Its morel time again.I dont get to get out much any more since im driving a truck again but last weekend i went out and found about twenty five. Regular mushrooms are good but I wouldn't go out on my one day a week off and walk two miles in the woods to get them. If you haven't tried them you need to ,they are excellent and they only come a couple of weeks a year.

4-22-09
After a 3 hour search of my old ginseng hunting woods I found 68 good ones and 6 or 7 dried up ones i saved to take to another spot that burned this spring in hopes of them comming up their next spring.

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Their pretty easy to find when their this size
[img]http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/94/l_c464404337674aeb86619055446d1ffd.jpg[/img]

4-11-09
Well today was the big day,I finally found the spot. 1 white,2 blacks,23 greys.(sorry about the blur on the left side,had a finger print on the lens.)
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These were not the only ones i found,there were 10 to 12 more that had gotten frost bite or froze last week and dried up ,even with the caps dried up to the size of a thimble they were still 7 to 8 inches tall
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these are the blacks
[img]http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/72/l_aab172a1e26b4453b56e632ef98f051c.jpg[/img]
even better than finding them was when they were battered in flour and fried in butter(the real stuff)
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I asked the wife how she liked them,she said she might even go out in the woods to look for something that good :shock:
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all the grey ones looked this color when I first found them

Well morel time is approaching ,they should be up in my area any day now. Here is a site with a message board where people report their finds ,you can use it to tell when there up in your area http://www.morels.com/ go there and click on your state. Now some pics.

[img]http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/86/l_7e1e59a56638483193ab80cdeb743e7c.jpg[/img]
THIS IS NOT A MOREL MUSHROOM ,THIS IS A FALSE MOREL, DO NOT EAT THIS

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If you pick morels do not eat them raw as they contain a small amount of toxin,this toxin is destroyed by heat so cook them thoroughly
[img]http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/93/l_0d77ab49eae541c2b713e50fe61ec46a.jpg[/img]
some people are allergic to morels so when first trying them just eat a small amount
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some are black,grey,yellow,tan
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morels are hollow inside from top to bottom ,if you get one that is not throw it away, better safe than ending up in the emergency room
[img]http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/71/l_48ef38b934c544a4be46e333526c8d00.jpg[/img]
the honey hole
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if you notice the darker green leafed plants with the jagged edges around the morel,this is called Virginia Creeper,often mistaken for poison ivy but having 5 leaflets instead of 3 that poison ivy has,this is the old Indian cure for poison ivy.If you break out with poison ivy take these leaves and crush them and bruise them in your hand till they look wet and rub them on the broken out spot ,within minutes the itching will stop and the next day it will be gone,if you miss a spot reapply.
[img]http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/84/l_8d38b9aa532747a3be149ac633e03ffc.jpg[/img]
sometimes they get pretty big :shock:

I used to go out in Eastern Washington, after a forest fire, and collected the mushroom. As you probably already know, they like burned ground. Too, it is no difficult task to recognize them. They are probably the ugliest mushroom I've come across. They sure eat well though.

A little while back we ran across information about another mushroom, which looked like the Morel, but which, like too many mushrooms, was a big no-no. That may be a geographical issue. At any rate, take the time to look into it.

I've a friend who is bulging his brain with education focused around health. When done, which is soon, he'll have all manner of degrees. Health through natural means is his passion and you can tell it when he shares. Talking to him, just yesterday, he said growing varieties of mushrooms for survival was a hugely great idea. Different mushrooms offer different benefits. They provide a wonderful food source for protein, vitamins and minerals. They are known for building the immune system. Finally, you don't have to limit yourself to wild fungus. You can start your own and, once started, they seem to reproduce well.

Just be safe.

Has anyone hunted Morels before .I always wanted to but didn't know a thing about it ,till last fall my old trapping partner said something about it.

So i quess this spring the old codger will teach me one more thing i didn't know.He's 78 and i'm 48 and he tell's me i won't live long enough for him to teach me all he knows. :oops: