Once we had a respectable collection we detangled A. needed help picking the slimy ones, but enjoyed picking all the others, and poking the puffballs to release the spores. We found slimy ones, orange ones, coral-like ones, puffy ones – there was a surprising variety despite the lateness of season. had great fun asking permission to enter the numerous fairy rings sprouting alongside the path, and carefully selecting which specimens to take home and identify. was busy terrorising the local cat population, E.
Once you start looking it is amazing how they start popping up everywhere… Whilst A. We kept one bucket for edibles that Mummy was going to have for dinner that evening (ID’d the day before using this very technique) and a bucket to collect all the other different specimens we could find. We noticed an abundance of mushrooms sprouting in our local cemetery this week, and after school took our mushroom book and a couple of buckets to go picking.
However, an important part of the identification process is to take a spore print, and this is a fun activity anyone can take part in as long as you can make sure they are not eating anything they shouldn’t! There are a wealth of experts out there, as well as knowledgeable groups that can help you to identify an edible ‘shroom. As mushrooms can be misidentified easily, I tend to stay away from foraging to eat posts. There is such an abundance of berries and nuts, and of course mushrooms. One of my favourite things to do in the Autumn (or any season really) is to go for a good forage.