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Mushroom Season Is Here!

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Just like any food, I am sure mushrooms were trial and error. We learned they were poisonous because some poor soul ate them and was poisoned or died. Tomatoes were actually thought to be poisonous in ancient times. Also they probably saw if animals ate them and then decided it was worth the risk.

Holly berries are poisonous, but not to birds. Some person probably saw the birds eating them and then tried it themself. And thus we learned they were poisonous.
Tomatoes are in the nightshade family, so people weren’t totally crazy for being worried about it. But it does turn out that they’re fine for human consumption, along with other members of the family (potatoes, peppers, eggplant).

Different species metabolize things in very different ways, which is why you see animals eat things that would harm humans, or dogs and cats cannot eat things we do, like chocolate. Determining all of this in a time before the technology of modern day definitely had to be a lot of trial and error.
 

Just wanted to share this quirky song called Mushroom Hunting from Cowboy Bebop. I always liked eating mushrooms, but I think seeing this song title is what originally got me interesting in reading about foraging.

I haven't personally gone foraging yet. But I do have a friend who participates in what she calls 'urban foraging' around San Francisco, which is mostly picking fruit off of trees in neighbors yards (but only when they are overhanging onto public property), or picking herbs that grow in public places (like making salad of dandelion greens).
All the plants in Tomorrowland at Disneyland are edible.
So I kind of think of her urban foraging as something like knowing cool facts like that and making use of it!
 
Another day, another spore hunt. Some of you guys are extremely fast!
 
I’m surprised how many I’ve gotten when my viewing spores don’t even seem to have cooled down yet for the day. I guess there must not be a posting cap? I haven’t gone totally crazy posting a zillion times, but just with posting a bit I’ve made it to 85. I’m gonna guess this post will take me up to 90 to get all 10 mushrooms for today
 
This is the mushroom story my family likes to tell. A few months after my sister was born and a couple of years before I was born, my mom’s grandmother, aunt, and parents came to visit. My dad’s parents were living in the house. My mom’s youngest brother lived an hour away from them at the time and her parents went to see him during the day. We have a bunch of pine trees growing in the middle of the backyard and underneath the trees, my great grandma saw these mushrooms growing and she told my dad’s parents how they were the most delicious mushrooms ever. She was in her 80s and clearly didn’t always make the best judgment at times due to age. My grandma didn’t believe her and said that the mushrooms weren’t suitable for consumption. But great grandma didn’t listen and picked the mushrooms anyway and proceeded to make a small pot of soup with them.

My dad came home from work and saw the soup cooking and great grandma had him taste a bit. He said it made his tongue feel numb and the spoon turned black and he got really concerned and told her that the mushrooms weren’t safe to eat and that the soup needed to be thrown out immediately. Great grandma didn’t listen and she hid the pot of soup underneath the sink. The next day my mom’s parents went to visit my uncle and my mom and her aunt were busy taking care of my sister and my dad went to work. While everyone else was busy, great grandma took out the soup from its hiding place and she ate it and had my dad’s parents eat it with her. Grandma said she was forced to do it because great grandma kept insisting and she only ate it to make her stop nagging her. Grandma immediately didn’t feel well and threw up and didn’t eat that much of the soup. Great grandma and my grandpa on the other hand ate the entire pot. Then all three laid Down for a nap.

An hour later, my mom noticed that all three weren’t waking up and saw the pot and bowls that they used to eat the soup. She then immediately panicked and told my dad that all three wouldn’t wake up and he rushed home. They called 911 for help and three ambulances were sent over to the house. The neighbor was coming home from work and saw the madness happening in front of her. My mom had to call her brother to tell their father that his mother was just rushed to the hospital. All three didn’t eat enough of the mushrooms to kill them luckily and had to stay a couple days in the hospital. My grandma was the least affected since she didn’t eat that much of the soup. My grandpa on the other hand, kept flirting with the nurses which irritated grandma. Great grandma actually became very violent. My dad went into her room to ask her how she was feeling and he said that she suddenly swung her arm in attempt to hit him. The staff then struggled to strap her down because she kept trying to attack anyone that came near her. This elderly woman actually made my dad shake in fear because of how violent she had become. My mom was lucky that her aunt had also come to visit and she watched my sister while both of my parents were in the hospital. All three senior citizens made full recoveries and were allowed to go home.

