2024 – A Great Year for the Mushroom Foragers in Connecticut

Maybe I'm a little scared of fungus, I did just watch the new teaser for Last of Us Season 2, but have you noticed wild mushrooms are incredibly abundant and rapidly growing around us this year?

I belong to a few foraging groups on social media, and Connecticut foragers have recently posted photos of their daily finds: huge chicken of the woods, beautiful little cinnabar chanterelles, and unfortunately, lots of destroying angels.

Our average temperature over the past 5 months has averaged 50-70 degrees, it's quite breezy today with the remnants of the tropical depression bringing rain and high humidity. This is it, mushroom foragers of Connecticut, the Fall 2024 season is getting  a nice boost from the weather this weekend.

I've seen lots of posts this week of beautiful finds that were discovered in Pachaug State Forest (No specific location), Mohawk State Forest in Goshen, and I can tell you personally that the Naugatuck River Valley, especially North of Litchfield, is teeming. Abundant black trumpet mushrooms are being reported all around central Connecticut, and I've read a few reports of Lion's Mane. Taking mushrooms from state-owned lands for personal use was legalized in 2017, according to loc.gov.

For those of us who are not deep into mycology, the ten most popular edible wild mushrooms in Connecticut according to mushroomsofct.com are Black Trumpets, Chanterelles, Chicken of the Woods, Hedgehogs, Hen of the Woods, Lion's Mane, Morels, Oyster, Puffballs, and Shaggy Mane.

The most beautiful locally-grown mushrooms that I've had were grown by Torrington's Casi Paraiso Organics.