False Turkey Tail

False Turkey Tail Mushroom, Stereum ostrea, Pittsburgh, 2016


Recently I blogged about Turkey Tail Mushrooms and their medicinal value, and so there is the need to blog about the look alike to Trametes versicolor, False Turkey Tail (Stereum ostrea).  On the top view, it does closely resemble true turkey tail, but on the under side it's smooth, lacking the obvious pores that the authentic turkey tail always has.  While not poisonous, Stereum ostrea is considered inedible, and lacking in medicinal properties as well.  While there would be no dire consequences in confusing the two, you would miss out on the health benefits gained from the real thing.
As a side note:  I made Trametes versicolor tea on Saturday.  I steeped 3g of dried turkey tail in 2C of simmering water for two hours.  The flavor was what you would expect, slightly mushroomy and woody.  Not unpleasant, and my wife suggested that I try adding a bit of these mushrooms to the pot when I make vegetable stock.

Turn Tail And Run With It

Trametes versicolor, dorsal and ventral views, Pittsburgh, Feb., 2016


Growing on a Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) stump in the backyard is a colony of turkey tail polypores (Trametes versicolor).  I cut one free and brought in to do a photo study of it.  A fine specimen, pliable and fresh, as with age they tend to become woody and hardened.  Then, I started to do a bit of digging into the function and uses of T. versicolor.  Times like these the internet is really a wondrous thing, such a wealth of information, things that the identification books don't provide.  Of course, you still have to be wary of where and how you get your information, and the veracity of the claims made.  Just because it's on the internet doesn't make it accurate.
I was surprised to discover that T. versicolor has been widely studied in Japan, China, and South Korea as a cancer treatment, most specifically for stomach, colorectal, esophageal, and breast cancers.   My thinking with mushrooms and assorted fungi in the treatment of any ailment, is that it is most effective as a preventative measure, to keep you from getting a disease in the first place.
I'm going to dry some T. versicolor and make a tea of it.  The rule of thumb with mushroom teas is that 1 ounce of dried mushrooms produces 1 gallon of tea.

Winter Rainbow in Pittsburgh

Rainbow, February, Pittsburgh, 2016


Two days ago it was 60F and raining, after which we got a brief glimpse of a rainbow before the rain commenced again.  Today it's 24F and snowing.  This has been the craziest winter for weather I've ever encountered.  One day it's almost like spring in the dead of winter, and then the next winter throws the worst it has got at you.  Wretched.  I can hardly wait to see what terrors spring brings.

Kitty In A Sunbeam

Kitty In A Sunbeam, Pittsburgh, 2016


Some days, the best you get is a kitty curled up sleeping in a sunbeam.

Rustle of Color In Winter

Heinz Chapel, University of Pittsburgh Campus, December 2015


It's so odd how some trees cling to their dead leaves, or the dead leaves yet cling to the tree.  That rustle of color in the slightest breeze.

The 43rd Hoyt Regional Juried Exhibition

Lounging, 2002

The first time I exhibited in the Hoyt regional was in 2002.  It was quite an honor to be accepted into the show because that year the juror was the then-Andy Warhol Museum executive director, Tom Sokolowski.  The above print, digitally altered by a watercolor effect to mask the identity of the subject, was awarded an honorable mention.  If memory serves, this was the only photograph to be singled out for recognition.  This exhibition typically tends to favor the paintings.  Almost always very good paintings, very challenging in technique and subject....except for that one year a still life of pears won best in show.  Three pears, not even a bowl, no table.  Three lone pears, minimalist fucking pears suspended free of the pull of gravity on a canvas.  But I digress.
Anyway, I've shown at the Hoyt since then (see above pear rant), primarily because they always get top notch jurors and I want to get my work in front of those eyes.  This year (I just heard back yesterday via email) my submission was accepted.  I've posted the photo on this blog before, but I'll put it up again at the end of this post.  The juror this year is Janice Diesbach, chief curator at the Akron Art Museum.  I really respect the collection that they've got there, and how they exhibit.  It'll be a thrill to meet Ms. Diesbach at the opening reception, and I don't 'thrill' easily.  I'm already fussing over what to wear, which I never, ever do.

In The Garden of Headless Women, 2015

Feathers of Blood

Robin Feather with Blood, Pittsburgh, 2016


The other day as we were leaving the yard to take the dog for a walk, we came upon a death scene where, it appeared a small hawk had captured and eaten a robin.  There are significant differences in how birds of prey eat their quarry versus say, a cat.  Most significantly, the hawk will  immediately pluck the kill and eat it on the spot, creating a downy patch, and if there's snow on the ground, you can usually find spots where the hawk's wings brushed over the snow.  It's beautiful, if brutal, but that's nature.  The only thing left at this kill site were the feathers and the beak, all else was gone, presumably consumed.  I pocketed the beak, which had a single under feather clinging to it.  Upon close inspection with the microscope, tiny droplets of blood emerged within the barbules.