Shelter Island mushrooms — rainbows after stormy times

It rained so much the last 10 days of September that a sea lion in the Central Park Zoo swam out of her enclosure. So much rain, that here on Shelter Island land and sea began to merge at the shoreline, and my usual paths for walking the dog were soggy. I began to despair of ever seeing the sun again.  

On my way to the IGA to buy something caloric to lift my mood, I spotted an orange and yellow object at the base of a roadside tree. You couldn’t miss it in the gloom; it stood out like a highway worker’s safety vest.

I examined this otherworldly object, gathered evidence, called around, and soon had my answer. It was a mushroom.

The coming of fall and precipitation create the perfect conditions for mushrooms, and if you look under a tree after a heavy rain, you are likely to see them. They may not look like the brown cone-topped mushrooms from Central Casting. They come in every shape and color.

Fungi in general, and mushrooms in particular, benefit from warm temperatures. They also love to grow on the sort of dead and decaying things that are created by violent storms, and falling trees.

There’s nothing like a late summer tropical storm (thank you, Ophelia-remnants) to really get the mushrooms popping. If you are feeling sad about the incessant warming of our climate, the health of the mushroom community is one bright spot.

The first local mushroom-watcher I found was Don Bindler who started photographing mushrooms years ago. He described a day when he was birding in Mashomack and looked down long enough to notice a purple mushroom. Then he saw it was surrounded by beautiful mushrooms of other colors, and started photographing them. “I got interested in mushrooms from an artistic point of view.”

Don said he loves the bright red Boletes, which are often fleshy and stout. He finds lots of Russulas; large, often colorful mushrooms that are very common here. “Sanctuary Pond and the oaks surrounding it, and area around the Manor House are great places to see mushrooms that are quite colorful.” 

He says Amanitas are also common here, and these mushrooms (which look like Shiitakes to me) include at least a dozen inedible varieties, including Death Cap and Brown Hay mushrooms. Don recommends looking near oak and beech trees, especially trees that are dead or dying. 

In my neighborhood, I discovered a very large Hen of the Woods mushroom that seems to return every fall to the same spot at the base of an oak tree, but it’s probably a new fungus growing from the spores of last year’s fruit.

It’s only human to look at something growing out of the earth and immediately wonder, could I eat that? In the case of mushrooms, the answer is … maybe … but please don’t.

The question of whether a wild mushroom is edible or not is fascinating and complicated. Most amateur mycologists on Shelter Island have the good sense not to eat wild mushrooms because of the notorious difficulty of telling the delicious ones from the ones that will cause sickness ranging from a bad tummy to liver failure. Our dogs are another story — some dogs will eat anything. Don’t let your dog eat a wild mushroom, and call a vet if they do.

Many of the most meaty and delicious mushroom varieties are raised on mushroom farms, which are basically large, dark barns, with lots of decomposing organic matter in which the fungi grow. One local farm, Mattituck Mushrooms, is located in Laurel and has been a regular presence at Havens House Farmers Market for several years. Their mushrooms are safe to eat, and delicious, as I can tell you from personal experience. Agathe Snow, an owner of Mattituck Mushrooms, told me that they raise many brightly-colored mushrooms.  “Our favorite, the Blue Oyster gets bluer as the days get longer, and the Chestnut mushroom comes at the end of fall.

The sun finally came out on the first day of October, and I celebrated by riding my bike around looking for mushrooms. I passed a man gathering something by the side of the road and pulled over to see if he was foraging for mushrooms, but George was actually gathering hickory nuts.

He told me he does forage for edible mushrooms on occasion, but he’s got a hotline to a professional mycologist who checks out anything he’s thinking of eating.

He gave me a hickory nut and I rode off into the sunset.