Quiltingboard Forums - mother nature is amazing

I agree, Mother Nature IS amazing. My late DH was a nursery man, and he had a book he loved to show the kids of mushrooms. (Gave it to the school teacher daughter) I'll have to ask her what the name of it is and author.
It was a huge book with brilliant colored mushrooms, which showed that mushrooms comes in every color in the rainbow, plus some of them absolutely brilliant in hue. Bright yellows, lovely purple with lavender stems, any color or shape.

When you mention Mushrooms, almost everyone immediately thinks of white mushrooms or brown ones. The most exotic ones most folks think of are huge Shiitake or expensive Truffles.

And some of them, even when not poisonous, have strange after effects. There's one that you can saute in butter and serve for dinner, and it will be delicious. BUT if you drink alcohol with it, your whole body will turn purple for a couple of days!!!

And most of them don't look like the general idea of what a mushroom is, with stem and rounded top. One type looks like tiny men hiding under the leaves, some looks like small birds' nests with tiny eggs!!! Some are as big as sheep..the famous Puff Ball, edible when small. Some look like coral from the sea, some are simply lovely. Bright orange, brilliant reds, yellows that rival any fabrics, any color you can name. I don't remember any greens though, might still be some hiding out there.
My Grandma wouldn't pick anything that looked like most grocery store mushrooms, but some she found were delicious. One favorite was an enormous one that was bright yellow, I think she called it the Chicken Meat Mushroom. And another was an ugly one she called a Tree Ear, looked like a boxer's ear after a lot of fights!! Then there was one no one would touch, not edible but vulgar looking. Long pinkish stem with a wet red top.

DH said that like many other plant propagators, his father and he were also trying to discover the way to grow Truffles here in the US, especially in greenhouses. Whoever does that will grow very, very wealthy. Usually they are found in other countries and hunted with dogs or pigs, both of which a have sharp sense of smell, and pigs love them. I read that one truffle sold for over $330, 000, which shows that some people have more money than they can spend on plain living costs.

End of lecture~~Like you said, Nature is amazing. There's so much more we taught our kids on trips to the mountains. Too bad all kids aren't lucky enough to do that. What I regret is not being able to have my kids taught by real hillbilly men like my uncles, who learned in a harsh world to eat and live off the land.