Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 60

AN EXPERT GUIDES A LEARNER
Blue Ridge
Fungi Fancier
Jeff Huffman has taken the time to learn what needs to be known
about the wondrous world of mushrooms in the forest.
Text and photos by BRUCE INGRAM
RESOURCES
Appalachian Mushrooms: A Field
Guide by Walter E. Sturgeon
National Audubon Society
Field Guide to North American
Mushrooms by Gary H. Lincoff
Asheville Mushroom Club:
ashevillemushroomclub.org
New River Valley Mushroom
Club: sites.google.com/site/
newrivervalleymushroomclub/
home
The West Virginia Mushroom Club:
wvmushroomclub.net
ABOVE: A yellow morel grows on a Botetourt
County, Virginia mountainside.
INSET: Jeff Huffman found this chicken of the
woods mushroom growing in a Roanoke County
park.
60 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
t's early May, and Roanoke, Virginia's
Jeff Huffman and I are walking
through a stand of tulip poplars on a
Botetourt County mountainside.
" Look for two or three poplars
growing close together or for a poplar
that's dead or dying and has
cavities in it, " he says. " For some reason,
those kinds of places give you a better
chance of finding them. We should find
some-the conditions are good. It rained
two nights ago, and the soil temperature
is in the mid-50s. "
A short time later, we find one of
them-a yellow morel growing among
some Christmas ferns and chickweed and
just a few feet from a trio of poplars.
" You want it? " Huffman asks. Of
course I do, as yellow morels rank as
choice mushroom edibles and perform exquisitely
in any egg or meat entree and in
soups and salads.
I
Huffman, a receiver for Food Lion,
is my mushroom mentor, and I've gone
afield with him in places as diverse as a
downtown Roanoke park and the Jefferson
National Forest. Huffman himself has
gathered mushrooms in the mountains of
the two Virginias and in North Carolina
and Tennessee. What caused him to become
a fan of fungi?
" I'm an avid hiker, and I kept seeing all
these mushrooms and wondering if they
were edible, " Huffman says. " About that
time I found out about the New River Valley
Mushroom Club and went on one of
their forays. Learning about mushrooms
on your own is possible, but it's much
quicker-and safer-to go with a club and
have mentors teach you what's edible and
what's not. "
Now, he continues, he strives to learn
more about all the mushroom species he
encounters: what's edible and what's not,
what's poisonous and what's deadly, and
what might have medicinal properties.
" Many people don't understand that
most mushrooms won't kill or hurt you,

http://www.ashevillemushroomclub.org http://sites.google.com/site/newrivervalleymushroomclub/home http://www.wvmushroomclub.net http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022

Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - Cover1
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 3
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 4
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 5
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 6
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 7
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 8
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 9
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 18
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 19
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 20
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 21
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 22
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 24
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 25
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 26
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 27
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 28
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 29
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 30
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 31
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 32
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 33
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 34
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 35
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 36
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 37
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 38
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 39
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 40
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 41
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 43
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 46
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 47
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 48
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 49
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 50
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 51
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 56
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 60
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 63
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 65
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 66
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 70
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 71
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 72
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 73
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - 74
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - Cover3
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - Cover4
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG1
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG2
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG3
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG4
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG5
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG6
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG7
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG19
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG20
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG21
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG22
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG23
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Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG31
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2022 - BRPG32
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