And that’s the mushroom story. My neighbor who saw the ambulance is a retired teacher and she told the story all the time to her students as part of a lesson of not eating wild mushrooms that you randomly find growing outside. My grandma continued to blame great grandma for this fiasco until the day she died. Because of this incident, we never trusted any mushrooms that didn’t come from the store.
Omg!!!! That’s cray!!!!! Great story though!!!
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I am here for spores again. Need to fill up my 10 lineup!
 
Meeee toooo. Currently filling mine up to what I have 😂😂😂
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(19 more spores to go!!!)
 
I didn't realize we could do the same mushrooms again. I thought it was a one and done deal until the reset. But it looks like I misheard that since everyone has their entire lineup filled again.
 
I didn't realize we could do the same mushrooms again. I thought it was a one and done deal until the reset. But it looks like I misheard that since everyone has their entire lineup filled again.
I think you just can’t have duplicates of the same mushroom at once, at least from what I understand
 
If in doubt, throw it out.

You need to read multiple foraging books (whether we are talking about mushrooms or just plants) and get some hands on experience with someone who is experienced. And location absolutely matters. Not just by continent but by what trees are near by and what other types of mushrooms are near by as they can sometimes give clues if you aren't sure. Also a safe mushroom can not be good if growing on the wrong tree.
Some mushrooms are easier to identify than others, and some have look a likes that can make you sick and some deadly.
Either way, you need to know for certain, so if in doubt throw it out.
Ive heard some sad stories of experienced mushroomers who died after mushrooming for years because they made a mistake in Morel identification. Morels are hollow from tip to the bottom of the stem and the edge of the cap before the stem is specific (can't remember that part rn). There are two look-a-likes to morels and those features are a little different. One look-a-like is deadly and the other look-a-like isn't. The shroomers probably thought the morel with slightly different features was the look-a-like that wasn't deadly and so took and ate instead of just passing on it and being more picky.
 
Omg!!!! That’s cray!!!!! Great story though!!!
It pretty much is the ONE family story we like to tell people. It’s even more insane when you consider the fact that my sister was only six to eight months old and all of the chaos happened in only a couple of hours during the afternoon. My mom said she was glad that her aunt was also there because she wouldn’t have known what to do with a baby in the hospital waiting to hear how everyone was doing. I don’t think we ever figured out what type of mushrooms they really were or what they looked like uncooked. All I know it was some species that grew close to pine trees and I don’t recall ever seeing any odd mushrooms growing under the ones we had in the yard. Great grandma just claimed that these mushrooms were the most delicious ones you could ever eat. She also was pretty old. I want to say that she was around 83 years old.
 
oh gosh i thought we had to look for a new set with the reset 😭 must have misread. I'm so checked out but i really love the mushrooms and mushrooms in general so I'm trying my best to grab what i can 😔
 
Tomatoes are in the nightshade family, so people weren’t totally crazy for being worried about it. But it does turn out that they’re fine for human consumption, along with other members of the family (potatoes, peppers, eggplant).
Well as long as you don’t eat the leaves. Or any part of the potato if it’s green. Tomatoes were thought to be poisonous because they were originally served on pewter plates specially made for them. The tomatoes then absorbed the lead from the metal and that’s how people got very ill from eating tomatoes.
 
spore check 😩 i fear i won’t make it to the 9pm cut off, my spore hunting has been slow today
Why not? I haven't experienced any cooldowns in this event from posting in threads... I earned all necessary spores on the previous days just from keeping posting.
 
I'm sure the real mushroom collectibles will be priced quite high considering how we're dealing with those shrooms
I was thinking the same thing. It’s kinda why I’m glad I don’t know what the prices are. I’m telling myself I will be happy if I can just the Shiitake plushroom.

So far I was able to get 6 so hopefully I can get the rest by 9.
 
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