this puffball swelled from from a mini marshmallow, to a golf ball, to a baseball, to a softball, and just as my husband and son decided it was ripe to be cut into cubes, sauteed in butter, and served with pasta, the interior had begun to turn yellow-brown, a sure sign that the meaty fungus had started the process that would end with it looking like a leathery brown volcano of spores.

giant puffball, calvatia gigantea

my back yard, saint paul, mn