Tag Archives: Larry Evans

Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News, Wild Foraging

Commercial Morel Picking

2 Comments

 

Finally was able to check out the burns by Darby. The burn I checked out was created as a result of the 2011 Saddle Complex Burn.

I have never seen so many mushroom  pickers in one place in my life!  They were everywhere scouring the hills for the elusive black morel. The whole scene was surreal with migrant pickers and locals camping in the same area and hunting for the same prize! Best way to make sure of your safety is to buy rifle scopes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The burn areas were dark, ominous, stinky and dirty. You could tell a destructive force had blown through causing death and mayhem. In some of the harder burned areas you could almost feel the force that had pushed through. It was eerie and beautiful at the same time as a rebirth had started. You could almost picture the fire as it ripped through and consumed everything in its path. The draws had chimney ed and everything in them was ashes that had flowed like rivers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


It was a great trip and I got to camp with the Missoula Mushroom Guru, Larry Evans! We talked about mushroom stuff that bores most people to death. I only found enough morels to eat, but I had a great time and it was pretty much what I had expected. The people that do this for a living, earn that money and deserve every penny!

Thank you to Larry and my other camp hosts!

Books, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News, Wild Foraging

Mushroom Movie Review

4 Comments

Finally got to see the movie “Know Your Mushrooms!” starring Larry Evans and Gary Lincoff.  Written, Produced &  Directed by: Ron Mann

Larry Evans is the fearless leader of the Western Montana Mycological Association and maintains the Fungal Jungal website. (link on home page). Larry has taught me a lot of what I know about mushrooms, and is my mushroom guru.

Gary Lincoff has written several books, and the one I am most familiar with is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms
by Gary A. Lincoff, Gary H. Lincoff, Carol Nehring. This was my first mushroom ID book and is a great resource.

The story starts with Larry at the Teluride Mushroom Festival in Colorado. This is a long running get together and there is plenty of characters to entertain and inform.

There is educational portions and comedy thrown in along the way. Complete with question and answer sessions. The scenery and graphics are top notch

I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in Mushrooms!

Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News, Wild Foraging

Mushroom Music

Leave a comment

A true mycophile like myself listens to mushroom music.

Larry Evans has done it again! Music about mushrooms that is mycologically correct and fun to listen to.

Fungal BoogieI have purchased Fungal Boogie and found it interesting and I learn something new each time I listen to it

The cd covers songs about Boletes, Morels and others. There is a song about the Fly Agaric that is funny and thought provoking.The songs describe different identification tips, and the Latin names are taxonomically correct.

 

The newest cd out is the Fungal Boogieman.

Fungal Boogieman

 

I have not purchased this one yet, but will be soon. In listening to the sample tracks, it sounds like another fun one to have and listen to. The setup and context seems similar to the last one.

The link on the homepage will get you to the Fungal Jungal, with some samples of the cds as well as the lyrics to the songs. 10% of the purchase price goes to the WMMA, a worthy cause indeed!The WMMA and Larry maintain the Fungal Jungal website that is loaded with mushroom information and links.

 

So get yourself some mushroom music and learn more about mycology while you are at it!

Cultivation, Montana Mushrooms News

Mushroom Cultivation Workshops

5 Comments

Mushroom Cultivation Workshops are a great way to learn how to grow mushrooms and meet mycophiles. I have been to 2 different workshops through the Bioneers Conference.

The first one was with the Missoula Guru Larry Evans with the WMMA and the Fungal Jungal. The idea with this one was to pasteurize straw, and then inoculate the pasteurized straw with Oyster mushroom spawn. Everyone got to participate and take a bag of inoculated straw home ready to produce mushrooms.

The process was simple and straight forward. We broke a bale of straw up, and then ran over it with a lawn mower until it was chewed up to smaller pieces. A steel barrel of water was heated with a propane burner until boiling. Larry had fashioned a basket out of hardware cloth with a handle of wire. we stuffed the basket loosely with straw and plunged it into the boiling water. It stayed about 20 minutes with a brick on top to keep it down. The basket was raised, drained some, and then dumped on a clean tarp. It took about 3 batches to complete. The straw was spread out and allowed to cool to a tepid temperature.

The bags of spawn were then spread out over all of the straw and was mixed by hand being careful not to step on the tarp. The inoculated straw was then bagged up in small plastic bags, and nails were used to poke holes throughout the bag. The bags of inoculated straw were then taken home by participants to grow fresh mushrooms. The mycelium quickly consumed the straw in the bag and in about 2 weeks I had fresh oyster mushrooms to eat.

Me and about 30 other people were turned on to the simplicity and complexity of growing mushrooms. You could see it in their eyes, they were hooked for life. I have been playing around with oyster mushrooms since, and am constantly amazed at the aggressiveness of this mushroom.

If you get a chance to attend a mushroom cultivation workshop, I would highly recommend it.