Sandy Island Mushrooms

In praise of mushrooms

Paul Stamets TED lecture
Paul Stamets believes that mushrooms can save our lives, restore our ecosystems and transform other worlds.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html

Photo: Sandy Island Week 7 2008

Saturday morning on the lodge porch.

Recycling was popular. But we need more bins.

Blowing your nose

Greenpeace teamed up with Mark Fiore, celebrated political cartoonist to make this animated short featuring Kleer*E who gobbles up forests and spits out boxes of Kleenex!

Sustainibility

...is about balancing our impact and more wisely managing our natural resources. The United Nations describes it as commitment to"the provision of a secure environmental, social, and economic future."
-- quote from Max Gladwell's Ten Ways that Social Media and Sustainability Align.

Golden Chanterelles

Edible Mushrooms
Picked at Sandy Island Week 7, August 2008

Chanterelles have 3 main characteristics:

1. The gills do not meet in a nice single line on the stem, but instead seem to fade out unevenly.

2. Gills are a membrane instead of a thick and separate part of the body. In regular mushrooms if you break the cap you will see that the the flesh of the body is separate from the thick flesh of the gills. In a chantrelle if you break the cap then the gills will separate and look like a thin flap of flesh.

3. They smell of a mixture of apricots and squash.

The Chanterelle Book by Olle Persson. A treasure trove of Chanterelle mushroom historical fact, lovely illustrations, and sumptuous recipes. This book shows how and why the chanterelle has become one of the most sought-after edible mushrooms. Illustrations of the various species of Chanterelles and their habitats. 120 pages, scores of color plates, index. $16.95 + S/H

Globe Editorial

A no-lead law for loons

(Derrick Z. Jackson/Globe Staff)

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + July 26, 2008

THE CALL of the loon was particularly haunting this month against a sad backdrop. Biologists in New Hampshire discovered four loons dead from lead poisoning. The deaths were disturbing for many reasons. One is that the summer is only half over and one more lead-killed loon will exceed the annual average for the state. Another is that the loons came from four different bodies of water - an indication that the lead problem is widespread. Still another was that two loons died from tackle the state banned eight years ago: lead sinkers or jigs one inch or smaller. Worst of all, the other two loons died from lead jigs larger than an inch, jigs exempted from the ban on the premise they were too big for loons to ingest.

It is another call to get the lead out of lakes and streams.

New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and New York have all banned the sale or use of small lead tackle. Massachusetts currently bans lead on its primary loon nesting waters of the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs. This spring, the state Senate passed legislation sponsored by Senator Robert Antonioni of Leominster that would give wildlife officials the power to issue a statewide ban on small lead tackle. The bill awaits action in the House.

Lead restrictions have been met with some resistance from angler industry lobbyists, as the metal remains popular for its cheap cost, density, and malleability. But more and more nontoxic gear is becoming available. In fact, one of the "best-of-show" products at this month's international sports-fishing trade convention in Las Vegas was a stone sinker. That would be perfect for loons - if they have to ingest a lost sinker at all - since a primary way they take in lead sinkers is with the pebbles their beaks scoop up from lake bottoms to help digest fish.

Industry complaints about lead bans have to be weighed against the fact that the call of the loon cannot be taken for granted, with about 4,000 birds in Maine, 528 in New Hampshire, and only a few dozen in Massachusetts. Massachusetts should enact a statewide ban on lead, so the call of the loon is merely beautiful, not haunting.