We arrived in Rome in the late morning and had a long wait for our luggage at the carousel and another long wait for our rooms upon our arrival at the Ergife Hotel via taxi. Several drivers offered “taxi” services upon our departure of the hotel lobby – we’ve learned however that it’s best to walk past to the line of “official” taxis outside; generally less expensive and no need to trek across the expansive parking lot.

Once we had arrived at our rooms (with tiny twins reminding us of Xi’an – where we were coincidentally exactly two years prior), we changed into our swimsuits and went down to the pool for a couple of hours. It was huge and though a little chilly, the swim felt so good. Just what we needed to loosen our muscles after the long flight and many hours of sitting. We took a short nap and then returned to our room to change for dinner.

Sightseeing in Rome ~ Day One

Via Ottaviano

We then ventured forth to experience Italy for the first time. We walked quite a distance from the hotel to reach the subway and then proceeded to Via Ottaviano, not far from the Vatican, where we window shopped for a short time before coming to a quaint restaurant with outdoor seating along the sidewalk. The boys selected pizza (cheese for Jeffrey and salami for Patrick) while I chose spaghetti carbonara and Geneva, a mozzarella and tomato salad. The food was delicious! Pasta and pizza in Rome! I could hardly believe it was true.

After dinner, we continued to walk along Ottaviano until we came to the St. Peter’s Square. The boys spent a significant amount of time here taking photographs as Geneva and I sat down to people watch. To be quite frank, I hadn’t slept well on the plane and wasn’t feeling well. Geneva enjoyed the quiet time to sketch in her journal.

As we began to retrace our steps back to the hotel, we stopped for gelato at Lemongrass. It was heavenly! Geneva selected their signature recipe – lemongrass with white chocolate, lemon cream, and grain pralines. Patrick and Jeffrey chose their usual, cookies & cream and mango, respectively. My choice was ricotta e fiche – soft white sheep cheese with Mediterranean figs. Mmmmmm. To this day, Geneva and I rave about the gelato here. It turned out to be the best in all of Italy.

Sightseeing in Rome ~ Day Two

Piazza del Popolo

The following day, our first destination was the Piazza del Popolo for a which featured an Egyptian obelisk at the center. Here we also discovered a Leonardo da Vinci museum which was very nice – featuring many hands-on models and a few artifacts, namely a few of his journals!

Tip: Click on the links of the notable sights to enjoy a photo sphere in Google maps, a 360-degree panorama.

Castel Sant ‘Angelo

We then walked to Castel Sant ‘Angelo, crossing the River Tiber via the Ponte Regina Margherita. The Castel Sant’Angelo, also known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. Once the tallest building in Rome, it was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum.

The castle was quite impressive and thus we paid the admission to see the interior. Were were not disappointed. There were many artifacts and elaborately decorated rooms within. Most notably was a statue of Marcus Tulles Cicero. As we rounded the steps to a lower level, I’d remarked that it resembled Voldemort and the party behind us started laughing and stated they were thinking the same thing.

Dinner at Il Giardino

In the afternoon, we met up with our Trafalgar tour group for introductions and an overview of our itinerary. It was quite a large group in comparison to International Expeditions, our first experience with group travel. To conclude the evening, we took a bus around the city for a short evening highlight tour and then enjoyed a traditional Italian style dinner at Il Giardino de Albino. The meal was several courses – antipasti, a variety of salami selections, breads, four pastas, and dessert with coffee and limoncello, a lemon liqueur.

Sightseeing in Rome ~ Day Three

We departed via coach with the group for the Vatican, the first of our optional tours in Italy (and an extra expanse paid in country). Trafalgar had made advance reservations and thus we were able to skip the long lines that serpentined around the Vatican walls. We were able to enter immediately upon our arrival, a blessing as it was pouring down rain. This is the best benefit of traveling with a group but I’ll save these observations for a later post.

The Vatican Museums house ancient Roman sculptures such as the Laocoön, Renaissance frescoes, and the Sistine Chapel, famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling. Our tour group moved rather quickly through each of the rooms it was near impossible to retain what she shared – even when we could hear her. It was so crowded.

The art inside was simply stunning. I hadn’t realized that the borders or frames between images was not in fact 3-dimensional paneling but was painted to appear 3D! Even the long hallways were decorated floor to ceiling; mosaic inlay floors, tapestries and sculptures on pedestals, and my favorite the cartography hall with maps of the Roman provinces and regions representing each of the foreign dignitaries.

