of yakking and learning. And for helping her I got spoiled.....she gave me a big bag of frozen razor clams to make chowder with. I cant wait for the cold weather, those are great clams to use.

And so now I decided to cut up and save what I could of the asparagus. There was quite a bit so I decided since they were free, I'd pickle them. And so I searched online for ideas and ended up with my own recipe. They are in the canner right now. Ill let them mellow for a few weeks then try them. If they are good I'll post the recipe.

I'm washing the cilantro right now. I'm going to save what I can and run it in the food processor with some olive oil, then freeze it in small freezer containers. This way I can just scoop some out when I'm making my Mexican stuff.

Tomorrow Ill worry about the rest. Ill juice the rest and freeze it. Ill zest the small oranges too. My hands are pruney today so I don't want to put them in the water anymore. We are supposed to get more on Thurs. This might get to be quite a treasure hunt every week lol.

And so while I normally wouldn't do this sort of thing, money is getting tight and free is good. Now I think I understand why gramma did this.

I loveeeee living here in the country!

Today was just a normal day. I had a few errands to run and had to get more eggs too. Had to go to the bank.....so I started there then decided after to wander down to this farm I read about....that's open all week. I found the road and wandered down it. Gosh I love going down these back roads. They LOOK like back-roads.....not suburbia. :)

It reminded me of the old song.......over the river and thru the woods to grandmothers house we goooooo. And I did go thru the woods and past the river were some folks were fishing. Then kept wandering till I saw the sign for the farm. So Ok I thought it would be this really commercial looking place. But it wasn't.

I turned down the road where the sign was but it got even more dense.....and it started to rain so it felt like when I was in Hawaii yrs ago......sort of rain forest-like. I kept wishing I brought my camera and I think I'm going to next time I go there. Finally on this dirt road.......there was another sign for the farm so I turned there.

And the road got even narrower, trees and ferns and some stumps to guide you on your way and then a sharp turn. I felt like I was going to some secret place. Now this was an adventure!

And then suddenly as I made the turn another sign showed me where to park and it was like I was dreaming. The sweetest lil farm I ever saw. I WANT IT! THE WHOLE THING....MINE MINE MINE lol

There were sweet lil rows right there will all sorts of things starting to grow.....baby plants and in between the rows were rows of grass to walk on. At the end of each planted row was a long log placed lengthwise to protect the end of the row....and it was moss covered. There were rows on the left and on the right and in the middle was a path to a sweet lil building......with a sign for the Barking Dog farm. Awwwwww damn I love it!

Inside nobody was there but there were rows of some veggies and a refrig case. I signed the guest book so I could get news of what they had. Things were a bit pricey and I think much was just brought in and not grown there yet. I walked back outside and there was this sweet vine covered wooden deck with a gate. The gate had this goofy dog holding veggies made out of painted metal. And when I looked over the deck there was a sweet lil house and a big greenhouse. Nobody was around but they left a note to call on the call box if I wanted anything.

Not yet....didn't see anything I wanted that was not too pricey but Ill be back. I felt like I stepped right into a storybook. They definitely had a piece of Paradise and its down the other end of town from me, not far.

And so I wandered back down the road, almost sorry to leave. I decided to head back to the outlet mall cuz I was looking for some stainless steel bowls for my FIL for Fathers Day.

I hit both gourmet shops there but I wasn't paying those prices. They are getting smart now...and charging per bowl and then it costs alot more. I bought mine in a set yrs. ago. Ill just have to keep looking and he will have to get them later. But of course I didn't go just in those stores and bought a top for me and two pairs of jeans. But what jeans! These were a knit type fabric that I thought was denim....and they stretched to fit too. So I decided to try them on and omg they fit so nice and felt soo comfy. So I had to buy two pairs at least. ....one tan, one purple. Sadly Ill have to hem them cuz I'm short as a stump and everything I buy is too long.

Then I wandered back home. You see when I called the egg lady earlier she was out fishing, said she would call me when she got home. So after I got home, she called me awhile later. She asked me if I want more fish and of course I said yes! So I asked her if she liked crumb cake and she said YES! So I packed up quite a few pieces to bring with me and the extra empty egg cartons too.

I love going to the egg lady's house. Once again its like going thru the woods and when I arrive Dukey the yellow lab is there to greet me and get a scratch or two. And the chickens are wandering all over. I opened the door and Dukey zeroed right in on the crumb cakes sitting on the floor in the back, sticking his nose in and trying to get past the plastic wrap but I said nonono.......and pushed him away. The egg lady just got there too and had her bucket of fish ready to be cleaned so we wandered inside.

She cleaned the fish and for that I was grateful. Yes I'm a chef but I cant handle blood and guts and so I don't like to do that stuff. When we used to go fishing my ex cleaned them so I never had to and we had prep people in the restaurant so I didn't have to there either. And so I handed her the crumb cakes and told her elderly mom I brought her a sweet snack too.

While I was sitting there her hubby came in and he was too cute smacking her back and forth on her butt while shes trying to clean the fish lol. And so he asked if I wanted them heads on or off and I said doesn't matter, either way. I'm just happy to have them. He told her to cut them off but she didn't. I think he was trying to make points with me (wink) , hes a nice guy too.

And so he talked about making pickled fish with some the last time and had her take some out for me to taste. We often get into these conversations about food and I love it. I'm not crazy about pickled fish and the first batch I tasted was a bit salty. He told her no get the other jar so she did and I tasted that. It was much better but still for me.....not one of my fav. things. But her family is from Finland and such so I know that's a big thing there.

She went off to gather eggs again and he and I chatted awhile about all sorts of things and canning and growing and I gave him some ideas of other herbs to use for the fish too. And so it was getting late and I had to go. Grabbed my purse and stuff and headed out the door. He followed me.

The chickens were running around and I just loved it. Told him I wanted chickens when I got here but Kurt wont let me get any. So I said Ill just live vicariously thru them, this way I can get eggs and enjoy the chickens but not have all the mess. I can be the country girl and the city girl at the same time. He laughed and showed me his bare butt chickens. I'm serious , his black and whites for some reason were molting feathers off their back ends.....damn they have to be cold. lol

It started to rain and so I got in the car to go home. He told me about some of the biddies wandering down the road the other day......side by side like they were leaving home. lol I laughed and asked did they leave? He said no they came back but it was funny to see. As I said goodbye I saw some of the chickens down the end of that driveway wandering off and he wandered down there too.

I turned my car around in the big driveway to head out and saw him take the small riding digger he had and round up the birds and shoo them back towards home in the rain. I pulled up beside him in my car and opened the windows. I said I guess this is how you chicken wrangle these days and he agreed and laughed.

I wandered back down the wooded road that goes around the lake and realized just how happy I was . I wished that I brought my camera here too to show you all the sweet chickens they have. I loved where I wandered today, I love the coastal beachy town I'm in, I Love the back roads and small town feel and even the people I'm meeting. It don't get any better than that.