Cazadero Pt. 2 : Amongst the Cypress

Welcome back for Round 2 of Mushroom Madness!

The following pictures are from a little further north and represent a completely different plant community.  This area was dominated by what I am guessing are Monterey Cypress, which have scaly/twiggy/needly leaves that you can see compose the floor of the forest in all these photos.

    

And a strange colony of another sort . . .

The Russians' Fort Ross!
Fur trapping / trading / agricultural outpost functional from 1812 - 1841.

Cazadero Pt. 1: Fun Guys of Salt Point

 Charlotte and I took a 2 night excursion to Cazadero last weekend.  On day one we hiked around Salt Point State Park a bit, mostly rooting around for mushrooms in this forager's hot spot.  There was much evidence of heavy human traffic on and around the main trail, including pieces of mushrooms discarded.

Here are some of the characters we encountered in the mixed forest of conifers, tan oak, and coastal redwoods:

Clavulinopsis laeticolor (Handsome Club)

Some type of coral fungus

Unknown mushroom beside interesting foliage, both growing on a decaying log.

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Hygrocybes sp. (Waxcaps) were abundant in small groupings throughout our hike.

. . . And here are three edible species that we found, although we weren't sure at the time.  They are all apparently considered "chanterelles" of different ilks, and anybody at all familiar with chanterelles can kind of guess as much based on the unique pseudo-gills that they all have (smoother ridges on the undersides, rather than the narrow rows of blade-like gills possessed by typical mushrooms):

Gomphus clavatus (Pig's Ears)
We found many fragments of these laying along the trails.  It seemed to be the most abundantly harvested mushroom of the moment at this particular location.  Also called "Violet Chanterelle" due to it's unique violet-colored underside (although not too visible in this particular picture)

Craterellus calicornicopioides (California Black Trumpet) had almost completely smooth undersides.  If I am properly identifying this one, it is supposedly a very choice edible specimen, and was also probably the most pristine edible mushroom we saw on this hike.  Never the less, we didn't do any harvesting, just photographing.

Turbinellus floccosus (Scaly Chanterelle) was impressive in its size!  We saw a few of these.  While supposedly edible, I think the ones we saw were all past the ideal stage to be cooked and eaten.  But I am really not sure - I don't know much about these species other than what my cursory research on the iNaturalist app has told me.

Wow, what an exciting day!

...More pictures of Day 2, including more mushrooms to come!

Mid-winter veggie harvest

This year I put a little extra effort into cool-season vegetable planting, something we are fortunate to be able to pull off in the mild climate of Napa. I was able to harvest some nice lettuce "Marvel of 4 Seasons", curly green kale, purple tree collards, purple kohlrabi, and green onions! The kohlrabi, lettuce, and onions have been going into salads, and the other greens have been going into Charlotte's juicer as often as possible.

...and a week or so later, another basket of abundance! This time with a load of pineapple guavas aka "feijoas", a Brazilian shrub which grows great in our climate. I planted 10 of the handsome bushes the first year I lived at the house and they are just now starting to produce some good quantities of fruit!

oh, and that long stalk of lettuce is an Asian vegetable called "celtuce" (like celery-lettuce). it is peeled and cut up and sauteed. it has a wonderfully nutty flavor and has been a favorite discovery for Charlotte and myself.

Point Reyes

I greatly enjoyed a visit from my wonderful friend Nick (aka "Rowser") who lives in Hawaii. I stayed with him at his family's cabin in the small town of Inverness in Pt. Reyes for a couple days. We shared many a craft beer and homebrew (he is responsible for getting me into brewing beer back in Santa Cruz). We chatted by the fire, took a couple trips to nearby Abbott's Lagoon, and cooked tacos at the cabin with our other friends, Brianna and Nate, and their daughter Lucy, who live in the Santa Cruz area and came up to visit as well.

We lucked out with a couple clear (but oh so cold!) days between rain storms (hallelujah for those!).

The wildlife at Abbott's Lagoon wasnot only abundant, but quite friendly! We saw a coyote cruising along...

...some adorable Snowy Plovers hunkered down in what looked like human shoeprints in the sand...

...and, a real delight: this family of 5 river otters was playing in the sand dunes! It took us a moment to realize these were not sea otters, but freshwater river otters. There were signs posted about them; apparently this family regularly inhabits the lagoon. We wondered how far out into the salt water or brackish water they go.

...And that is all from the Captain's Log! 🪵

Mysterious Mushrooms

We solved the caper! The suspected "stinkhorn egg" I posted about previously is, in fact, Lysurus mokusin aka "Lantern Stinkhorn". A real oddity in the garden; it is of tropical origin and said to be common in warmer climates, such as Southern California, and rarely the north Bay Area like Napa. The fruiting body, shown here, has an odor of rotting flesh so as to attract the flies which spread its spores.

On a recent trip to Pt. Reyes I pulled over when I spotted this whopper of a toadstool by the roadside. I believe it is Amanita calyptroderma aka "Coccora". It must have been at least about 7" in diameter, bigger than the length of my hand! It is said to be edible, however, I would never risk it, as the Amanita family contains most of the few deadly species of mushrooms and only a trained mycologist should be trusted with such identification. I mostly just like to photograph.

Merry Mischief

Season's greetings!

Of course, we have to do the holidays a little bit different. Charlotte and her old Sonoma State friends introduced me to a thing they call "Christume", which is just a Christmas-themed costume party they celebrate each year. This year our friend Julia joined in the fun and the 3 of us dressed up as the 3 kids from The Nightmare Before Christmas that kidnap Santa... Charlotte is Lock, I am Shock, and Julia is Barrel.