Here we are, preparing for another season of mushroom collection in Minnesota. Like you, I am ready to get into the woods and start finding my favorite mushrooms and making new discoveries.
However, I have identified a problem; I’m sort of stuck on the mushrooms I know, and I have a hard time identifying new mushrooms.
Goldilocks and the Field Guides
I have my field guides – more field guides than I really need. My mushroom collection stuff is now all in one place, and I see that I have six!
This Field Guide Is Too Big
The newest addition to my collection, Mushrooms Demystified, was gifted to me last fall. At 999 pages, 2 inches thick, and weighing over 3 pounds, is It’s huge! This doorstop of a book is amazingly detailed. The series of questions to identify Cortinarius mushrooms has over 130 prompts. Holy Smokes! David Arora, the author, has an amazing mind to determine mushrooms this way. However, because of its size, if I took this guide into the woods, it would just stay at the bottom of my backpack. And because this book was published in 1986, it is a bit out of date, though still a classic worth having.
This Field Guide Is Too Old
I also have my late uncle’s The Mushroom Hunter’s Field Guide. Mushroom hunting in the 1950s and 60’s must have been interesting; the guide has no color plates, which was typical of a publication from 1958. The guide is 5½ by 11 inches and hardbound, so it doesn’t bend or fit in a pocket. What was the publisher thinking? I imagine my uncle wandering the woods of western Pennsylvania, this guide poking out of his knapsack, with a potentially worried look, “Are these what I think they are?”
This Field Guide Is So Good That It’s Falling Apart
Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest is my go-to. It is always with me in the woods, so it is pretty beat up. The pages are all warbly from being wet, some are a bit mildewed, and pages will fall out if I don’t hold the book carefully.
So Much Information for A New Forager!
I realized this winter that it is time to get familiar with more mushrooms. I joined the MMS in 2019, and that first foray was a real eye-opener. With so much information, I was totally overwhelmed. John and Claudette Lamprecht were so patient. My wife, Gretchen, and I came out of the woods with chanterelles and lobster mushrooms, as well as Claudette’s suggestions for how to cook them.
Then, the pandemic hit, and Gretchen and I would wander the woods. We’d find mushrooms and kneel down to figure out what things were, and even had some success. Thank goodness the modern field guide has color photos. Golden Pholiota (Pholiota aurivella) was one of the first mushrooms I identified all by myself using a guidebook.
Sometimes we’d collect some mushrooms, then travel home to sit at the dining room table and figure out what we had. As you undoubtedly know, a potentially discouraging task. When we were baffled, I’d sent a photo to John Lamprecht, Kathy Yerich, or Ron Spinosa. They’d patiently write back with an identification, and I’d be more informed. When forays started back up in 2021, I would show up, and John, Ron, and Kathy would say, “Oh, you’re David.”
Knowing Enough to Know There’s A Lot I Don’t Know
Now, here I sit, modern field guides ready. I really shouldn’t use the excuse that gilled mushrooms are difficult. [Just a clarification, gilled mushrooms are difficult to identify. My casual research indicates there are approximately 72 gazillion gilled mushrooms. They all grow in Minnesota, and I get frustrated by most of them.
I’ve had a little chat with myself and decided that I need to get serious about mushroom identification. It’s time to buckle down and figure things out. I also am a realist; I want to find mushrooms that are delicious and grow abundantly, but identifying every single mushroom I find is going to frustrate me and detract from a good walk in the woods.
This is My Plan
Each month, I’m going to identify with great accuracy one mushroom (probably one with gills, because the others I sort of know). This gilled mushroom will become my friend, and I will commit its features to my feeble mind for storage. Then, with a little persistence, I will know enough to stop saying, “Gilled mushrooms are hard…”
What is your goal for the 2026 foraging year? I hope you have considered joining the MMS Passport Program. It is a good way to earn some nice swag in exchange for your newly acquired knowledge. Perhaps you are more solitary and just want to know more mushrooms. Either way, I hope your time in the woods is productive, peaceful, and ignites the wonder that you had when you first identified a mushroom all by yourself.