Today was a great day for lion’s manes.

This was the view just before harvest:

I noticed some minor water drippage problems that I need to fine tune as I lost a couple of mushrooms to it. Check out the upper side of this beautiful lion’s mane. Notice that grey spot? This otherwise nice looking mushroom is unsaleable because of that.

Off the subject of lion’s manes for a moment, I was surprised to see this Pleurotus fruiting on a familiar Hericium tree.

This gorgeous lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus) was not as much of a surprise since this is the sixth year for this spot but it did surprise me by being so early. Around now has been more typical to find it at a much earlier stage of growth. Hericium coralloides has also been abundant on this same fallen trunk during those same years but it won’t get going until after it gets cold.

We can’t sell wild Hericium erinaceus in California but we sure do enjoy eating them.