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel was larger than I had imagined. Photographs and talking were prohibited but that didn’t stop everyone. As the murmur of whispers grew, the guard boomed over a megaphone, “SILENCE! SILENCIO!” We enjoyed sitting on a bench along the wall to take in as much detail as we could.

St. Peter’s Basilica

I was impressed, too, with the enormity of St. Peter’s Basilica. The paintings inside had been replaced with mosaics as the smoke from the Pope’s ___ had damaged the fragile nature of the paints. Symbolic burial urns and numerous altars adorned the cavernous interior. There were also two mummies of past popes who had been canonized:

Pope John XXIII (1963) — who convened the Second Vatican Council; he was exhumed in 2000, mummified and put on display under St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
St. Pio da Pietreicina (1968) — Italian priest who was inflicted with stigmata (the five wounds of Christ) while praying.

In the floor were covered openings that gave visitors a peak into the crypts below. There are over 100 tombs within St. Peter’s Basilica, many located in the Vatican grotto, beneath the Basilica. These include 91 popes.

Within the Basilica there is also a wedding chapel and a Baptismal Fountain. During our tour, there were services taking place at a couple of the altars. In the center was a large dark canopy that looked to me like Mahogany. Our guide pointed out that it was actually bronze. In fact, all the dark colored material on the walls and surfaces that looked like wood is actually bronze. From this central canopy, only the Pope is permitted to give services.

The Colosseum

The early part of the afternoon was spent at the Colosseum. It is hard to imagine the splendor of this incredible structure – built primarily for Roman entertainment of slaughtering wild and exotic animals. We learned that the thumbs up / down hand signal so popularly featured in the movies is slightly inaccurate. To save the life of the gladiator, the emperor would poll his people. If they felt his performance worthy, they would enclose their thumb within their fists. To signal his death, they’d made a slow downward slashing motion with an open palm.

Much of the Colosseum has fallen into ruins and has only partly been restored. Fortunately, a portion of the arena floor has been rebuilt so visitors can visualize the structure at the peak of its use. Just before departing, we took a group photo at the Arch of Constantine.

As we drove back to the hotel that afternoon, we drove past the Circo Massimo where chariot races had previously been contested. Other notable sights we observed from the coach included the Palatino and Campidoglio (hilltop square designed by Michelangelo). I was frustrated that we didn’t have more time.

Backstreets of Rome

In the evening we gathered for the second optional tour, Backstreets, Piazzas, and Fountains of Rome. Our first stop of this walking tour was the Trevi Fountain which was sadly under renovation during our visit. So much of the fountain was covered in scaffolding and the area so very crowded (several other tour groups were here at the same time) that it was uncomfortable and very frustrating.

After a quick little gelato, we continued on our walk rather swiftly through the back streets as our guide pointed out different architectural points of interest. There was just too much visual and audio input that even I was overwhelmed. Jeffrey gave up listening and removed his ear bud.

Along the way, there were many quaint little shops, restaurants, and gelaterias where we would have loved to browse. I was especially disappointed that we were not given time to stop at a shop where a woodworker was carving a Pinnochio. I so desperately wanted to observe him longer and buy one but we were pressured to keep moving.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon was constructed on the site of an earlier building commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD. An opening at the center of the ceiling lets in natural light and of course any precipitation. The center floor is clear of furnishings or sculptures but covered with elaborate mosaic designs. As before, the interior walls were adorned with murals and ornately decorated altars.

Piazza Navona

Lastly we visited the Piazza Navona which had at one time been built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian (1st century AD) before the walls bordering the Trevere (River Tiber) were built to avoid flooding and the city streets were raised. A prominent feature of this piazza today is Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, or Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Here, we were given a short time to browse on our own and get something for dinner. Another unanticipated expense. I’ve become a little disenchanted with group travel. We opted to move away from the piazza and find a small pizzeria that would be a little less spendy.

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This post is part of a five-post series, The Italian Scene: Falling in Love with Italy. Join me tomorrow as I share our experiences in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.

Hopscotch-August2016 My post is one of many hopscotch link-ups. Hop over and see what others are sharing.

When we travel as a family, one of the things that is always high on our itinerary are local science museums and nature centers. These local venues provide an intimate look at the natural world and ecosystems of the region. The perfect way to familiarize ourselves with the natural history and wildlife of the local area.

