The Last Mushroom

You may wonder why after all the wonderful mushrooms we've had in 2011 I'm including a photo of this sad specimen. The answer is that I found this one in my side yard last week on December 18th. I was quite surprised to see any living mushrooms this late. So if the first mushroom of the year is celebrated, the last one should be too.

Ahhh, what a year it was...I am new to this but the more experienced mushroomers out there have declared 2011 an exceptional year in the Northeastern US. Here in Ithaca we were having a pretty good summer of foraging and then we got hit with 5" of rainfall from hurricane Earl on September 8th and it got crazy after that. I can remember rushing home from work many times so I could quickly change and get out foraging in the woods behind my house. Each time it was only the lack of light that prevented me from continuing, I would have gone all night if I could. Finally, when dusk was well advanced, I would stumble home through the forest in the dark with my bag full of black trumpets and other finds.

And so my dear reader (me) that ends this seasons blog entries. I have a few mushrooming stories that I didn't get to blogging about this year - including the photos I took of the most bizarre fungus I've ever seen in my life - but I think I'll post those next year as we ramp up for morel madness in May and the start of the 2012 season.