Morel Mushrooms And Wild Leeks...

I went hunting today!  What I was hunting could not run away from me...and it did not take a gun, trap, or bow to kill it.  I was hunting for morel mushrooms and wild leeks.  I had success...sort of.  In all today I found 78 "caps" in around an hour.  They are also known as false morels...but from my research it turns out they are just an earlier species of morel.  Everyone has their own stories about false morels I guess...how they can be poisonous.  Well, all morels are poisonous if not prepared properly.  I have been told by a number of people that as long as they are cooked properly they will not pose a problem.  I did go out the other day and found 30 others...so my total for the weekend is 108.  There were only four "black" morels in the entire batch.  I am thinking that within the next week or so we will start seeing a number of black morels popping up.  I have discovered a couple new spots this year.  Others had been through as well...but missed a LOT of mushrooms.  I doubt some of the spots we went had been touched by foot in many years.  It was pretty cool.

My other hunt was for the wild leeks.  We have some growing back behind the house...but the supply is limited.  I wanted to find more.  I took to the woods after mushroom hunting and found a HUGE patch of them.  I need to find out about the property they are on though...if they belong to someone I do not want to touch them.  I may hit the state land around the house and check for them too.  I do not want to sell them or make money on anything from the woods....I just want to cook with them! :)  Nothing better than walking into the woods and coming out with a meal.  It is just too bad I feel weird killing squirrels. ;)

My spots will remain a secret...but certainly not undiscovered by others.  In fact, I saw some others on Friday night foraging through the woods near where we were hunting.  Weird for being so late...but I wished them luck and they went on their way.

Anyway, that is what I have been up to.  Nothing much more.  The leaves are just barely popping out but the ground is really starting to turn green.  Many of the early flowers are already nearing their peak.  Crazy!  We will see more popping up as the temperatures warm up.  We have been stuck in the cool region for a few days...in fact we are under a freeze warning for the next two days...then some rain and thunderstorms look to move into the area.  Certainly no snow though! :D  However, I was thinking about the snowmobile yesterday...I am kind of looking forward to getting back on it!!! :P  I will be summerizing all of the sleds today or tomorrow. 

Enough for now!  Pictures of my mushrooms can be seen http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding.  They are not in the wild in the pictures...but it was my first days haul. (30 of them.)

-Derek