I thought I was on my way out for a quick evening walk after work to check for morels, but it turns out I was actually gathering local wild oysters. What a lovely surprise. These should be Pleurotus ostreatus complex, and thankfully not the aggressive, invasive golden oyster. The huge flush was growing out of a half-dead elm and was magically untouched by bugs. I only took about a fifth of it and still filled one of my mesh bags, ending up with about 9oz. of mushroom to saute with garlic and wine. Bonus, I saw a second flush of oysters getting started later on the same walk, but I left them. #nature #mushroom #mushrooms #fungi #mushtodon #foraging

I'm glad I randomly decided to go check on my allotment bed today, because the winecaps (Stropharia rugosoannulata) that I established six months ago have borne fruit! We've had some rain, but wacky hot and cold spikes, so there were a few small caps that had dried up. Nevertheless, I got a nice handful in decent enough shape to try. They smelled great. I dry-fried them in my cast-iron skillet, getting some nice browning on them, and then finished with some sage, butter and shaoxing wine. I see what people mean about them feeling a bit asparagus-ey or vegetal, but I like it. Hopefully, I can keep the patch going. #nature #foraging #fungi #mushroom #mushrooms #gardening #allotment