Shroooom!

It is cold and rainy and no frost, so we are getting a wonderful harvest of oyster mushrooms.  We are not experts on mushrooms and know these are safe to eat because we planted them this past year!

As you can see we harvested some already in the photo above.  I had once read that there was little nutritional value in mushrooms but according to one website their nutritional value is as follows: "The good: This food is low in Saturated Fat and Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of  Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin C, Folate, Iron, Zinc and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin D, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Selenium."  Since we cook ours with butter, garlic and salt and pepper, we probably negate a lot of the healthy significance of this fungus.  Another website claims that mushrooms have  complex carbohydrates that strengthen the immune system.  I can use more of that!

They have high water content and I think that is why I see squirrels eating them once in a while.  Our little harvest does get impacted by mice harvests.  The photo below is a wild mushroom, that looks like our cultivated, but could very well be inedible.  I ain't trying it.  You can see where squirrels have nibbled.

Other fungus in our woods is just pretty and exotic looking.  Some growths look like rubber ribboned ruffles (say that fast three times) and others like scallop shells that have fossilized.

There are so many different forms, colors and patterns that sometimes I return home all muddy kneed from trying to get a close-up shot of something I haven't seen.