Too much rain

Just before it started raining - a cute
pair of amanitas

A friend of mine is writing to me from Siberia: "There hasn't been any rain for three weeks, and there are no mushrooms in the taiga. My wife and I were looking for three hours and we just got enough to fill one bucket".

Remember this, people: "no mushrooms in taiga" equals "one bucketful per three hours of foraging".

And now, back to the real world.

A month ago I was complaining that there was no rain. Now there is way too much! I know, I know, there is no pleasing some people. But I have a cause, so it makes it ok. No? All right, I'll stop moaning now. Happy? OK.

Sun comes out, just as it's time
to head home

At least, there are mushrooms. Lots of them! However, I hardly made any photos this time because it was pouring down while I was in the forest, and I don't have a waterproof camera yet. Perhaps, one of the blog readers would like to donate me one?.. Haha, just kidding.

The news of the day: slippery jacks and orange birch boletes are finally out. There was also a good number of ceps, but unfortunately due to the very high humidity a lot of them were getting mouldy, even some very young ones.

In any case, between the two participants of the Saturday raid we got two basketfuls, although it took us about 6 hours to get to that mark. It's not Siberia. We just have to deal with it.

The final breakdown of the hunt wass as follows (all lovingly spread on my garden table):

• 20+ ceps (a few had to be discarded due to serious mould/maggot issues) - centre
• some chanterelles (approximately 500g) - bottom right
• 8 slippery jacks, all in good condition - left
• 9 orange birch boletes, ditto - top right
• 3 lurid boletes - top left

And now, I'm off to make some bbq sticks using lurid boletes and orange birch boletes. Both are known to be seriously toxic if undercooked, but if I survive the sampling, I'll post the recipe tomorrow!