Tofu, Shrimp of the Woods & Adventure

My nephew, Colin, and his wife Kat arrived Friday evening. 

We took a whirl wind tour of Viroqua, which included coffee at Wonderstate [Formerly, Kickapoo Coffee], the Farmer's Market, and Viroqua Food Co-op for supplies and groceries.

Kat made some amazing gluten free muffins and a bread for us when we returned. After eating some delights, us 'kids' set off the the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. I thought we'd avoid all the hoopla of the Dam Challenge by heading over to Wiester Creek.

We headed up the West Ridge Trail and then went down the hill to Ma & Pa's trail. Yippee! One more section to cross off for me! Section 29 is done!

Infrared photo of the West Ridge Trail

As we headed down Ma & Pa's Trail, we encountered a couple hiking towards us with a full basket of mushrooms.

We were looking for them as well as trying to spot birds either visually or by song.

Mr. and Mrs. Kingfisher watching for birds!

Colin has edible Fungi in the red bandana.

We started to find Shrimp of the Woods

Then we went...

off the map...

And unfortunately, we had to do some major brush busting. However, that led us to even more Shrimp of the Woods!

Our take after cleaning them and before Colin cooked them:

Our last part of the off the map trek took us through a corn field to where we parked.

Charlie led the way. Colin and Kat wanted to see what Charlie looked like in Infrared.

He looked like a Zombie Dog!

PS~ The Shrimp of the Woods were amazing and so delicious! We wanted to head back out right away and search for more! 
Colin made us a delicious supper vegan style that included Tofu. I thought I'd never try it, but everything was delicious.

Rich stuck with having a steak!

These times...

 

On Monday we had our updated Covid-19 boosters. And other than a slight ache at the injection sight we've had no ill side effects. That was actually a pretty nice surprise.

Tuesday was my 'hike or ride with Olive' day. Olive had texted me Monday evening to let me know she had found the Mother Lode of cool fungi in a forest that her husband's family owns. We decided to go at 10 AM because the heat on Tuesday afternoon was to be fierce.

She had found the Mother Lode!

Shrimp of the Woods was everywhere! She picked, and I photographed. We poured out gobs of sweat and hiked ...and brush busted through the woods getting full of stick tights and all sorts of nasty little burrs. We laughed and exclaimed how fun it was to find someone else as adventurous as we two were.

Apparently her husband is not into diving through the underbrush just to find dried up old mushrooms and exclaim OHHH! AHHH! Or to grab fungi from the dirt and marvel at their beauty. [However, he will eat what she cooks!]

I learned that Olive was indeed the adventurous type. After college, she took a year and went to New Zealand to hike a 2,000 mile trail. She said it was an epic adventure and she learned by trial and error about back packing. She learned about blisters, heat rash, and dealing with forces of nature.

I told her I was jealous, but admired her.

The arrow points to some oyster mushrooms she had 'seeded' with a slurry from other oyster mushrooms she'd picked. It worked!

We hiked and explored for about 2 hours before we hopped back into her beat up Subaru and headed home. We traveled both times with the windows down as her A/C hadn't worked since she'd beat up her car when she did a short stint as a Rural Postal Carrier. 

I'd taken a lot of photos and we'd covered a lot of ground. 

We both thought it would be fun to come back after the snow fell and snowshoe through the woods.

She dropped me off.

Two hours later she texted me with an urgent message. Her parents had Covid they'd been at their house on Saturday. She had been exposed but presented with no symptoms.

Well now. 

I'm wearing a mask in the house and doing all I can to keep separate from hubby.

This morning I received an update. Olive had to take her son to the ER last night and he tested negative, but has a full blown ear infection, teething, and a cold.

Her husband is negative too. So now we just wait and see while still practicing all the cautions I can...

Ever drink coffee with a straw? 

Interesting.

Can you name it?

Not much going on right now. 

I have been wandering the woods as usual and have been finding neat and cool stuff which I have been trying to identify.

This below is something I came across while hiking on Thursday. I have found these before along the river bluffs and near pines so I am thinking this would be the proper climate for them.

Pin Cushion Moss
it grows in acidic soil in shaded forests or swamps, near bases of trees and on rock ledges... [from the Minnesota Seasons site]

I've seen these often along the areas I walk. Warner Creek, Weister Creek, and the Kickapoo River. They are so cute and distinct. One wants to reach down and touch them. They are so soft and pliable.

Here is another cool and weird looking thing I found. It is a mushroom and after a lot of searching I came up with a name for it.

The common name is Shrimp of the Woods. It is supposed to be quite edible.

This was a perplexing fungi to identify because I just thought it was strange twisted fungi growth gone all wrong.

In fact that is what the Latin name sort of implies. Entoloma arbortivum. And apparently several sources say they are easy to identify yet there is a poisonous look alike. Um. I will pass then.

