Seeing Blue Again

If you've been following my blog, you will already know my passion for wild mushrooms and to be even more specific, my affinity for blue mushrooms.  I posted a while back about my quest for the blue Entoloma of New Zealand but there was still one blue mushroom I still had not yet found.  I'd only seen it in photos and having lived for so many years west of the Mississippi, I had no chance to ever find it unless I spent some time mushrooming in the east.  Now that I am living in the east once again, I have opportunities to learn a whole new host of mushrooms I know little about and have never seen before.

Here in SW Florida, on the Gulf Coast, the Lactarius indigo mushroom is known to grow fairly regularly, but I am still learning habitat here and having a difficult time finding much of a mix in trees other than oak, oak, oak.  Yes, there are some pines here and there, but they never seem to be together around where I am.

I have a favorite spot that seems to produce the most mushrooms after good soaking rains, but the one spot I'd been told does produce this blue mushroom has never produced much of anything and I'm getting tired of driving all the way there just to find nothing!  So, I'd been walking around my usual haunt and finding some new and unusual species of mushrooms which I was having difficulty identifying.

Florida fungi is quite unusual for the most part because the genus and species of many of the mushrooms here are that of tropical mushrooms seen in places like Mexico and South America etc.  I'd been there on a Friday photographing and hiking but decided to go back the following Tuesday to get more info on a few specimens I had seen but didn't collect.  I was quite surprised to see that some of the mushrooms I'd found only a few days earlier had completely dried up and others that I wanted to collect, were just gone!  I walked around in the exact same spots I'd been before and found nothing, until all of a sudden I walked into an area where I thought I had seen some baby reishi mushooms and low and behold, what did I see, but three of the most gorgeous blue mushrooms.  There they were, just as plain as day, Lactarius indigo!  Finally, I found them.  They are just the most beautiful color although I have seen specimens in books that are very vivid colors, these were a bit more subdued.  I am hoping with the good soaking rains we have had the last few days, that more will emerge and perhaps the damper, fresher specimens will be a bit darker and more vivid in color.

Lactarius is a genus of mushrooms commonly knows as milk caps (lactose = milk) and when the gills of these mushrooms are cut, they exude a milky substance or latex hence the name.  This particular one exudes an indigo blue latex so that is how it got its name.  These specimens were a little on the dry side so not so much latex.

Making Ricotta Cheese at Home

There is really no big secret to making home made ricotta cheese.  It is just milk, cream, vinegar or even buttermilk and that's it.  I have made this several times using different recipes and they are all equally as simple to make and just as good.  This latest batch was David Lebovitz' recipe which calls for milk, cream, yogurt, vinegar and salt.

First combine two quarts of whole milk (I used fresh raw whole milk from a local dairy), one cup of whole-milk plain yogurt, 1/2 cup of heavy cream (optional), 2 teaspoons of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt in a heavy pot and bring to a boil.  Gently boil for 1-2 minutes until a "raft" forms on the surface and the milk starts to curdle.

After the two minutes are up, I turn the burner off and let the pot sit for 15 minutes or so to cool and then spoon the curds into a cheesecloth lined sieve to drain.

Pour off the rest of the liquid through the cheese cloth, squeeze out any excess liquid and refridgerate.  I leave the cheese in the cheesecloth in the fridge until firm and then either use it right away or tranfer to a sealed tub.  This should keep up to 3-4 days but it never lasts that long around here!

The Little Tunny Have Arrived

My friend Al White who is a captain/fishing guide in Florida near where I live invited me to go fishing the other day and how could I dare say no?  I've been anxious to get out for ages and now that my hand is mostly healed (well, almost), I wanted to go so that's just what we did.

We launched the boat out of Charlotte Harbor near Boca Grande and set out in search of big balls of bait being crashed by hungry fish.  The first pod was full of mackerel crashing bait near the surface.  Every time a fish would come thrashing through, the bait would jump clear out of the water trying to get away from the jaws about to encompass them.  It was a sight to behold...I've seen this in Baja when we were fishing the Sea of Cortez and it's always an exciting sight to see.

