The Madness Begins
Spring has officially arrived in my neck of the woods when the fruit trees start blooming. Above is one of my sour cherry trees in full bloom. As luck would have it, just when it was fully flowered along with the apple and peach trees, we received two nights in a row with temperatures below freezing. This happened last year and we have very little fruit as a result. We'll have to wait and see if the same result happens again this year.
I went to my normal spots and one newer spot and only found three mushrooms total. As you can see above, they are sort of hard to spot so no doubt, I walked by a lot more than I picked but that is how it goes. When I picked these three mushrooms, I consider this date historically as the very early start to the season so with some forecasted rains and a warm week being predicted, I'm hoping to get out another time or two and find some more.
Provided I get my car back from the shop from HELL!
Also as I do every year, I take a picture of a murder scene as the woods are full of them. I found the skull a few yards away from this leg bone. Fortunately, the skull belonged to a mammal other than human.
My ex boyfriend would go morel hunting every year with his brother. They usually brought back a large amount but he never offered me any. Are they that good? :) Hope the car situation is resolved-so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteThey are incredibly good, like a grocery store mushroom times 10. But I have found they are very polarizing. Very few say they are okay. You either love them or hate them.
DeleteThe van is back in action and working again. The review of their performance was also sent to me by email and duly filled out and returned.
After our rain is a good time to look here. My brother said he was going out to look, I am always afraid of wild mushrooms:)
ReplyDeleteOther than morels, I leave all the rest behind though I'm sure some of them are edible. I'm just not confident on my identification of them.
DeleteMadness and normalcy return to your home! Good luck hunting!
ReplyDeleteI like the excuse to go walking through the woods before the ticks and heat take over.
DeleteNature red in tooth and claw! I hope you find some more morels out there.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I haven't yet. I'm beginning to suspect that my eyesight is just not good enough to find them short of stubbing my toe on them.
DeleteI have seen the occasional blossoming bush, which has surprised me.
ReplyDeleteBut no car still?
I received my van back into my possession, exactly 7 days after it went in for the 5.1 hour repair. In the week and a half since, it has worked fine again.
DeleteOur cherry trees were blooming when I got back from Michigan. But if we get a harvest, we'll share it with the squirrels and bears!
ReplyDeleteI have two trees, purposely planted in different parts of the yards in hopes that perhaps one might escape the predations of birds. It worked last year because I was able to pick a handful of cherries off the one in the backyard and the handful of cherries on the one in the front yard were gone when I went to harvest them.
DeleteI am catching up a bit, so just read your previous entry about getting your van repaired. You deserve to find a passel of morels as consolation!
ReplyDeleteI deserve it certainly but I'm not sure that will translate into me eating a mess of them. I have since gone out two more times since writing this and haven't seen a single morel while others I know are hauling in baskets of them. I'm beginning to think my eyesight is a factor.
DeleteI have never eaten a morel mushroom. I keep thinking I should do something about this.
ReplyDeleteIf you live near where I pick, feel free to not follow through on those thoughts. If you live far away, you really should try one.
DeleteEd, word on the New Home 2.0 street is maybe that morels are a thing here.
ReplyDeleteI've heard morels have quite a range though I don't know exactly how extensive it is. I do know that when I've hunted in foreign territory, I've not found any. I'm not used to the rhythms of nature in that area or where they thrive like I am on my home turf.
DeleteI hope you find more mushrooms before the season ends!
ReplyDeletePerhaps. I'll probably go one more time.
DeleteWe have a lot of folks that go mushroom hunting here but I have never participated. They also like to find huckleberries but I have passed on that as well. Mostly because I am afraid I will become a murder scene that will someone will capture on film. Too many bears where the wild huckleberries thrive and I am OK letting the bears enjoy those huckleberries. Hope you get your car back soon.
ReplyDeleteI definitely wouldn't pick huckleberries silently!
DeleteI've never seen or tasted a morel mushroom. I wonder if they have them here in California? Hunting for them sounds like fun. Is that a bone in photo #3?
ReplyDeleteGoogle tells me you might find some in the very northern part of California. Yes, our woods are full of bones. I think that one is the femur bone of a deer.
DeleteWow! That morel is really hard to see. It must be super hard to spot them. You have the most fun experiences, Ed. Well... not the car repair shop though.
ReplyDelete