Dive deep into the world of mushrooms, with all the basic and specific knowledge about mushrooms you as a person will need, told in a fun-to-read story.
I had to. Anyway, meet Jerry's family. You discover this patch of mushrooms growing in a tree near your house and decide to separate poor Jerry from his beloved family. In the rare event that you preserve him well, you probably still don't know what he is.
During my first attempt, I put it in a Ziploc in the garage and it...did not do well. Rest in peace, unidentified mushroom.
The best way to keep a mushroom alive is with aluminum foil. Wrap it in there snugly, and it will enjoy life (according to a government website possibly updated a decade ago). If you want long-term storage, stick a stick (metal or other) into the stem, be careful not to break it, and put it in the sun. And voila, a dried mushroom to add to your collection.
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Off with your head!
The easiest way to identify a mushroom is to take a spore print. You should cut a cap off a mushroom and press it down onto a piece of paper overnight. The preferred color of paper is black because a white spore print will show up on top.
It's easy! But who will you sacrifice?
Slice!
NOOOOO!!! Jerry's dad! Well, at least we've got the spore print now. In the name of science! Jerry is a...
Honey Mushroom!
As if you haven't caused enough pain to Jerry's family, you realize that his family is edible, too! You rush to the tree to check- where's Jerry's family?
You look in both directions. Jerry's family was gone. And now you face the harsh truth. You discovered this particular patch of mushrooms right before the mushroom season ended. You realize that yesterday was the day winter began. The cold was just too much for them. But you still have Jerry, who you thankfully dried and his spirit still lives on. You add him to your newly-found mushroom collection feeling dejected. You should have picked them all while you had the chance!
But it's either you or winter, and now it's too late to do anything.
So you patiently wait, days, weeks, seasons.
And finally, you see a small yellow cap emerge from the detritus. Tears of joy flood your eyes. You can't help but feel overjoyed! Jerry's back! You jump for joy and notice that your neighbor is staring at you thinking, "What in the world?" but you don't care. Over the weeks, Jerry's family continues to grow. You are sure to harvest them this time. Not too much or too little-just enough. You feel sort of sorry that you're eating them but you know they'll be back next fall, and the rest of the seasons to come.
The End
Wait, this is a mushroom book, not a fairy tale..?
Well, spoiler, there IS NO END to mushroom hunting.
As you know, there are MILLIONS of species of fungi, so the super saprophyte fun will most likely never end! So the only thing I can tell you is to take a break from looking at the sky and the stars and look down at the world around you. There's a lot of beautiful stuff hiding deep underground, waiting to be found. So open your eyes and find those mushrooms!!!
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