On July 14th, on my way to the road to greet and guide in visitors, a vague flash of color on the ground near the trail caught my attention. Leaving the trail to examine the place, I found the first chanterelle button I’ve seen this year.
Our first chanterelle button of the year (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
On the way back home, passing by another known chanterelle patch, I found a second one, bigger than the first.
This is slightly early for chanterelles here, although in 2010, I found a king bolete on July 10 (see Mushrooms!). Adding the fact that we’re technically in the middle of a drought here (see “Real” Rain) the appearance of these two mushrooms gives us great hope.
The second-found, larger chanterelle button (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
Since those first sightings, other buttons have appeared around these two. I also checked the one consistently reliable chanterelle patch on our property, and found a healthy scattering of very tiny buttons. It won’t be long now before we’re enjoying wild mushrooms again (see Gourmet Delicacies for Free: Foraging for Mushrooms)!
