Within the last week the word 'mushroom' has come out of my mouth much more than EVER expected...with all this deluge of rain, the little LICHENS are popping up with a vengeance.
My first uttering of this word was while we were playing golf last week...on almost every hole, along the fairways and even up on the greens,there were many of these botanical sprouts...coming up.
My second uttering came while walking down the sidewalk to the neighborhood gym at BS&K's...tall, short, skinny, fat, HUGE, tiny...greeting us each day ...shriveling toward the pine straw-laden ground for their eternal rest. Their existence is so limited...gone as quickly as they come. I'm rather scared of these little/big delectables due to this happening:
My first-ever, personally-purchased yorkie-poo was Nicholas (I called him Nikki)...he was an adorable little black-curly puff of a puppy...2 pounds wet.
I had bought him with my first paycheck after graduating college...and he spent days with "grandma" Mom while I worked. (She was always going outside to enter our basement to work on her 'sewing projects' and it was common for him to run and jump through the grass while walking with her.) Unfortunately, about two weeks after I got him, he took a curious side trip en route and chewed on a mushroom...
He was so tiny and the obviously poisonous one went straight to his nervous system and he didn't make it. (The vet said it was just too much for his little system.)
Sorry I got sidetracked...but you can now understand why I veer away from mushrooms in the wild but love to eat them in my food. Continuing on:
With all the sightings during our season of sogginess in Atlanta, I wondered how to tell the difference in these little unknown fungi...
There's a MUSHROOM CLUB OF GEORGIA...they have a written purpose and everything...
...an educational organization...to promote enjoyment*, study, and exchange of information about wild mushrooms. (I personally have never thought about 'enjoying a wild mushroom' especially after my incident.
This is SERIOUS STUFF, ya'll...their calendar has field trips with speakers even.
One presentation on their site noted one titled "Medicinal, Poisonous, and Hallucinogenic Properties of Fungi". (hhhhmmmmmm)
Then, there was ... interpretive mushroom farms and myco-gardening demonstration areas (and there's a national "MYCO" group even, who knew? ...I bet they're "myco-gardening experts...
As I read along I felt like someone from BIG BANG was going to pop up on my screen and ask me for a password or something.
This is BIG BRAIN stuff, ya'll...even GA TECH had a USDA grant --to study effects of mushroom mycelium (high-oil content algae for production of bio-fuels)? (GREEN TO THE CORE...that's a mouthful, isn't it?!)
While stumbling around on the site, I found out:
Shiitake mushrooms are the third most popular mushroom species in the U.S."
health benefits: Low in calories, glucose and sodium
high in potassium, phosphorus, copper, and zinc
help lower blood cholesterol
improve the immune system
I can't end this post on such a HIGH-BROW note, so I'll share a mushroom joke...get ready, this will REALLY get you rolling (and I claim no liability to those who may 'split a side' from this one):
Did you hear what the mushroom told the dead tree?
A lichen had developed between us. :p
What 'shroom stories' can share with us today?
BLESSINGS, Skoots1Mom
Psalm 3:1-4 "Enemies sprouting like mushrooms...But you, God, shield me on all sides; You ground my feet, you lift my head high; With all my might I shout up to God, His answers thunder from the holy mountain."