We were soon into fish and both of us hooked and released several mack's until I had a fish on that was for certain, no mackerel!  It peeled off line like a marlin and I knew instantly I was hooked into a false albacore, affectionately referred to as little tunny.  They are a member of the tuna family and are solid muscle and built like torpedo's hence they are super strong and will give you a real run for your money.  Super fun on a fly rod!  My first little tunny of the day, I had Capt. Al hold it so I could get a proper photo using my good 35mm SLR which I didn't want his fishy, salty hands on...so, he is holding my fish.  I guess that's just the way it is when you are the photographer and either can't trust anyone to take a decent photo or don't want anyone touching your expensive camera so C'est la vie.

I shot a short video of the albies crashing bait and this was what we were surrounded by all morning!  What a hoot!

The flies we were using were immitating what are called Cuban anchovies and they are only an inch and a half long.  It's amazing out of that huge ball of bait that a fish could spot our fly and eat it but that's just what they did.  One of the fish we caught regurgitated a bunch of bait fish so I was able to get a photo of the bait next to our fly showing the similarities.

I was using an 8 weight rod with an intermediate sinking tip fly line but I should have been using a 9 or 10 weight for these fish as I was very under equipped for the strength of the false albacore.  I use an 11 weight when fishing them in Loreto.  Next time I'll bring a heavier rod!
All in all a very fun day and we both landed lots of fish.  We were back off the water by around 1:30 or 2:00 pm and back at the house having a cold beer.  Great day on the water.  I'm already ready for another trip.  Maybe this Friday?

Road Tripping for Mushrooms

Maggie the Wonder Dog and I needed a break from the Florida heat and humidity and feeling very mushroom deprived, we decided to head out on a road trip up north where Autumn is in full swing and the mushrooms are popping all over.  This year is producing a bumper crop of mushrooms thanks to Hurricane Irene and tropical storm Lee.  Pennsylvania and the Northeast are in the zone for some of the best mushrooming to be seen in decades.

We were heading to Southcentral Pennsylvania and our route took us through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia before reaching our destination.  While stopped for a "potty" break for Maggie, we took a stroll through the woods at the Virginia welcome center and found a bunch of gorgeous Amanitas. Since most of my mushroom hunting and species knowledge is based on mushrooms west of the Mississippi, I am new to eastern species so bear with me while I mutter my way through this.

Driving through the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, we crossed over The New River Gorge Bridge, the longest single span arch bridge in the US.  We stopped so I could take a photo of it since you can't see anything when you are actually ON the bridge.  It's quite a beauty!

The first day in Pennsylvania was rainy all day.  That makes for wet mushrooms, wet people, wet dogs and wet camera equipment, so suffice to say, I did not take too many photos that day.  I did manage a few with my iPhone though!  The weather did improve as the week progressed so I did manage to get some photos of the vast variety of mushroom species out there in the woods.  I am not accustomed to walking in deciduous, hardwood forests and these mushrooms are foreign to me by comparison to west coast mushrooms, Pacific Northwest mushrooms and those I found in SW Montana so the variety available to me was astounding!

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what a mushroom fairyland I was visiting:

The last day I really wanted to go searching for paw paws and had heard there was to be a paw paw festival in Paw Paw, West Virginia, so my friend and I took off for a day trip to Paw Paw to the festival.  Unfortunately, when we got there, we were told the festival does not take place anymore and hasn't for a few years (don't believe what you read online!!!) so we were out of luck.  So, not to be a total loss, we drove around town, marvelling at all the paw paw trees (Asimina triloba) and found some paw paws growing on a tree outside the front door of the post office.  We picked all we could reach and ate some right away!  Mmmm tasty!

