There was a time when I loathed fall.  I'm from Alaska, and that state's incredibly short fall season lead straight into the incredibly long winter.  There was also a time that I didn't much like hiking. 

Now, thanks to mushroom hunting, I can say I enjoy both. Fall is when all the mushrooms are out (excluding morels, which are in the Spring)!  Mushroom hunting is like hiking, except that there often isn't a path to follow, and if there is you're free to go off of it at any point -- as long as you can get back wherever you parked your car.  But more importantly mushroom hunting is like hiking with tasty little treats (and sometimes BIG treats) for you all along the way.  I must admit that I still like hiking more during Spring or Fall, when the mushrooms are out!

I missed the Lake Cushman foray on the 10th-- we had a friend's wedding to attend that day.  It sounds like everyone had a good time and found a lot of chanterelles.  I'm envious!

I was able to get to Lake Quinault very late on Friday night, and spent Saturday morning in the POURING rain out in the woods around the lake.  We searched around the North road between Kamp Kiwanis and the highway, as well as another road off the highway a bit north of the lake.  Christine was my hunting partner for the day, and I commend her foraying abilities in spite of being drenched-- no poncho or rain coat could protect us from rain that heavy!  We gave up about 1PM and headed back to the camp.  Of course, not long after the rain stopped, but we were already in dry clothes and starting to cook for the potluck by then so we didn't go back out for more.  I did wander around the camp grounds and found several more chanterelles, so the afternoon wasn't entirely wasted.  Several small King Boletes were found in the area, and some folks went out to the coast where King Boletes are more common.  There was a lot going on at the foray between hunting mushrooms, the Lake Quinault Mushroom Festival, and razor clam season.  Definately something for everyone!

I want to thank Vance for setting up this foray-- the club hasn't been out to Kamp Kiwanis in several years, and he was instrumental in getting us back out there.  It was a great location and obviously good habitat for mushrooms.  I'd recommend going back now that it's rained good out there!

I'm doing some housekeeping on the site, expect the navigation and a few other things to change . . .

I'm changing the layout of information on the site a bit, hopefully to make it easier for folks to find what they're looking for quickly.

The site hase 3 main "meat and potatoes" sections, which is where most of the content is at, these would be the Forays page, the News page, and the Events page.

The forays page is all about the club forays.  This way you can get to the foray info quickly and easily without having to wade through the other club events, which is where this information used to live.

The News page has news and information of interest to mushroom hunters, but is not specifically about official club events.

The Events page has information on club-related meetings and events such as our annual potlucks.  Events will be listed as they're planned, and then will often be added to after the fact to add photos and notes from the event.

Since there are now three pages that will be updated regularly with new content, I've added an updates section to the homepage to make it easy for folks to see what's been changed lately without having to hunt for it.

I'm hoping to tackle the gallery next, and get lots of photos from our past forays and events into a nice, viewable format.  If you have photos you'd like to contribute, please bring them to the next Club Meeting or e-mail them to southsoundmushroomclub@gmail.com.  Also, if you have anything you'd like added to the Resources page, let me know!

Fall is in the air!  Days are still warm and balmy, but evening comes on a bit more quickly each day, and the night temperatures are dropping into the mid and low '40's.  It won't be long before we abandon our summer gardens and dust off our mushroom hunting gear.

I (Dan Steeby) will be taking over maintenance of this website, and hopefully I'll have enough to say to keep this blog going as well . . .  I've had a good summer with a few cultivation projects.  I purchased some mushroom kits from Fungi Perfecti at the Ostrom's Mushroom Festival (as their booth was right next to ours), and have been enjoying watching a large reishi mushroom grow from one of the blocks.  This mushroom is much different in just about every way than the oysters and shiitake I usually grow.  First of all, the growing time for a single fruiting body is up to 6 months!  Shiitake and oysters just pop up out of nowhere and are often ready to harvest in a matter of days.  But besides being a lesson in patience, it is really an amazing mushroom to see.  I'm hoping it will make a delicious tea around February or so!

The shiitake kit I bought is also doing well.  I let it 'go dormant' for a couple months while I tended to other things in life, but have started another flush on it and am counting over a dozen mushrooms so far.  These shiitake kits are great performers.  I've been able to get a half dozen flushes at least from each kit I've worked with so far, which equates to well over 50 delicious mushrooms.  And as always, I'm sure my technique could be improved, which would result in an even greater return.  If you've ever thought about growing mushrooms for fun, I'd highly recommend the shiitake kits from Fungi Perfecti!

Another fun event was our Fall Picnic, in which I lead a class on growing oyster mushrooms.  Everyone present was able to make one or more oyster mushroom kits to take home, hopefully people have been getting some nice mushrooms from them!  If you were at that event, please take a minute to comment on this blog article and let me know what came of your kit!  Mine are ready to fruit, but I've been postponing it by keeping my kits in a cool closet until I have room for them in my fruiting chambers.  Oysters are even easier to grow than shiitake, so I highly recommend them to beginners as well.

But I'm ready for fall!  I've enjoyed gardening all summer, and will miss my little "40-square-feet of paradise" (also known as the raised bed garden that my apartment complex lets me garden in) as the temperature drops and my tomatoes wilt, but at the same time I know that those chanterelles and boleletes are coming up somewhere out there, waiting to be found.  I've thouroughly enjoyed foraying with the Mushroom Club for the past 2 years, and hope to continue to improve in my hunting and identification skills in the years to come.  It's definately a "learned" skill-- for adults at least-- the art of staring at the ground as you walk, and seeing all those small, well disguised mushrooms at your feet as you go by.  Even in "off seasons" when no edible mushrooms commonly grow, I can't help but watch the ground closely whenever I'm out walking or hiking.  I always see something!

Here's to hoping for a great fall season, some exciting forays, some new friends joining the club, and gaining a deeper appreciation for the mycological world around us.

Well, we have officially launched a few new features today including the Newsletter (to the left), Recommend This Page (below), the new www.southsoundmushroomclub.com domain (URL), and the Blog you are now reading. Yeah!

Besides this, I'm excited that we've started seeds for our Square Foot Garden. This is the first time I'm using the square foot garden method and the first time I'm trying to start seeds indoors and do transplants. We're trying a few new "home food" projects this year: growing shiitake from a Fungi Prefecti kit, brewing a hard apple cider, making preserves, and, I suppose, canning veggies if all goes well in the garden.

This is an informal place to chat so still be sure to check the News and Events pages.