even crowberries are plump and juicy this year. even though it hasn't been raining much all summer, the air has been hot and humid. i've seen some huge velvet roll-rims (tapinella atrotomentosa), too, almost a foot wide. they are a good fungus for dyeing, giving hues of blue, purple and gray. i read that frozen roll-rims give better colours, so i stashed a few in the freezer, but i have dried them previously whenever i've found them. i was also under the impression that it's a fairly small mushroom until now. the old ones all fit on my palm. the best thing about them is the foot, it really feels like velvet.
storm clouds are gathering and hopefully it will rain tomorrow. there are plenty of porcinis hiding in the earth, waiting for that drop of water. i have found some every now and then, but dried them because there have been too many chanterelles to eat instead, and porcinis improve upon drying unlike chanterelles. it sounds atrocious but i even forgot one in the fridge until it went bad. i'm overwhelmed by my haul.
now i'm going to watch a documentary about humpback whales. they are magnificent.
