Lego. Pokémon. Rocks. Now, G has moved on to baseball cards. My kids love to collect things. Unfortunately, collecting leads to hoarding, and pockets full of rocks banging around in the washing machine. We needed a hobby that satisfied the kids' urges to collect things, but didn't end up creating another pile of stuff we had to clean around or step over. Mushrooms to the rescue!

Growing up, the Wonderful Husband learned how to collect papinkies, rams heads, and chicken of the woods from his Great Uncle Junior and his Pap. I think that when you spend as much time in the woods as the Wonderful Husband and the boys do, it only becomes natural to start looking at different things and wondering if they'd be good to eat. Bringing home a big basket of mushrooms also helps ease the pain of a slow hunting day.Because eating the wrong mushroom can end very badly, the WH took educating the kids about mushrooming very seriously. They were lucky enough to attend one of the last mushroom seminars conducted by the late Joe Lankalis, the area's foremost mushroom expert, at the Carbon County Environmental Center.They learned to look at things like gill structure, cap shape, and stem configuration. They learned how to examine the environment, like what kind of trees are in the area. Papinkies and rams heads grow around dead oak trees. That's one of the reasons that they also call papinkies "stumpies."Sweet Tooth mushrooms prefer the shady, moist environment of a hemlock grove. The kids also learned how to determine the spore color of the mushroom. Sometimes, you can see the spores on neighboring mushrooms, and sometimes, you need to bring the mushroom home and let it sit on a sheet of paper, until it releases the spores and they make a pattern on the paper. All of those things, and more, can provide clues to help identify the friendly mushrooms and avoid the dangerous ones. When all else fails, a good mushroom guide, or even a Google search, can help with identification.Mushroom hunting definitely requires some detective skills, which is one of the things that makes it so appealing to my kids. Between the science and detective work, and the adventure associated with it, an afternoon of mushroom hunting is a perfect way to spend a fall day.They may opt to return to an area where they've gotten lucky in years past. They may opt to check out a rotten tree that they stumbled across back in turkey season. Or, they may decide to play archaeologist in the hemlock needles. They also need to take into account the current and recent weather conditions to determine what kinds of mushrooms will be sprouting and when.Occasionally, a find may feel like a jackpot. A few years ago, they discovered a rare lion's mane. This white mushroom looks almost like a sea anemone, or a remnant of 1970s shag carpet. This particular species is supposed to taste similar to lobster when it is lightly fried in butter. I'm not sure I would go that far, to me it was a little more turfy than surfy, but it was delicious. The boys have been very careful about harvesting this mushroom, and they've been so excited when it has regrown year after year.The boys take just as much delight in finding inedible mushrooms, although they don't bring them home. G's favorite is the classic red and white toad stool, or amanita muscaria. I think he just likes saying amanita muscaria. A few times, they have found the creepy dead man's finger mushrooms. The slim, ghostly white mushrooms definitely live up to their name.We also have a lot of fun incorporating their finds into our meals. Mushrooms are one of the few things that I can legitimately get the family to substitute for meat. I think it's because they still have the thrill of hunting for it.We like to thickly slice king boletes and chicken of the woods, and make them into mushroom "steaks." Fried up, covered with melted provolone, on a crusty bun and you will have a steak sandwich that will rival anything that comes out of Philly. Sautéing them lightly in some butter and putting them on top of real steak or adding them to a batch of pierogies is a real treat.It's been a very good year for mushrooms. One night, when they brought home a basket full of all different kinds of mushrooms, we decided to make a batch of cream of wild mushroom soup. Stemming and chopping mushrooms kept the kids busy while I sautéed some shallots from our farm box. We then browned the mushrooms and added a little brandy for flavor.The kids had a blast pureeing the stock and then we added some chicken stock and heavy cream, and voilà! We had a thick, hearty soup that was perfect for a chilly, fall evening. For me, pumpkin spice is nice, but the true flavor of fall is wild mushroom, so my "fungis" and I will be heading out to grab more before they're all gone.Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.