Mushrooms!

My hubby is a mushroom ... fanatic! He has written about his love on his blog in posts like: Why I love hunting mushrooms and Wild Mushroom Identification (and a project for kids!) and Shaggy Mane Mushrooms: Wild Harvesting in the Azores and Edible Wild Mushrooms in the Azores and Reishi (Ling Chi) Mushroom and Seventy Distinctive Mushrooms (7 part series) and Questions from readers: Mushroom Patches ... Are they safe? 

(See what I mean? He REALLY loves mushrooms!)

The other day, I left to take Abigail to ballet. When I came home, JB told me that he had gone on a mushroom hunt with the boys while Hannah was napping. He took some pictures and shared some details. It was such a fantastic homeschool activity that I thought I would share them with you:

Can you see the puffballs in this photo? I spotted them from our kitchen window and took the boys out to check them out.

Here's a closer look. See them now?

There were 2 large ones. We left the one on top to release spores. The one on the bottom was very malformed. There is a real small one on the right. We harvested the big one on the left.

Here it is. Calvatia cyathiformis. The Purple-Spored Puffball Mushroom.

The boys got to pick it together!

It's almost the size of their heads!

Calvatia cyathiformis. The Purple-Spored Puffball Mushroom. When the interior is still white, the mushroom is edible. The central white portion will turn purple as the spores mature and are ready to be released.