Mushroom Journal

Mushroom Season started out slow.  And teeny tiny.  See this first mushroom I found of the year?  I don't even really know how I found it, ha!

They grew in size quickly this year.  But we never found a large quantity.  For record's sake: here are our findings.  This does not include the times we went and found none.

Saturday, April 11 = 1 (Forrest)

Sunday, April 12 = 2 (Forrest)

Tuesday, April 14 = 1 (Forrest)

Thursday, April 16 = 3 (Forrest) + 3 (Buck)

Friday, April 17 = 10 (Buck)

Saturday, April 18 = 9 (Forrest) + 6 (Buck) + 2 (Premiere)

Sunday, April 19 = 1 (Premiere)

Tuesday, April 21 = 6 (Forrest)

Friday, April 24 = 1 (Forrest) + 1 (Buck)

Sunday, April 26 = 5 (Buck) + 3 (Sister)

Monday, April 27 = 5 (Forrest) + 5 (Buck)

Total Mushrooms = 64

Mushroom Journal - Hunt V, VI, and VII

Thursday (May 1) Keane went mushroom hunting in the Forrest Draw before I got home from work and found "a lot!"  We ended up finding 41 total that evening.

On Friday, with the kids, we hunted in the Premiere Draw and found 14. 

We then went back to the Buck Draw and found 52 more!  We shared some with Keane's parents who grabbed exactly 1/2 coincidentally!

On Saturday, we took a long walk through the Sweet Spot and found 64 nice-sized mushrooms!

Keane and I went back to look again on Friday and Saturday (May 9 and 10), but sadly realized the mushrooms around here are done for the year.  We have eaten (or shared) almost all of them for the year.  Keane and I ate some on Monday evening, and breaded up and froze the rest.  We are going to fry them up this weekend and see how they turn out!

Our Total Mushroom Count for 2014 - 326!

And I wanted to share my 5-leaf-clover I found!  It's a little rough, just like my nails!

Mushroom Journal - Hunt I, II, III, and IV

Thursday evening, Keane headed out to the woods and sent me a photo of a group of mushrooms shortly after.  I quickly put the supper on hold, and joined him in collecting our first mushrooms of the year.  We found a total of 36.  I will call this spot our Premiere Draw, as they are always the first place we look for and find mushrooms each season.

On Friday, we went out again, to the Buck Draw, we will call it after a bow hunting experience Keane and I shared.  We found 87 mushrooms! 

We then went to the Sister Draw (it's near and dear to the Buck Draw), and found 12 more mushrooms -- totaling 99 mushrooms that we found in a short period of time.



Then on Saturday, Keane took a walk in Gump's Draw and found 8 mushrooms.  Later that day, we went back to Premiere Draw and found 10 more mushrooms.

Sunday, we worked on building a fence for Keane's dad, and then went home and took a short nap.  We woke up (too soon, if you ask me) and storms were rolling in.  We decided to go for a little mushroom hunt before the rain came.  We were heading back to the Buck Draw, and found 2 mushrooms on our way.  We started to get rained on, so that is all we ended up finding.

Our Total Mushroom Count for 2014 - 155

Speaking of finding things in the wild, I found three four-leaf clovers in the matter of a couple minutes, while Keane was tilling the garden.  I also found a five-leaf clover yesterday, but didn't take a picture of it.  My sister and I found hundreds of these when we were younger, and looks like I still have the Luck of the Irish!

Mushroom Journal - Entry VI

Mushroom hunting is nearing its end for the year.  Keane's dad said in the years past, he has never found a fresh mushroom after Mother's Day. 

Wednesday night, we took a walk into the new woods we have discovered and Kaden found two, very large mushrooms, and I found one. 

Kylie's hand

On Thursday evening, Keane and I walked in the woods despite a little rain and thunder, eesshh.  He found three more mushrooms.  I forgot to photograph them prior to cutting them up.

Saturday, we woke up to hunt some more.  Keane, again, found two more.  One fresh and one not as fresh.

To cook them, we soak them in salt water for a day or a few days, to kill the bugs mainly.  We rinse them, cut them in half, rinse them, soak them, and rinse them.

To bread them, we dip them in a bowl of eggs and milk, let most of it drip off, and then coat in flour which is seasoned with garlic salt and pepper.  Then we fry them.  We then eat them with ketchup and salt.  They are simply amazing!

The number of mushrooms we have found in 2013: 225

Mushroom Journal - Entry V

Four.  Monday night, Keane we only found four mushrooms. 

Total mushrooms in 2013 to date: 217

But we also brought home a few ticks, smelled the fresh air, and watched the setting sun over the lake.

