Over the past couple of years, I've become more and more interested in mushrooms as I've discovered them during our many hikes in the Northwest woods. They're everywhere. And they're fascinating!
Today was the 21st Annual Wild Mushroom Show sponsored by the Northwest Mushroomers Association - those are some people who know how to have fun with fungi.
The natural displays were amazing. Over the past 48 hours, members of the NMA scoured our county to find the best specimens to display at the show.
An incredible amount of work must have gone in to collecting, gathering, identifying, and then displaying these mushrooms.
There were rows of natural, live mushroom displays. They were arranged according to each group's spore dispersal method (gills or tubes) and by spore color. Sorting by those features helps in reliable identification.
Notice that red dot?
That means poisonous!
The thing that the kids loved most about the mushroom show was the touching.
Some of the mushrooms looked like they belonged in the bottom of the ocean - not in a forest.
These mushrooms smelled great. Just like a damp Northwest forest.
What a fascinating event! We'll be back for the 22nd Annual Wild Mushroom Show next year.
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