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Season Watch

When mushrooms bleed blue

By Charlie Mitchell,
Heidi Holtan
Published September 25, 2026 at 9:43 AM CDT
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A two white mushrooms grow from a coniferous forest floor. A chunk has been torn off of one mushroom, and the injured section is blue.
KAXE
/
Charlie Mitchell
An indigo milk cap grows from the forest floor near Marine on St. Croix on Sept. 23, 2026.

Co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell converse about mushrooms, angry squirrels, and go off on tangents.

Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!

Have you ever seen a mushroom bleed blue?

Students from all over Minnesota reported seeing mushrooms this week, and co-hosts Heidi Holtan (director of content and public affairs and apple harvester) and Charlie Mitchell (phenology coordinator, mushroom appreciator but not eater) were excited to hear about them. From ones that bleed blue to huge soccer-ball sized puffball mushrooms to a pin mold that looks like a werewolf, fascinating fungi abound!

We hear from Bay View Elementary, Caledonia High School, Little Falls Middle School, and John Latimer.

Attributions

  1. Red squirrel recorded by Charlie Mitchell. Sound garden recorded by Heidi Holtan.
  2. The talkbacks from Bay View Elementary, Caledonia High School and Little Falls Middle School and the report from John Latimer all originally aired on KAXE.
  3. This episode was produced by Charlie Mitchell and Heidi Holtan.

Love the podcast? Found a cool fungus? Let us know! Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!

Email us at seasonwatch@kaxe.org.

Tags
Season Watch Season Watch PodcastKAXENorthern MinnesotaPhenologyFall phenologymushrooms
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Charlie Mitchell
Charlie Mitchell creates the Season Watch Newsletter and Season Watch Podcast, produces the Phenology Talkbacks show, coordinates the Phenology in the Classroom program, and writes nature-related stories for KAXE's website. With a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, Charlie enjoys learning a little bit about everything, whether it's plants, mushrooms, or the star-nosed mole. (Fun fact: Moles store fat in their tails, so they don't outgrow their tunnels every time conditions are good.)
See stories by Charlie Mitchell
Heidi Holtan
For more than two decades, Heidi Holtan has helped shape the sound of KAXE. Since joining the station in 2002 as a volunteer music programmer, she has worn many hats including the weekly book program, Realgoodwords, hosting the Morning Show, creation and host of the weekly call-in program Between You and Me, serving as Outreach Producer. Program Director, News Director and currently Director of Content and Public Affairs.
See stories by Heidi Holtan
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