Wednesday, 8:45 AM. 38 degrees, wind SW, light with gusts. The sky is partly overcast, and the channel is crawling. The barometer predicts rain. The full moon has just set.The mushroom pictured is the common field mushroom, Agaricus campestris, in the family Agaricaceae. It is a gill mushroom (note the underside of the cap). This is one of the most common and highly edible of wild mushrooms and if I am not mistaken is the one most commonly cultivated and sold in stores. I am tempted to cook it but have sworn not to eat wild mushrooms. The reason: this one is quite similar in appearance to the also common, and quite deadly, the all white “destroying angel,” Amanita virosa. The latter has a bulbous sac at the stem base, called a volva, which can easily be broken off and left undetected in the ground by the careless collector.
Many other edible mushrooms also have deadly look-a-likes. If I were starving and didn’t care if I died anyway I might trust myself to eat wild mushrooms. I will leave the matter to braver and more knowledgeable folks than myself. In France one can take wild collected mushrooms to the local pharmacist for positive identification, and if we had such a service here I might take the chance. Otherwise, if I want to gamble I will go three miles north of Bayfield to the casino on the Rez. I may loose some quarters there, but not my life.
If the wind doesn’t pick up Jay and I are going out fishing this afternoon, but at present it looks iffy. I will check with the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) web site for a near shore weather report.
Tomorrow is the opening of the early gun deer season, and I have to take my collected apples down to my deer stand this morning.
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