Mushroom Surprise

I always thought mushrooms were suspicious.  Most grow in the dark.  They are classified as fungi.  And the wild ones have scary names, like Death Cap and Destroying Angel.  I will agree, though, that they do have a place in the ecological scheme of things.  Their entire purpose in life is to break down dead material into usable nutrients.  In other words they live on dead, rotting things.  Like I said, suspicious. 

Not sure how I overcame my years of distrust.  Maybe it was the delectable beef stroganoff with mushrooms we had on our last cruise, or the mouth-watering sauteed mushrooms served with the steak on our last visit to SaltGrass Steakhouse.  But somewhere along the way, mushrooms and I became buds.

Until yesterday...

We found these sweet little mushrooms out in the pasture.  A little past prime, but still looking edible.

Until you see

        where

             they

                 were

                       growing...

Yep, that's Donkey Poop.  Horse Apples.  Manure.

Thank you very much Daisy,

you confirmed my original fear.  Mushrooms are not to be trusted.  Edible yes.  Trustworthy no. 

Lesson for today:  Sometimes you have to walk through crap to get the prize.