It’s been a rather detail oriented month so far as spring continues to ramp up. I have been occupied with a list of items that I needed to complete before my knee scope procedure that was done last Thursday. Creating lists is easy but completing the tasks on them takes some doing quite often. I have assembled an impressive series of lists which encompass a larger vision of a 2025 summer adventure but that story will wait for the moment as the recent foraging for morel mushrooms has been my focus. It’s been quite the season!
I started looking rather early this year as I knew my window of opportunity was somewhat shorter than normal. Surgery on the 15th would basically keep me out of the woods for an undetermined period of time. Early searching for morels came up empty and I felt that it had been a little chilly overall. We had two nights of frost just ahead of May 1st and that isn’t actually the best for morels to sprout. Fortunately we have had an abundance of rain which always works out for better foraging. I knew that it was only a matter of time before the first morels would be found if I spent the time searching for them. Success would arrive small scale on May 2nd when a rather intense search yielded up a dozen small ones. They were in a location where we have been finding them for a couple years now. They were actually showing signs of age so we decided to pick some of them. I think the frosty nights had kept them a bit subdued. But we were happy to know that they were turning on! Fried up in butter and served with venison steak, they were fabulous! Not to mention that we had some fresh cowslips to eat as well, that we also foraged for that afternoon.
We hunted again on Sunday and found a few more on that outing. Some we had left on Friday had continued to age without growing further so we added them to the count. I returned to the hunt on May 5th in the evening in a random location near the Homestead that we hadn’t visited over the weekend. I decided to check out a small elm tree surrounded by brush that had died in the last year. I struck a bonanza rather suddenly and unexpectedly! I scored a nice haul of over 60 morels scattered across a small area. They were decent sized and I left a bunch behind for seed. Or spores for morels. I checked some other locations after but that was to be my big find of the evening.
My enthusiasm for finding the abundant crop of morels was suddenly curbed when I spotted a white ash tree take appeared to be stricken with the EAB. Emerald Ash Borers. They have been active nearby for the past several years but I had never seen any indication of them on the farm property. I have yet to confirm my observations but will investigate shortly when I recuperate from my knee procedure. White ash are not a dominant species around the farm Homestead property but dot the forest here and there. One small section of pasture does contain quite a few smaller ones though. If the trees are indeed infested then they will die and add to our collection of dead trees that are a standing reserve of firewood. A reserve that is much too large to completely harvest or use in a reasonable length of time. If only dead trees could be saved longer. But I do consider myself fortunate that the red elm trees last for quite a few years before rotting away. We have targeted them quite frequently these past two winters for stove wood for the cabin. Also for Camp Edith firewood last fall. Having the white ash for firewood really wasn’t necessary. We will know more shortly.
The big find of morels on May 5th would supply me with more morels than I could possibly eat by myself. With my foraging partner Zane away at school this was a given. So I borrowed my sister’s dehydrator and dried a bunch out to save for Zane. They turned out great and I stored them in a small glass jar. I returned to morel hunting again the next day and got enough for my dinner that evening. I was needing to hunt hard for them and they weren’t showing up in places where I thought they should be growing. But it’s important to remember that it was still very early in the morel season. They often grow well into the month of May. My grand total numbers were growing nonetheless and I was happy to be finding them. I knew that Zane was missing our annual hunting forays as much as I missed him being there with me. But such are the responsibilities of life for a young man working towards a career. I decided that I would continue to search for morels to dehydrate even though I needed to continue to complete my projects. The draw to go to the forest was strong!
It’s important to note that the ticks are a continuous concern while foraging! We employ different sprays and techniques but they still manage to get on us occasionally. If found early, they can usually be detached. I have removed several this season before they deeply imbedded. Gracie has eaten her Braveto flea and tick tablet also. Too bad there wasn’t a human version! A new idea this year that I tried was white Tyvek coveralls. My first pair was cheap and was soon ripped to shreds but they did work well for spotting crawling ticks. My second pair lasted longer but still were unable to survive the thick brush of the forest. But it was money well spent each time a crawling tick was spotted and tossed before it reached my skin. Diligence is key to avoiding ticks. And necessary these days.
On May 8th I decided to go hunt morels on a friend’s property after he said I could hunt them there. We had hunted there in 2024 with a certain degree of success so I wished to return. After several hours of searching I had found 23 nice ones that I cleaned and prepared for him to try. This involves gentle washing and halving. A true morel is hollow from the stem up. Insects love to get inside sometimes so a thorough inspection is always needed. I soak the halved morels in a slightly salted water bath. Any insects will generally show themselves if the rinsing missed them. Morels can be rather fragile so a gentle touch is always recommended. After returning from my friend’s property and eating a hearty lunch, I decided to hunt for more morels. I just couldn’t get interested in doing much else actually. It was a cool,cloudy day anyway and the black flies weren’t bad. Not to mention my white Tyvek suit is easier to tolerate on a colder day. I searched for hours through familiar turf and my morel count continued to grow. My number for the day was respectable and I was really enjoying myself but beginning to tire. But stopping was difficult so I decided to continue into a final location before calling it a day. And my persistence would pay off with a mega find of 58 in one location! Big ones too! It was the perfect way to end my day of searching and my daily total was impressive. But I had spent my entire day just hunting morels. But I knew that my lists of tasks would remain long after the morel season had ended. And that is what is truly important to embrace!
So as my day of intense searching ended, the work began. More morels to clean and dehydrate. I ate some for dinner and saved some for the following day. I contacted Zane and let him know that I was putting more way for us. He had hunted some for morels near Kingston but had not found any. We left for an Adirondack camping trip that Friday so morel hunting was put on hold. Zane come home briefly for Mother’s Day and managed to hunt the farm property for morels for a short time. I was happy to hear that he found some! His passion for one of his rural heritage traditions runs strong still. I am looking forward to hunting morels again with him someday. Following the camping trip, I took some time last week to hunt morels one evening after a busy day of roofing work at Camp Edith. I found a few here and there but at my last location as darkness approached, I hit a respectable patch. The tree frogs were singing all around me and I knew that this was most likely the end of morel hunting season for me with the impending surgery that Thursday. My count that evening totaled 42. Enough for dinner and some to dehydrate. And more time had been invested to my hobby with carefree regard mostly. This annual event of spring builds MOONTABS of a special nature. Each season holds promises of further connections to nature. Foraging brings one closer to the earth in the time spent afield. I have had a wonderful morel season this year! We will enjoy the dehydrated ones in a different season and the memories will remain. That’s what MOONTABS are all about. Connections to nature. It is enough!✍️
