Decided to go on a walk through the woods in East Woods Natural Area today.  A stroll down to the banks of the quiet stream that flows through the area revealed an abundance of fiddleheads poking their curious, curled fronds out of the leaf litter to bask in the warmth of the sun!  Fiddleheads can be good spring eating but if harvesting them make sure to leave at least half of the tops so that you don't kill plant.  That way you can sustainably harvest these delicious spring edibles year after year.  A little further into the forest I came across a large, prone, dead paper birch (Betula papyrifera) in a late stage of decomposition and found a nice bit of chaga (Inonotus obliquus) still clinging to the tree.  I became very excited as this was the first time I had seen Chaga growing in the Lake Champlain Valley but since it was growing on a dead birch I did not harvest it.  I have heard that if one intends on consuming it, he or she should harvest chaga only from living trees.  Still no morels, not enough rain and still very early in the spring but I'm keeping my eyes peeled. 

Green is the color of spring!

Good looking fiddleheads have nice curls (personal opinion).

Fungi residing on a downed branch.

Chaga (inonotus obliquus)!

The golden inside of chaga.

Polypores growing on the thickly furrowed bark of an oak.

A non-edible fiddlehead species glowing in the sunlight by the stream.

A health turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) colony on a dying beech (Fagus grandifolia)