These oysters are from Roberts Creek, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada.

Another spring and another chance for delicious mushrooms. Last year we didn’t find one so this year our taste buds were on the edge. Due to the hot sunny weather they took some time waiting for enough rain to pop up the fruit bodies and there was a short window but we did find some fine beauties. Including biggest one ever for us. (What’s the deal on the biggest one anyway :) Check out the perfection of the beauties in the first photo!

Mighty big oyster.

Ever careful we made spore prints on newspaper and the lilac colours showed through.

Oysters drying by pure sunshine during the day and the light of a lava lamp at night!

About the Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus)

The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) is widespread in many temperate and subtropical forests throughout the world, although it is absent from the Pacific Northwest of North America, being replaced by P. pulmonarius and P. populinus. It is a saprotroph that acts as a primary decomposer of wood, especially deciduous trees, and beech trees in particular. It is a white-rot wood-decay fungus.

The oyster mushroom is one of the few known carnivorous mushrooms. Its mycelia can kill and digest nematodes, which is believed to be a way in which the mushroom obtains nitrogen.

More information: Pleurotus: Wikipedia

These oysters are from Gilker Park Roberts Creek, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada.

Every spring McDowell runs Gilker Park with her dog, a cloth bag and a pocket knife just before dinner time. She slices oyster mushrooms from the plentiful bounty along the park trails. And by the time her run is finished she’s ready to go home with a bag of fresh oyster mushrooms.

About the Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus)

The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) is widespread in many temperate and subtropical forests throughout the world, although it is absent from the Pacific Northwest of North America, being replaced by P. pulmonarius and P. populinus. It is a saprotroph that acts as a primary decomposer of wood, especially deciduous trees, and beech trees in particular. It is a white-rot wood-decay fungus.

The oyster mushroom is one of the few known carnivorous mushrooms. Its mycelia can kill and digest nematodes, which is believed to be a way in which the mushroom obtains nitrogen.

More information: Pleurotus: Wikipedia