I took a number of photos of mushrooms growing in Brooklyn, New York City, last summer. These photos were edited by my New Leaf Journal colleague, Victor V. Gurbo, so they are amenable to publication. It should be noted that Victor is no stranger to industrious mushroom content at The New Leaf Journal, having published an article in 2020 about a mushroom on a stick on a stream. While none of my mushroom photos are quite as dramatic as Victor’s was, I did catalogue some interesting sightings.
General note: I took all the photos in this article with the Open Camera App on my Motorola Moto e6 phone.
The Mushrooms Circle in Vinegar Hill
On July 11, 2021, I came across a large number of large mushrooms growing outside of Farragut Houses in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn.
This lightly-maintained grassy area in front of Farragut Houses (York Street between Gold and Navy Streets, for those familiar with the area) is not where one would expect to find a number of large mushrooms. My low-quality photo does not do the best job of capturing the size of the mushrooms – but let it be said that some were quite big. It is safe to say that some giant mushroom spores had found their way to Vinegar Hill.
The Mushrooms Bunches In a Tree-Pit
On July 10, 2021, I came across some mushrooms in a tree-pit.
They look a bit like mushrooms one may expect to find in the woods. As for the location – I have photos from Gowanus that I took on that same day, but I think that it is more likely that I found these mushrooms in Cobble Hill or Carroll Gardens.
The Trio of Mushrooms… Somewhere
On July 25, 2021, I found a trio of medium-sized mushrooms with neat jagged fringes in a patch of grass.
These mushrooms, like the July 10th mushrooms, were most likely in either Cobble Hill or Carroll Gardens, but I do not remember the precise location.
The Small Mushroom Outside an Outdoor Dining Chicken Coop
On August 7, 2021, I found a small mushroom growing a tree pit outside an outdoor dining chicken coop on Court Street in Carroll Gardens.
If you look closely, you will note a small mushroom growing a few inch from the featured mushroom. For those curious about why I am referring to the outdoor dining installation next to the tree pit as a “chicken coop,” you can see my articles on the standing water crisis at New York City dining sheds and pigeons in the outdoor dining installation.
Help Me Identify the Mushrooms
If you can identify the Brooklyn mushrooms in these photos, let me know through our New Leaf Journal contact form. I will update the article with mushroom-ID information and credit to whomever provided the tip.