Fungus lovers rejoice as rains fuel mushroom boom in drought-stricken California

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This Dec. 21, 2014 photo showing mushrooms growing near the foot of a tree in the front yard of a home in the Beverly Hills section of Los Angeles. Recent heavy rains have brought a mushroom boom to parts of California. Lands parched by a three-year drought just a few months ago are now seeing an explosion of both poisonous and edible mushrooms in California. (AP Photo/Pamela Hassell)

SONOMA, Calif. – Recent heavy rains have brought a mushroom boom to parts of California.

The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat (http://bit.ly/14awdeP ) reports that lands parched by a three-year drought just a few months ago are now seeing an explosion of both poisonous and edible mushrooms after about 2 feet of rain saturated grassy hillsides and swelled streams in Sonoma County.

It has been especially fruitful that the rains have been mixed with mushroom-friendly warm weather.

Darvin DeShazer of the Sonoma County Mycological Association says the fungi are “popping out of the ground everywhere right now.”

The bloom has brought a mushroom boom to restaurant menus, farmers markets and foraging classes around the region.

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Information from: The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, http://www.pressdemocrat.com

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