Saturday, May 14, 2016

Morel hunting with a bit of Magic.

 Morel hunting is one my favorite spring activities. As soon as the soil warms up, i'm out hiking the woods behind our house almost every morning looking for morels.  Morel season is tricky, as the mushrooms are very sensitive to weather and need specific growing conditions to grow.  We first stumbled upon a patch of morels the first year we moved here, and have been addicted to hunting them ever since.



Morel season tends to start around the end of of March first week of April here.  i've found most morels on our land between the second week of April and first week of May, This year we had a pretty heavy frost at the beginning of April, and it seemed to affect the season.  i went out several times, and finally found a handful of grays. 





Morel season always coincides with the beginning of asparagus season. The two go well together, and if i don't have enough morel to bread and fry i usually make an omelet with them or add them to a homemade pizza.  This year, morel season was really disappointing.  All of my favorite spots were pretty dry. i only found around 5 in the spot i considered my 'honey hole'. i didn't find any in my old spots, where i usually still find a few each year. 

Mother's Day morning i went out on a hike alone determined to find morels. i checked all my old spots again and lots of new spots. i was all over the woods.  After 1.5 hours of looking, i finally admitted defeat. Before heading home i made a plea to the fairies of the forest.

 "Today is Mother's day, i only need to find one and then i'll be on my way...".


 i look down and less than one foot away is this giant morel. It was over 6" tall.



It was the perfect beginning to a wonderful day.  There is a magic in the forest that can't really be explained. If you sit quietly and listen you can hear the whispering among the trees. Perhaps it's the voices of our ancestors, the spirit of the forest, the fairies that play there or the energy that many refer to as god or mother nature... i don't really know the answer, but i do know it is there. 



"Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
 -Roald Dahl

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