Look at that little baby mushroom! |
This past weekend was a lot like it is every other weekend: we worked, we rested, we had fun together…
And then, morels were discovered.
Jack cutting up an ash tree in order to “plant” his morel spores. |
The past few years, we’ve enjoyed exploring and as a result, foraging for lots of different free, edible finds, from black raspberries to asparagus. One thing that has eluded Jack, however, have been morel mushrooms. We first heard of people hunting for morels when we lived in Iowa but never found time to go out and test our luck. Jack’s been researching and asking around, even going as far as asking for rye grass seeds inoculated with morel spores for Christmas and after buying a few morels last year from the fruit stand down the road, spreading a liquid slurry to try and get them to grow at our place. But, in four years of living here, we hadn’t had any luck finding any tasty morels.
Evelyn came running in the house, shrieking that she’d found the best kind of mushroom. |
Then the kids went outside and Evelyn literally stumbled upon two little mushrooms, ironically, right where Jack had dumped some of the spores from last year.
THEN, the dog ran one over and Kate nearly squashed it.
In their defense, they were awfully small.
Telltale morels: hollow stem and attached cap. |
Raven was sent scrambling inside and Jack rescued the poor mushrooms, who thankfully weren’t completely pulverized. They were lovingly cleaned and admired, then chopped up, fried in a bit of butter and enjoyed over steak.
Here’s hoping for more morels!