I promise to never take these evenings for granted.

Mushroom Journal - Entry IV

It rained a lot this weekend.  We tried to get some mowing in on Saturday afternoon but spent a lot of time driving back and forth trying to load up lawn mowers, and at the end of it all, it was sprinkling and the grass was too wet to mow.

So Keane and Kaden ventured to a brand new mushroom spot and came out very successful with 40 mushrooms!  The photo below also has deer sheds amongst the mushrooms; however, they were the sheds we found last weekend.

On Sunday, the four of us found room on the fourwheeler, with Kylie sitting on her booster seat in the back, and made our way to the same woods as the boys did the day prior.  While we were walking, Keane whispered something to Kaden and he wandered off a different direction.  When he met back up with us, he handed me and Kylie some purple wild flowers.  "Girls always like flowers, son.  Especially wild ones."  It started raining before we were finished with our search.  We ran out and quickly rode home in the rain, carrying a bag with 31 mushrooms.

 

This brings our mushroom total to: 213

 

Mocking her brother

 

Mushroom Journal - Entry III & Fish

It was gorgeous yesterday, and the day before.  Today, however, it is in the 40's and rain is in the forecast.  I think the inconsistancy is helping us appreciate the sunshine, though. 

Keane and Kylie went for a mushroom hunt and found: 4
Then, Keane and Kaden found: 1

Total count to date: 142

Kaden and I fished for a while.  He caught four bluegill and one bass, and I caught two bass myself.

 Needless to say, we had fish and mushrooms for supper.

As we were rinsing and preparing the mushrooms, Kylie asked if the red mushroom (from last weekend) was okay to eat.  I told her it was, but that red mushrooms are a little more toxic. 

"But they're not poison ivy, right?"
Right.

 

I call this Ingenuity

 

"If there's a hook on the lure, why would fish bite it?" -Kylie

"They can't see that it's there."

"Well that makes sense."

 

"So if the fish can't see the hook, then why are there times the fish don't bite it?"

"Sometimes the fish aren't hungry, or it's not the right type of lure for the water or time of year, or the lure is not being reeled correctly and it doesn't appeal to the fish..."

"Oh, well that makes sense."

Mushroom Journal - Entry II & Weekend Fun

On Saturday afternoon, Matt and Nikki came over dressed in rain boots and hoodies, ready to look for mushrooms in the rain.  We found 15 total.  Here is a picture of Keane and Matt in the woods.  We were completely soaked when we were finished. 

 

On Sunday, Keane and I decided to look for more mushrooms and found a total of 94!  One was a red mushroom and three were peckerheads, or false morels.  In one spot alone we found over 40.  They were everywhere we turned and looked.  We also found a deer shed which will soon be painted and for sale at RusticCo!  Then on Monday, Keane found 1 more -- it was in one of the same spots we looked on Sunday, so it may have been one we overlooked. 

This brings our 2013 total to: 137

On Sunday evening, Matt, Nikki, and Jon came over to fry up some spoonbill that Matt caught, many mushrooms which we ate as soon as they came out of the fryer, and some twice-fried potato slices that were as good as McDonald's fries.

I cannot forget to mention the main topic of conversation that evening -- the mask scene on Django Unchained.  The boys literally quoted that part over, and over, and over.  And then we watched it and laughed the whole time over, and over, and over.

On Saturday evening, Keane and I spent the evening with Jared and Melissa as they were kid-free that evening and out on the "town."  We met them at the bowling alley and then moved to a small, local bar in town and played four games of shuffleboard -- all of which the boys won.  We ended up staying the night with them and had to drag ourselves out of bed in the morning.  I made sure to take an allergy pill so I wouldn't have an allergic reaction to their sweet puppy, who has a broken leg, and who ended up sleeping with me come morning. 

Mushroom Journal - Entry I

Sunday, we found our first mushrooms of the year.  I'll take a little pride and let you know that I found the very first one.

Together, we found a total of 27.   They were small, though.

 

Instead of frying them up and tasting mainly batter as Keane explained, we opted to put them on our homemade pizza which added a special touch. We made a pizza with the same special topping for Keane's parents and they could not believe how small the mushrooms were!

 

Here's to the first number of our 2013 count of morel mushrooms: 27

And to good little helpers.

Mushroom Journal

Keane and I took a walk into the woods yesterday, knowing that we wouldn't find mushrooms, but still wanting to satisfy that urge to go look anyway. The woods were pretty dry and brown. Soon enough I will be sharing our finds, but for now, all I have is the very last mushroom Keane we found last year - making our total count in 2012: 77. 

 

Bring it on this year, mushrooms!

Happy Mushroom Hunting.