What a weekend! The last few weeks have culminated in an atypical summer for me. I’m a freelance artist which often means most of my time spent at either my home office or at 
I ate my words, along with pounds of chicken of the woods. I’ve since been spiraling deeper and deeper in to foraging as a hobby. I’ve even tried two other mushrooms since. Crown tipped corals and lions name. The second is a contender for my favorite so far. I’ve gone out foraging for more chicken of the woods twice since that first adventure with 
With only one full day to enjoy, naturally, my first order of business was foraging consider we’d be far away from the Cities. We looks around the camp site without much success. Some mushrooms, but nothing I recognized. We ventured about 5 miles out to an SNA [Science and Nature Attraction]. It was completely overgrown, which for foraging, was a great sign. Along the way, we saw more crown tipped corals, a giant puffball and dozens of little frogs and toads.
I came across not one but two chicken of the woods that we’d missed by a few weeks. Moldy and in decay. Our hike took us near the Mississippi, up and then down a ravine. The mushroom trail ran cold for a bit. I made several, “Ballad Of Buster Scruggs”, Tom Waits, “Mr. Pocket”, jokes along the lines of, “…there a pocket up there. How far we don’t know.”. “I’m coming for you, Mr. Pocket!”. I just knew they were there. Turning the corner I stopped and froze; there before us lie the mother load of chicken of the woods!
I’m new to this, but they were absolutely perfect and in peak growth. No bugs or flies. We took well over 15 pounds and left half on the log. There wasn’t really a way for us to take all of them, and as far as I understand, leaving them will ensure more for next season. I’ll be sharing these with 