Science Museums & Nature Centers

First to mind are typically our National Parks and large-scale science museums like the Smithsonian, OMSI (in Portland, Oregon), or the Exploratorium (San Fransisco). The smaller museums are often overlooked for the educational opportunities they provide because they don’t have the advertising budget of larger venues. I want to encourage you to seek out these small, local museums and science centers.

Today, I highlight five benefits of local science museums. Best of all – I’m giving away one free family pass to The Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, California.

Hands-on Exhibits

You are likely already familiar with the hands-on exhibits, IMAX and planetarium shows that explore the wonders of science and the universe that are provided by science museums around the country. However, science museums provide so much more!

The mission of museums today is to stimulate curiosity, creativity and learning through fun, interactive exhibits and programs for children, families and school groups. Whether your visit is a family outing or a part of a school experience, the hands-on exhibits are the keystone of the museum.

Field Trips

The learning opportunities at science museums include field trips and school programs. Often, entrance fees are significantly reduced if visiting the museum in a large group. Consider coordinating an outing for your local homeschool community.

Perhaps your local science museum offers in-house classes or educational experiences with a trained volunteer or staff member? Reach out to your local museum education staff and inquire about their field trip programs. If they do not have programs in place, they may be happy to customize options to fit the needs of your class or school.

Adventure Tours :: Museum instructors and volunteers guide students through activities at the museum using the exhibits, grounds and classrooms.

Festivals :: Multiple stations are set up in and around the museum featuring hands-on activities and opportunities for learning. Students and chaperones explore in small groups.

Self-Guided Field Trips :: Some museums offer a self-guided field trip whereupon school groups pay a reduced admission rate and teachers and chaperones are admitted free.

Self-Guided Learning Expeditions :: Many museums offer materials which provide a focused course of exploration during your museum field trip. Developed with local teachers, each includes pre-visit activities which are built upon during the field trip and completed through post-visit activities in the classroom.

At larger museums often the education programs meet the Next Generation Science Standards as well as the Common Core Standards for Literacy and Math.

Curriculum

Staff and volunteers of science museums often collaborate to develop education materials and public outreach for their visitors. These materials are often available online with the goal of increasing science literacy across the full spectrum of education, both in the classroom and in daily life, for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Discovery Classes :: Some museums offer classroom based programs that can either be held at the museum or at your school.

Traveling Trunks :: Traveling trunks are a great way to extend the learning experience and bring it back to the classroom. These curriculum-based learning units are designed to enliven classroom learning through authentic materials and hands-on lessons.

Look for ways you can expand upon what was learned at the museum by visiting local historic sites as I shared in my earlier post, Bonanza! Gold Rush Experiences.

Professional Development

Many science museums offer a range of professional development courses and workshops designed to strengthen teacher expertise and integrate hands-on science activities into the classroom. Many also offer formal classes and labs for students of all ages, professional development support for science teachers, and a broad range of formal and informal learning opportunities for visitors.

Teacher Training :: A variety of training programs are offered throughout the year for educators of grades kindergarten through 12. The sessions are designed to help teachers gain a deeper understanding of the region’s arts, culture, history and natural sciences.

Summer Camps

If you’ve been to camp, I’m sure you can list off numerous benefits of summer camp. But if you didn’t go to camp as a child, you may not realize just how good the experience is for children. Unplugging from devices, spending their day outdoors being physically active, making new friends, developing life skills, and growing more independent are just a few of the positives.

There are a multitude of summer camps sure to captivate kids of every interest—and your secret desire to enhance their education—from digging for fossils to programming robots, learning how to sail a boat or navigate across varied terrain with only a compass and a topographical map.

Here are just a few examples of camps available at science museums in California and Oregon:

Lawrence Hall of Science :: Lawrence Hall of Science camps are a great place to spend the summer. Where else can you build a wobbling robot, see how a chinchilla takes a bath, and visit the stars? Campers get inspired to explore, build, and create with new friends and cool tools!

OMSI :: Did you know Olympian swim suits were modeled after a shark’s skin? Look at nature differently as you build bio-mimicry challenges around a coastal campfire. OR …Try your hand at everything from archaeology to web design this summer with brand new tech-based classes and junior overnight adventures.

High Desert Museum :: Offering a wide range of summer camps exploring animal science, astronomy, geology, and photography through fun and interactive activities and hands-on experiments.

With the current circus that is our current election season, the kids have had many questions about the elections process. There were only 7 and 9 years old during the last presidential election, so it is no wonder that they’ve taken a greater interest now.

