I went mushroom picking in mid-November. There was no end to the surprises
Trips to the forest are one of the favorite forms of activity in autumn for many Poles. This year’s season encourages you to go mushroom picking even in mid-November. When I went to the forest, many surprises awaited me. The final contents of the cart were just one of them!
Although the days on the calendar are passing inexorably, taking us away from the warmer part of autumn, nature has been treating us quite kindly this year. Since there were no major frosts in many parts of the country, the trees are still decorated with leaves. These gradually change colors, which means that you can find beautiful scenery in parks and forests.
What mushrooms grow in November?
Autumn this year is also kind to mushroom pickers. There are still plenty of reports on social media groups from people who still collect popular species: boletes, boletes, chanterelles and even bolete mushrooms. In recent weeks, we have also seen a huge number of kites, followed by oyster mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.
Although my mushroom picking usually ended around All Saints’ Day, tempted by the still quite good weather and the recommendations of other mushroom lovers, I went to the forest last weekend. There were a few surprises waiting for me there. Firstly, many people decided to take part in similar activities near Warsaw. There were plenty of cars in the forest parking lots, and cyclists could be seen on the paths.
Not only boletes
I quickly realized that the competition when it comes to mushrooms can be fierce. And here’s another surprise – it turned out that there are still enough mushrooms for everyone. Along the way, I met whole families with baskets full of boletes, but also proud owners of the last boletes, which can still be found here and there. In Masovia, they appear mainly on the outskirts of deciduous and mixed forests, where the sun shines better, or even… in fields adjacent to forests. I myself managed to collect several large fruiting bodies.
In addition to these species, there were also geese more associated with November and late mushroom picking. Many species can be found in Polish forests. I used the well-known misshapen geese (also called gray geese). Surprisingly, there were also other mushrooms in the forest that we have been seeing since the beginning of the season: red bolete mushrooms.
After about two hours, I had half a basket of mushrooms of various species, and I returned from the forest convinced that it was time to change my habits and extend the mushroom picking time. It turned out that mid-November can surprise you with the diversity and abundance of mushrooms.