Hoosierfunguy

At first glance they have the physical traits of a gymnopilus junonius, but the spore print of the gymnopilus is reported to be rusty brown. It's an interesting find.

Looks like a great season for you too! I've only been out three times, but found more than ever before. Congratulations there!

It looks like a pazizomycetes (cup shaped fungus) which species, I do not know. I recently found more Devil's Urn cup shaped fruiting bodies

This used to be a much more active community Do you know of any other actual community in the world of mycology, where people actively engage each other? I literally signed up here 7 or 8 years ago to find others that have a strong interest in fungi, because I don't know anyone in my life that does and very few people even show a slight interest

Found some grays yesterday up here in northwest Indiana. There are already reports of morels popping in the U.P., Northern Wisconsin and Central Minnesota. Seems a bit early for them, but the reports are coming in

3 week update: yesterday I went out and found a small handful of half-free morels, but no grays or blacks

It doesn't look like the administrator has seen this post yet. It's kind of late to get info about the hunt. I'm not on FB, so maybe someone else will play tag with your name lol

Cool! Last year I discovered that morels are a LOT easier to spot with an LED light at night. They tend to not hide as well among the leaves and shadows. Pretty neat to see. What geographic area are you in? I'm thinking they're about to be prime here in northwest Indiana

This would be helpful for us that keep track of this site. I know that the site administrator updates the Facebook page with details, while this site seems to have been left in the wake, in that regard.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience

As of today, there have been 5 reports in Indiana on "The Great Morel" sightings map. The northernmost sighting was 5 days ago west of Indianapolis, so they're just starting to pop. The morels up here are about two weeks behind Indy, every year, so I'll be out in a about 3 weeks. Southern Indiana's morel harvesting is optimum right now

Velvet Foot Enoki (Flammulina Velutipes) mushrooms grow during the late fall and winter on elm trees and they just so happen to share the same habitat with the elusive, and much prized morels. Enokis are much easier to spot from a distance because of their orangish color. If you find enokis in the winter, you have a much higher probability of finding morels in that same location in the spring. I just learned that recently, so I plan to be putting it to the test. I also found these shelf mushrooms. I think they are mock oysters, but I'm unsure. I found a lot of winter delights yesterday.

I realized that (about it not being a mushroom) after I posted it. Thanks I have just recently started to learn more about it and it appears to have some really tremendous medicinal value to it, from balancing sugar/ insulin levels, introducing Betulinic Acid to target cancer cells (if the chaga was growing on birch), loaded with up to 85% max capacity of antioxidants the body can use, high in melanin, great for fending off skin cancer & generating vitamin D; that's just the tip of a very beneficial iceberg, with all the compounds it holds. There are some benefits that can only be gotten while the chaga is fresh and moist. The taste is very subtle with hints of malt, coffee, trace vanilla. It goes very well with coffee or cocau, cream and maple syrup for a hot chocolate drink. I've read that it removes the bitterness from coffee and enhances the robustness of coffee beans; I'll be trying that soon enough lol It tastes great by itself with nothing, but it is a really friendly ingredient to many things. The tea will stay in the fridge for over a month. Using it in bread will extend the bread life. Just seems there are so many uses for this. I'm loving it. Can't wait to one day find Lion's mane and Reishi

Today I found my first find of Chaga. But it wasn't just one fruiting body, it was seven different mushrooms on two different trees. Both of them were River Birch trees, which I didn't think would grow on. I know they aren't very common in Indiana (especially the further south you go), but I was joyful to be able to harvest these on river birch trees on the bank of a creek in sandy soil in a well shaded area. The trees were alive, but not looking very healthy. I just wanted to share my find! I'm always up for a mushroom hunt in northwest Indiana.

Looks like a shaggy parasol, but there are toxic lookalikes. I ate the wrong one early in my learning. I was violently ill for two days.