A short time ago, an article in the Wall Street Journal showed a picture of people lined up at a polling station somewhere in America. “What are they doing?” my son asked. “Voting,” I casually responded. I further explained that in Oregon, we have a mail-in ballot system. We thereby don’t have to wait in line. We cast our vote by mailing our ballots to the county clerk. He didn’t inquire any further so I didn’t think anything of it until a few days later.

Jeffrey recently joined Boy Scouts and one of the first merit badges he began to work on was Citizenship in the Community. One of the required tasks reads:

Choose an issue that is important to the citizens of your community. Find out which branch of local government is responsible for this issue and interview one person from this branch of government. Ask what is being done about this issue and how young people can help.

“People are interested in the elections. I’d like to know more about that,” he said. “Can I interview the county clerk?”

Later that week, a homeschool friend posted a picture of kiddos visiting the county clerk’s office in Deschutes County. Serendipity! I picked up the phone and made arrangements for a visit to our own.

A Visit with Our County Clerk

In our county, the clerk’s job is twofold – elections and records. She is responsible for filing vital records or important documents related to the county’s population, including birth, death and marriage certificates. Services provided are:

Land Records
Public Records
Marriage Licenses
Dog Licenses
County Filings
Board of Property Tax Appeal

The county clerk is also responsible for coordinating all voting processes in the county. Services provided are:

Voter Registration
Candidate/Measure filing
Election Management
Ballot Processing
Redistricting

During our visit the clerk led the kids through the entire process. They were given mock voter registration cards to see how our signatures are entered into the computer system. Thereafter, we were mailed mock ballots with which we voted for fictional positions and two mock county measures. The clerk and her assistant than walked us through the process by which our signatures are verified and our votes tallied.

I was very impressed with the thought and preparation our clerk showed for our visit. It is clear that she takes her job very seriously and enjoys her work. She has held this elected position since 1999 – no one has ran against her since her first term.

When asked what young people can do to help she responded, “Be informed. Learn now how to research the issues for this will be a skill you will always need. Be knowledgeable on the issues that will affect your communities. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and to always seek out information.”

We look forward to going back as her team processes the real ballots during the primaries in May.

Most people don’t realize that the Sugar Maple is not the only tree that yields syrup. We had thoroughly enjoyed our first experience maple sugaring when the kids were toddlers. Now that we have returned to Oregon, we are delighted to revisit our sugaring experience with Tap My Trees.

We received a Tap My Trees starter kit in exchange for an honest review. I also received monetary compensation for my time spent in reviewing the product. All opinions expressed are true and completely our own. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

There are 13 species of maple trees that grow in the United States. The Sugar Maple (Acer saccharin), one of America’s best-loved trees, is the most well known due to its historical and economical importance.In Oregon, Sugar Maple is an ornamental and found only on college campuses and occasionally in someone’s yard. Oregon’s most prevalent native maples are Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) and Vine Maple (Acer circinatum). Learn more about Our Native Maples in my earlier post.

Our Maple Sugaring Experience

I shared a more in-depth look at Science of Sugaring a few months ago. From everything we have read and from our past experiences, we knew that sap would immediately start to flow after tapping the tree if the weather conditions were just right. Cold nights and warm days were what we needed.

We waited. We watched the forecast. Then my dad telephoned, “This week looks to be a good time to go sugaring?!” Yippee! We gathered our gear and piled into his truck.

Oregon Geography

The Oregon Coast is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Coast Mountain Range on the east. It is 30 to 60 miles (48 to 97 km) wide and averages around 1,500 feet (460 m) in elevation above sea level. Temperate rain forests with high peaks and steep ridges dominate this region. elliotstateforest

In the southernmost section of the Coast Range where we live, you can find the Elliott State Forest. The forest is home to over 50 mammal species, over 100 species of birds, and nearly 30 reptile or amphibian species that spend significant portions of their life cycle in the mountains. It is here that the Big Leaf and Vine Maples grow.

Tapping the Trees

It took about an hour to drive up to the forest and locate the Big Leaf Maples. We found a several in the mid elevations on relatively dry slopes. As the terrain is so steep, most were out of our reach but we did manage to find a couple near the road. Sadly, when we tapped them, the sap was not running. Dad said this was an ominous sign but we hung our bucket anyway and gave it a go.

We then drove to a lower elevation in a narrow, moist valley where we located a grove of Vine Maple. You can see in the photo above the abundance of ferns and bryophytes in the understory. When we tapped the Vine Maple, the sap started flowing immediately.

