More Dallas Area Hiking and Wild Plant Foraging

So with the weather cooling off slightly (temperatures of 95, instead of 105!), I'm trying to get outside more again. I'm still exploring the Dallas area, for exercise, interest and, of course, wild edible identification.

Being in an entirely new area and ecology really opens my eyes in a different way as I hike. I realized that back home my brain was mostly queued to look for only a handful of wild edibles--things that I knew well and knew I liked. But bereft of those plants and mushrooms, I'm constantly evaluating everything I see, trying to look for similarities with what I know, and just letting myself enjoy the experience.

Identifying the Most Common Poisonous Mushroom: Chlorophyllum molybdites (the Green-Spored Lepiota)

There is one mushroom which I get shown pictures of, and asked to identify, more than any other. It seems to be the most commonly encountered, or at least most commonly noticed mushroom in any region of the U.S. that I have lived.

Many times the request for information also comes with something along the lines of "it looks like it would be tasty!" And, in fact, this large, pristine, ubiquitous, and frequently abundant mushroom does look like it would be a great meal. . .

But looks are frequently deceiving.

Hiking and Identification of Some Texas Wild Edibles

Cedar Ridge Preserve

So earlier this week, my husband and I decided to try and find some good hiking locations. Cedar Hill, a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth, has both a state park and a preserve. The state park was closed for flooding (not expected to open till the 6th of July!!!) but we were able to have a great hike at the preserve. 

Cedar Ridge Preserve is managed by the Audubon Society of Dallas. It's a gorgeous area, a northern outcropping of famed-for-its-beauty Texas Hill Country. Hills! Yes! One of the few things I'm missing from the northeast is woodland terrain, and the Preserve filled the need--though it's very different from back home!

Sooo, Texas

So if anyone's wondering where I've been, and where the usual knotweed, garlic mustard and black locust posts are. . .

I went and moved to Texas! 

I know, not something someone usually does spur of the moment, right?

Truthfully, depending on how you look at it, it's either a spontaneous drop everything and go, or something we've been planning for years. My husband and I have known for a while that we wanted to get out of the expensive Northeast, and when I got laid off, it just seemed like a sign.