Mushroom hunting

Farmgirl Fare posted great morel mushroom pictures today. Do these grow in your area? I had never seen or heard of them until we moved to this area 22 years ago. The first year we lived here, I went mushroom hunting with a friend who knew where and how to look for them. It was fun, foraging through the woods peaking at the ground to spy a mushroom poking up out of the leaves. We gathered a good-sized bag full.

Each spring, mushroom hunters comb the woods at Dot & Grover's, across the road from us. We've looked a time or two but have never found a mushroom at Maple Grove. Mushrooms tend to grow under certain kinds of trees (oaks?) and we don't have them here. Plus, I admit I am lazy and don't find morels all that different from button mushrooms available at the grocery. Morel hunters around here sell their finds for $40 per pound!

Sunday on our way home from church, Terry spied a car on the side of the road and two men down on the ground sorting mushrooms. They had a good-sized pile spread before them and were counting or dividing them. Terry surmised they were splitting their bounty.

From all the mushroom chatter in these parts, I understand the rainy, extended cool periods of this spring make it a mushroom bounty.

Morels. They're not just for deep frying anymore.