Maple sap is a clear fluid and resembles water. The collection amount may vary. Some days you will collect only a small amount and other days your buckets may overflow if not emptied.

We thereby hung several bottles amongst the vine maple shrubs that covered the hillside. For these smaller trees, we recycled a plastic soda bottle by poking a hole in the side and sliding the bottle onto the spile.

Collecting the Sap

We returned a few days later to retrieve our materials and any sap we collected. Much to our chagrin, the bucket on the Big Leaf was dry. It was just the wrong time. We’ve wanted to try again but the weather hasn’t been very cooperative this year. We’ve had an unseasonably warm winter and lots of rain.

The vine maples, however, were more cooperative. We collected about a quart of sap which when processed yielded only about 2 tablespoons of syrup. Enough for one pancake serving anyway. We all agreed it was very similar to the pure syrup we purchase, but with a little more tangy taste.

It is clearly much more work and effort to tap trees in Oregon, thus making the endeavor economically disadvantageous. This is due in part to the difficulty in reaching the trees but also that a larger quantity of big leaf or vine maple sap is needed to produce equivalent volumes of syrup than the sugar maple.

However, I highly recommend the sugaring experience to families, especially if you have access to maple trees where you live. It is great opportunity to get outdoors and bond together over shared memories – not to mention all that one can learn through the process.

While 2016 wasn’t a good year for tapping the Big Leaf Maple in Oregon, we’ll be sure to try again next year. Sugaring has become a lifelong hobby everyone in our family enjoys.

Maple Sugaring with Tap My Trees

Tap My Trees is the #1 provider of sugaring supplies for the hobbyist. Devoted to educating families about the practice of maple sugaring Tap My Trees has made donations of supplies to nature centers hosting maple sugar events and they’ve made quite a few products available for teaching Maple Sugaring at Home.

They offer 4 starter kits with the highest quality supplies to tap maple trees at home. You can also customize your kits by ordering sugaring accessories individually. The instructive guidebook outlines the steps to making the maple sugar and contains all the information you need for a successful sugaring from identifying the appropriate tree to how weather affects the sap run, when to collect, and how to boil down the sap.

The lesson plans also include a timeline beginning in the winter and go month by month listing the topics for each month leading to the sap collection and syrup making. Sugaring is a fabulous unit study covering botany, ecology, meteorology, physics, and even history!

Connect with Tap My Trees

Tap My Trees is committed to sugaring education and they provide recipes and other information on social media. Their products are also available on Amazon, if you prefer. Be inspired!

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When we first started homeschooling, we did a lot of unit studies. Often, our studies revolved around a book I was reading aloud to the kids.

One of our fondest memories of homeschooling revolves around Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We had recently read about the Ingalls’ family sugaring time and a few days later, while enjoying pancakes with real maple syrup, Geneva inquired, “How do you make maple syrup again, Mom?”

I have long been intrigued with the notion of tapping trees to make syrup. I quickly took her question to heart and we launched into an integrated unit on maple sugaring.

Read more of our early experiences here, Sugaring Time: Making Our Own Maple Syrup

While Oregon does not typically come to mind when one thinks of maple sugar, I can attest that we do in fact have maple trees. Come along with me as I share the science of sugaring.

In preparation for this post, I received a maple sugaring starter kit for free and was compensated for my time in writing it. All the opinions below are mine and I was not required to write a positive review.

The Science of Sugaring

Products derived from Sugar Maple trees are common in house holds throughout the country, particularly the maple syrup and sugar industry in the Northeast. The earliest written accounts of maple sugaring were made in the early 1600s by European explorers who observed American Indians gathering maple sap.

I love real maple syrup. Growing up, even when times were tight, my dad always insisted we had real maple syrup. When I was in middle school, my dad became intrigued with the notion of tapping trees to make syrup. “Couldn’t you also tap other trees?” he would ask. “We have a lot of Big Leaf Maple? Can you make Alder syrup? What would it taste like? What about Willow and Oak? Certainly their sap would be sweet as well.”

The next thing I knew, my dad had ordered a spiles kit and we were hiking into Oregon’s coast range to tap trees. After numerous attempts and modifications to his collecting devices, we were successful.

We managed to collect enough sap from several trees to process into syrup – essentially the sap is filtered and the excess water is boiled from the sap. You would be surprised just how much maple sap is required to make just one quart of syrup … 10 gallons (though this varies by species)!

