FRIENDS OF FUNGUS

The continuing hot/dry weather has me daily either dragging H2O hoses or carrying  H2O in a large watering can to all parts of my property in an almost constant effort to keep trees & plants alive in this brutal weather.  I try to get an early start to my efforts; to beat the heat & get the job ... over with.

Walking behind the storage shed this A.M., I was aware of my outdoor cooking grill, which sits there basically unused for the past few years.  Lifestyle changes & adjustment to eating habits have made my diet mostly that of a vegetarian.  The days of standing next to a the burning grill, a glass of rum & coke in hand -- probably one of several -- making sure the steaks, burgers -- whatever -- were cooked to perfection, now seem to be a thing of the past.

Cooking on the grill -- strictly a ... "Man's Job" -- was something I inherited from my Father.  I used to cook outside on a regular basis, but still not as often as my Father. Weekend's would find Dad cooking over the charcoal grill, which was usually our families ideal "Sunday Dinner".  Rain or shine ... Dad would be grilling.

In remembering my Father's expertise in grilling outdoors, it's interesting to note that after my parents moved to Florida -- about 25 years  ago -- my Dad didn't grill dinner very often like he once did.  I guess a lot of things changed in their lives -- not just the climate -- when they relocated. 

I do still remember a very fine meal we had as a family -- one of the last of this scenario -- when they still lived in Honeoye, New York & I was up from Tennessee on vacation.  It was a steak dinner, with all the right fixings: baked potato, garlic bread, green beans -- fresh from my Mother's garden -- & mushrooms. Yum !!

As I was remarking about the quality & flavor of both the green beans & the mushrooms, my Father tossed out this little tid-bit; the mushrooms he had picked himself, off the side of the hill, down by the creek !! My response was something to do with the potential that the fungus we were eating might be poisonous.  Dad's only assurance that these were indeed mushrooms -- & not "toadstools" -- was that "...they looked okay".

Well, none of us got sick & for his next birthday, I gave my Father a book on North American Mushrooms.

Since that time -- as well, really, even prior to that -- I have always been careful of the mushrooms I eat.  None of the "fancy fungus" many of the grocery stores now stock on their shelves these days.  For me, it's strictly "friendly fungus" ... meaning the large, white mushrooms you will find in most food stores. 

I currently buy my mushrooms in large packages at Sam's Club. I have to admit I eat very little of them; a few on a salad now & then.  The majority of the package is meant for the tortoises, who more often than not, quickly eat the initial offering of mushrooms, causing me to have to provide "seconds".

It's interesting to note that tortoises suffer no ill effects of eating  tainted mushrooms or toadstools.  However, many a person has gotten sick -- & died -- from eating a tortoise, after the animal had ingested the "fatal fungus".  The warning: Don't Eat Turtles & Tortoises".

The above photo shows my tortoises going full tilt at a plate of one of their favorite foods, showing they are truly ... "friends of fungus".