Morel Mushroom Hunting!

The flowering part of this mushroom—the cat-brain blossom above ground—is the only part we were really after, so when we finally found our bounty we hunted with pocketknives too. Cutting the mushrooms at the base rather than disturbing the soil helps preserve the underground mycelium for future growing seasons. No matter which variety you’re after—blonds, blacks, or grays—the same holds true. Today, we found all three:

It requires a different eye and a different mindset to hunt for morels. There’s no zooming down the trail. No rushing to get to the goods. The only method that really works is slow and steady wandering, a perfect recipe for a meditative morning. The more I looked, the more I saw—not morels, mind you, but wild strawberry blossoms, geranium greens, violets, meadowrue and more. Pine needles carpeted the forest floor emitting a sweet, timber smell. Songbirds darted and scattered ahead of us while woodpeckers called overhead.

Further down the road, we hit the jackpot…and sure, we might have trespassed. Might have thought building an over-sized second home in pristine mountains was a bit much and, well, those morels shouldn’t go to waste and, well…I wanted to make morel chive fritatta with goat cheese and one of my pals wanted to fry them with garlic and butter and another wanted to try a white wine cream sauce and, well…