Our research revealed the most commonly tapped maple trees are Sugar, Black, Red, and Silver Maples. My father’s inquiry experiments proved that while other trees can be tapped to collect sap, including Birch, Walnut, and other maple species like Big Leaf and Boxelder; tapping a Sugar or Black Maple yields the best results.

Tap My Trees

Today, Sugar Maple stands and roadside trees provide private landowners with an annual cash crop as well as a rewarding hobby. I am excited to discover and share with you the #1 supplier of maple sugaring supplies for the hobbyist, Tap My Trees. They are the leading site for home based maple sugaring – the process of sap collection and making maple syrup.

Collecting maple sap is a green, environmentally sustainable process that can be enjoyed by anyone with a healthy, mature maple tree. The Tap My Trees website provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to tap your maple trees and turn that sap into maple syrup.

The process is actually quite simple. It does, however, take some time and a willingness to get outdoors and experience this miracle of nature – Charlotte Mason would be so proud!

The Tap My Trees kit is a wonderful way to jump into the sugaring hobby. Here’s a peak of what is included in the kit:

Maple Sugaring Lesson Plan: Lesson plan for the maple sugaring process. Can be adapted for third grade through high school.

Maple Sugaring at Home book: This guide provides step-by-step instructions (complete with pictures) to tap maple trees. Includes information on how to identify maple trees, how to tap trees, collection and storage of sap, uses for maple sap including how to make maple syrup, and frequently asked questions.

1 Aluminum Bucket: 2 gallon aluminum bucket is used to collect the sap as it drips from the spile.

1 Metal Lid: Lids prevent rain, snow, and foreign material from entering the bucket.

1 Spile with Hook: Stainless steel spile (tap) is inserted into drilled hole to transfer sap into the bucket. Hook is used to hold the bucket.

1 Drill Bit: 7/16 drill bit with 3/8 shank used to drill tap hole into your maple tree.

Cheesecloth: Used to filter any solids (such as pieces of bark) when transferring sap from the collection bucket to a storage container.

Filter: 24″ X 30″ filter sheet to filter sediment from finished syrup. Durapure grade filter.

1 Bottle with Lid: Empty 12 oz. maple syrup bottle used to store finished syrup.

Thermometer: Candy thermometer for making maple syrup. Instrument Range: 100 to 400°F / 40 to 200°C. Stainless steel housing with mounting clip

Join me next month for a maple trees nature study post and again this spring as I share with you our own experiences in tapping trees.

One of the things I just love about the Oregon coast is the plethora of fungi. This past week, my daughter and I attended a Fall Mushrooms class at the interpretive center. It was a fabulous class whereby we learned to not only identify many of the local species but we also learned which are edible.

We spent the first couple of hours in the classroom engaged in a lecture format whereby the instructor began with an introduction to basic mycology. He walked through the life cycle of mushrooms and as well as the anatomy of a mature mushroom.

He also shared a slide presentation of the species we were likely to see. With each photograph, he discussed the species’ habitat preferences (in other words, where they were most likely to be found) and the typical time of year they were most prominent.

We then took a short break and proceeded down the trail for our foraging excursion. We didn’t find too many in the first half mile or so of the trail. Those we did find had begun to decay so we were beginning to get a little discouraged. Perhaps we were too late in the season?

We didn’t give in however, and our perseverance paid off. The group had begun to spread out and cheerful exclamations of “I found Chantrelles!” or “Wow! Look at the size of these!” could be heard in the near distance.

Here is a list of just a few of the species we found:

Hawk Wing
Chantrelle (illustrated above)
Velvet Bolete (illustrated above)
Beef Steak (pictured at top)
Pine Spike (illustrated above)
Oysters
False Chantrelle
Lobsters
Slippery Jack
Blue Polyphore
Coral
Toadstool (toxic)

Without doubt, the best mushroom text available is Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora. Published in 1986, it is an encyclopedia of mushroom facts and lore, lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs, literally everything you need to know about mushrooms, edible or not. Any botanical field guide should have is a good dichotomous key and Arora provides a very good key. The photos are excellent and the color plates are spectacular. This is a hefty volume, however, it is not the best for field identification.

The author has thereby released a field companion All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms. This pocket-size book allows for quick and easy identification of common mushrooms. It also provides delicious recipes and stories of friends and funny anecdotes are sprinkled among hard facts.

Another favorite resource is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. Organized visually, this book groups all mushrooms by color and shape to make identification simple and accurate in the field. With more than 700 mushrooms detailed with color photographs and text, this is a great guide for identification in the field.