[Andy’s comments in green]
This winter, Sonja got interested in picking mushrooms again. In January, we went to a mushroom expo in Santa Cruz, and Sonja joined their “Fungus Federation.” Besides having a neat forum to discuss mushrooms, one big benefit was going on their weekend foray to the Mendocino Coast (the second time the club has gone). They organized the lodging at a research field station in a little town called Albion, and led mushroom hunting hikes in the Jackson State Forest nearby.
Leilani made new friends as soon as we arrived. Belen and her younger brother Kelby are several years older than Leilani, but they got along and had a great time together. Belen and Kelby are old enough and responsible enough that we let Leilani run off with them–they mainly ran back and forth between the cabins and the dining hall. After dinner, Belen and Kelby came to our cabin to read Leilani a good night story.
Saturday was the one sunny day in the middle of a lot of rainy days. So it was lucky that was our main day in the forest to hunt for mushrooms. But a lot of the mushrooms we found were water-logged.
We found a lot of Psydohydnum gelatinosum or cat’s toungue, Leilani’s favorite mushroom (in German Eispilz) because this is the only kind that Andy is good at finding. Her mushroom preference goes by color: white, yellow, brown, and if it is black it needs to be well hidden.
We climbed a steep hill, Leilani panted a lot less than some of the adults…
Trametes versicolor or Turkey Tail
Kelby and Belen helped Leilani to climb another hill, the big kid’s “skied” down, but Leilani climbed down carefully.
We managed to find enough mushrooms to make a nice dish for the potluck, among it a big Matsutake (a delicious and prized mushroom which I didn’t even recognize, I just picked it to be identified, because it was pretty and the foray leader was close by…)
The last day was too rainy to go much mushroom picking, but we still tried… Leilani gave up after 30 minutes, and I did 20 more in the rain (which doubled the take-home mushrooms). So we visited the coast a bit. This is near where we stayed in Albion, Highway 1 crosses the river valley on this big old bridge.
We had a nice lunch in Mendecino, a cute little town on a beautiful coastline. It was pouring rain and Leilani had the great idea to find a place with “fish and chips.” The restaurant had a great view of the coast, and the rain on the windows just added to the ambiance:
Please take my photo (with the doily):
Leilani is more and more asking us to take pictures. Not only of her, but of anything she finds interesting. After all, that is what the parents do all the time.