These tiny orange things are pretty cool. They caught my eye because of their brilliant color on the wet wood.

I have narrowed it down to Insect Egg Slime Mold

But I found different patches of similar 'stuff' but slightly different.

Considering that it is fall, and this stuff is bright orange I will just admire it. I don't have a microscope to do any further digging. Insect Egg Slime Mold or Yellow Fuzzy Slime Cone?

While we are on orange fungi stuff, here is one I cannot ID.

It was about 6 feet above the ground growing on ... oh, crap, I never bothered to ID the tree. 

There it is, a mystery.

I did find similar but smaller ones in my own woods on dead ash trees. Does that help at all?

This one I think I do know.

It starts out like a bit of white goo, but is not gooey.

Last year I watched it slowly grow over a time frame of about a week in this very same spot. Taken September 24th 2021.

It is called Abortiporus biennis and according to the MushroomExpert.com, it comes in several forms. 

Here it is on September 27th of last year:

And....

Of course I could be completely wrong. Another name for this in its regular state is Blushing Rosette. That is when it doesn't go all 'wrong'. 

When it grows on wood stumps [I dug around and found a stump and wood under the dirt] and becomes deformed it looks like the above photo. 

Mother Nature sure is interesting.

I thought I had figured out what the following fungi were but then sort of gave up.

They are so beautiful.

They have gills and are not large, they grow on an old log. This is the second time they have grown here this year.

Then there are these and I have No Idea what they are but found them interesting. Will they grow larger or do nothing?

I have no idea what they are but with the little bit of rain and misty mornings with heavy dew, the forest in certain areas have burst forth with all sorts of cool fungi and slime molds.

I could just spend the day crawling through this one area of our forest and keep finding neat things.

But fall color and leaves are on everyone's mind. Certain reports say our area is not in full color.

In the valleys, I will beg to differ.

The photo below was shot with a graduated ND filet so the sky wouldn't be so blown out.

This is one of the back roads I take when coming back from town.

Welcome to Monday. 

Fun fun Fun..gi and Slime Mold

What should a person do when they live wayyyy out in the country during a a time when you don't feel like co-mingling with other humans?

It is the end of September and the forest is full of creepy, ingenious, and strange growths. So, I spend an hour or so each day walking around the section of the woods that is deep and dark. Where the logs are moss covered. Where old bones from animals lay. It is a place that I didn't go through often because the canopy is so dark and there is little undergrowth.

It is a spooky part of our woods.

I never knew there could be so many things to see in such a small area!

The hard part is trying to figure out what on earth I am finding!

Some of it is easy. Old Chicken of the woods. When fresh, they are bright orange. These are old, but still very impressive in size. Apparently it can be eaten if you know your Fungi. I wouldn't eat this though. Looks a bit on the yucky side.

Blobs.
I found Blobs of white in spots all over the forest floor. I've seen them before but just ignored them while hiking. Not this week. I decided to go ahead and try to figure out what these strange things were.

So at first I poked it with a stick and then with my finger. They feel like a mushroom or fungi. I did some digging and came up with a possible ID. The Shrimp of the Woods. One site said it was a malformed aborted mushroom and another said it was a parasitic fungi that ate other fungi. I am not going to go ahead and give it the scientific name as I am not really quite sure. I have more investigating to do.

I've collected many photos in the past few days and am still trying to figure out what I'm seeing.

Slime Mold?
Here is a photo of my foot in the middle of the white stuff. Is is slime mold? What stage is it if it is?
I really have no idea of what I am seeing so I just photograph it out of curiosity .

Here is a close up of the white stuff. It is gorgeous! It looks like a snow-scape doesn't it? 

Here is the edge of the 'stuff' with a dime for size reference.

It isn't really slimly and icky. Just a bit odd. 

I hunted around the forest a bit more and noted something white on another log. 

Think of the size of flea eggs when you see this as it is a macro shot with my little Tough Camera in the microscopic mode:

I will go back once a day to see what this turns into. I've been trying to do some investigating and slime mold has a 'fruiting' stage.

Oh heck, I have NO idea what I am talking about here.

Just that this stuff is cool, interesting and worth photographing as it changes.

Perhaps I can figure out what it is one of these fine days.

Something tiny but pretty. Yellow Fairy Cup Fungi!

I found this on a piece of wood. Thank goodness for its bright color or I would have missed it. 

The forest always has some sort of surprise!

Here is a slug hugging a tiny puff ball!

And for the last shot of this day another group of fungi growing on a log.

I call these Fungi...a Happy Little Family.

I'm pretty sure I can imagine woodland creatures hiding nearby.

By the way. The color of the trees are magnificent. In the past few days, I've had to run a few errands and I've been able to stop and take some photos.

But this fungi stuff is fascinating also. 

More fall color photos tomorrow. I promise!

And more Strange Fungi or Slime Mold too!