Last Saturday, and for the second weekend in a row, we found ourselves at Mount Stewart. Thankfully, unlike the previous week when there was a big thing on, it was quiet. Slightly over cast, quite still, not many people around. Lovely.
Their was only a small thing on. The NT Education Team had set up a kids TV nature show tie-in trail thing: a Deadly Scene Investigation. So the boys each adopted the persona of a Nature Detective. The crime: stolen blue tit eggs. The suspects: Fox, Sparrow Hawk, Squirrel, Stoat. We scoured the estate for the clues.
To cut a long story short, it was the stoat. The thieving fury bastard.
The trail took us in a direction we wouldn't normally go. To the left. Passed the walled garden and into the woods. It was cool. And damp. Perfect conditions for a little fungi growth. Now mushrooms fascinate me. And the idea of foraging them for a tasty lunch or supper is hugely appealing. Some (the slimy, turdy ones) you wouldn't touch with a forty foot pole. Others clearly shout, "Eat me and you die ignorant human fool!". But there are many that look quite appetising.
I, however, is ignorant. I don't know my edibles from my deadlies. And when I have researched these matters, I've found my findings inconclusive - quite unsatisfactory. But I'm determined to learn the ways of the mushroom. So I've ordered another book.
I'll let you know if I don't die.
What book did you order? I think I might want to order it as well.
I've also just checked to see if there is an iPhone 'app' for this kind of thing. Found this:
http://iphoneappcafe.com/mushrooms-iphone-app/
Worth reading the 'disclaimer' towards the end of the description though.
Posted by: Nick Asbury | 18 October 2011 at 08:46 PM
I ordered this one Nick:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-River-Cottage-Handbook-No-1/dp/0747589321/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318968008&sr=1-2
The first review sold it to me. I could have written it. Gonna try that App as well though. Cheers!
Posted by: Richard | 18 October 2011 at 09:02 PM
Thank you, might have to order a copy. It's always frustrating to think you might be looking at a field full of tasty treats, but then having to restrain yourself for fear of a violent death.
Posted by: Nick Asbury | 18 October 2011 at 09:13 PM
Death IS my main concern.
Posted by: Richard | 18 October 2011 at 09:18 PM
Just be careful out there; a guy I know who has been picking and eating 'shrooms for years let a dodgy one slip through onto his lunch plate the other week and it put him in hospital for 72 hours.
That said, when I were a wee slip of a lad I went picking with my mum regularly and there is nothing quite like the taste of a freshly harvested mushroom.
Enjoy!
Posted by: Andy Ley | 18 October 2011 at 09:32 PM
Thanks Andy. A word of warning countered by an encouraging childhood memory. Nicely balanced.
Posted by: Richard | 18 October 2011 at 09:36 PM
Richard - when you have time, you need to listen to this programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b015zq2y/You_and_Yours_19_10_2011/
Apparently there's one essential book that you shouldn't do without, by Roger Phillips http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Roger-Phillips/dp/0330442376
Posted by: davidthedesigner | 21 October 2011 at 05:40 PM