The Butterflies Are Here At Last

Every morning I am greeted in my garden by something new and wonderful and today it was the emergence of Black Swallowtail butterflies from my butterfly garden!  I have been watching the caterpillars on the bronze fennel for weeks now in their various stages of development.  Then a few weeks or so ago I noticed a chrysalis on the ceramic pot where my powder puff tree is planted and then today, it was empty and sitting on the side of the pot next to it, drying its wings was this beautiful butterfly. 

The caterpillars are veracious feeders and have completely descimated the bronze fennel but since I planted it there just for them, I don't mind.  It is loaded with cats and soon I will be loaded with butterflies!  

Hopefully I will be able to witness the metomorphosis of the next batch.  I think some are ready to enter the pre pupa stage so stay tuned for more photos.

The butterfly garden idea was conceived last fall when the Master Gardeners had their annual plant sale up the street from me.  They had an entire section devoted to just plants that attract butterflies.  I had just the spot for such a garden so began to plan. 

Before I bought this house there were a few ficus trees in the back yard but after a hard winter and heavy freezes, the ficus trees died and once I owned the house, I cut the dead trees down.  Above is the yard the way it was before I bought the house. Below is the progression of the garden to date.

We Have Eggs!

I always thought my girls were precocious but even this was a surprise to me.  On June 27th, Inez and Betty both laid their first eggs.  They are the two Barred Rock hens I have and it was quite amazing to me they both laid their first egg on the same day.  These gals were only 4-1/2 months old which is a little young to start laying.  The minimum is usually around 20 weeks but I guess they were anxious to get the egg rolling.

I awoke that morning a little after 7am to the sound of a very excited and loud chicken making very loud noises to the point I was worried something may be trying to get into their coop.  I sprang out of bed and looked over to the chicken yard but all seemed to be in order and there were no unwanted guests trying to get in.  Then it hit me...I remembered this very frenzied, loud, raucous, clucking/screaming noise from when I had chooks in Montana.  It was the very sound of egg laying!  Yes, these girls can make quite a fuss when they lay an egg and I guess the first one must really be something else because it woke me out of a sound sleep!

Anyway, now a few of the other girls are in on the fun and I'm now getting three to four eggs a day.  Out of 6 hens I should be getting six a day pretty soon.  I'm very happy to be finally getting fresh eggs because there is just nothing like a farm fresh egg!

Hiatus from the blogosphere

I realize it's been a while since my last blog post and there is a good reason for that.  First I apologize for the long silence and now the explanation.  I underwent hand surgery on May 11th (Right CMC Joint Arthroplasty with FCR Tendon transfer) to fix the basal thumb joint in my right hand and since I'm right handed, I have been unable to use my hand, hence no writing, shooting photos, cooking, fishing etc.  That makes me and my life pretty darn dull!  But, things are finally looking up and now that I am two months post op and I am starting to be allowed to use my thumb little bits at a time, I am starting to shoot photos again and now I am able to type.

Typing is quite difficult with a big hard plastic splint on your hand from your thumb to your mid arm.

So, I am back and hopefully with time allowed, I will have some new posts for you soon.  I'm afraid the fishing posts will still have to wait for a while since I still am not allowed to cast my fly rod just yet.  They say six months for recovery and a full year for full recovery.  It's all a little too slow for me but hopefully it will all be worth it.

I have now graduated to a small, neoprene flexible splint and this should be the last one I have until I am freed from splints altogether. I have another appointment with my surgeon on July 21st and we will see what he has to say.  The worst thing is I am still unable to use my thumb for pinching.

In short, they removed the trapezium bone in my thumb joint and at the same time, harvested a piece of tendon from my forearm that was not being used for anything in particular.  That tendon was wrapped into a neat coil and inserted into the hole where the trapezium bone was removed, so as to not leave a negative space.  The rest of the tendons were all re-attached and then I was placed in a huge bandage and splint to immobilize the thumb.

The tendons are the slowest things to heal and it takes a minimum of 10 weeks for them to heal over where they were reattached.  This is one of the longest things I've had to heal from...seems longer than my total knee replacement, but if it means I will once again be able to cast my fly rod with no pain, then it will have all been worth it.