Used to know and eat a handful of wild shrooms - most of which Old Dude already mentioned, but am out of practice and not likely these days to go for anything other than puffball, meadow mushrooms and sulpher shelf/chicken of the woods, or a couple of boletes I am well familiar with. A few years ago moved to a place with a large, heavily shaded lot that every fall has an abundance of 'shrooms growing, but have lost the "eye" and the knowledge to key out those I think might be edible, so steer clear. None of the varieties that spring up in my yard are readily and easily identifiable without taking spoor prints, etc. Got very sick once, many years ago, from misidentifying so probably more cautious than the average bear. One casual caveat about puff balls - immature earth stars can be mistaken for puff balls, so if you are a novice, cut the damn thing open before heating the oil in the skillet. Tiny bit of thread drift but related to my above post. I first started learning about and eating wild plants in the spring of the year. One of my favorites that first year, gathered with a knowledgeable guide, were milkweed shoots -asparagusly tasting and very yummy. I moved north a couple of degrees over the winter. The following spring I gathered a large basket of what I thought were milkweed shoots. Something wasn't quite right, and after the pot was ready to add the shoots to steam them, I decided to take a more careful look and pulled out all the field guides. I had gathered dog bane shoots. Quite toxic. Further north, they appeared at about the same time as milkweed shoots where I had previously lived. Very similar in appearance, but not fuzzy. Closer call than I care to remember.
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