I am giddy with excitement over discovering the Rogers Mushrooms website.  Since living in New England, I have increasingly become more and more aware of the bounty of mushrooms and fungi everywhere.  I am not sure if this is a particularly New England thing, or if perhaps as I get older I have become more observant, but it sure seems like there is bounty of mushrooms right under our noses.

Since moving here six years ago, I have witnessed, on many occasions, mushroom pickers in residential Boston neighborhoods.  Usually non-english speaking and presumably immigrant workers, I have watched them drive pickups up and down suburban streets to gather some sort of mushroom from gardens and roadside locations.

Captivated by the idea of foraging – particularly urban and suburban foraging, and also in NEED of a good mushroom vendor (because I think of mushrooms as ‘needs’) – I have also been introduced to an elusive individual that collects wild mushrooms near where I live.  Apparently he makes a living selling his haul to many fine restaurants in NYC. I am still trying to get him to come to my Farmers Market.

And finally, on a hike with my children in a gorge near my house a few years ago, we saw so many mushrooms I still find the story unbelievable today (and it is my story).  In the course of perhaps 2 hours, we saw a mushrooms that represented every color of the rainbow and easily 25 or more obviously different and fascinatingly different varieties.  It was in my pre-phone camera days and I still wish I had been able to document the findings of that hike.  Utterly amazing.

In my own garden I have accidentally grown what I am sure are morels, and at least ten or so other varieties – but have never been brave enough to eat them.

So what does all this add up to?

A huge desire to learn more.  I want so badly to walk the woods with the mushroom forager, or even the Boston streets with the mushroom collectors. I want to learn from them and feel confident about identifying varieties and taking them home to feed my family – or at least not shriek in panic when my young son picks them up to ‘play kitchen’ with them.  Until I have that opportunity though, I am going to be putting Rogers Mushrooms through its paces as my newest research site.

The pictures are clear and clean and give me confidence that I might make proper identifications.  And perhaps armed with a bit more knowledge in mycology, I hope I might be able to dispel a little of my own fear.

I have always wondered if anything else even looks like a morel mushroom.  Is it possible that this mushroom is so distinct that there is no possible way to mistake it for something that will kill me?  Oh, I hope so.  I am off to learn more….

And just to make a useful note, it seems like rogers has a similarly useful pair of sites for identifying trees and shrubs as well as roses.  Rogers trees and shrubs and Rogers roses — and all three are free!!