Morels

[Norman89]

They're coming up at 1500' just across the river. The thimble caps are pretty much done but there are blonds in the cottonwoods.

How many years have you been picking and where did you learn so much? It seems you are one of  the forum experts thought, I was ahead of the curve and have been out looking but nothing so far 

[LDennis24]

I tried the old slurry in a bucket last year and poured it in the woods behind the house in certain locations. I'm gonna go look in about an hour and I will let you know if I find anything. If I do I will let everyone know forever until I die... That I managed to cultivate morels! LOL.     Yeah right huh....

[Born2late]

I tried the old slurry in a bucket last year and poured it in the woods behind the house in certain locations. I'm gonna go look in about an hour and I will let you know if I find anything. If I do I will let everyone know forever until I die... That I managed to cultivate morels! LOL.     Yeah right huh....

I just did this yesterday to try and see if it works.What was your slurry if you don't mind me asking?I ran big branches through our big chipper and mixed 3 mushrooms each and added a big spoon full of honey to each bucket. watched a video of a lady that did that and said it worked real well. Will see if it actually works next year.
these are verpas we are picking . they are out heavy right now

[Dan-o]

.  I see a stuffed eagle in the background... 

LOL
It's shiny.

[pianoman9701]

They're coming up at 1500' just across the river. The thimble caps are pretty much done but there are blonds in the cottonwoods.

How many years have you been picking and where did you learn so much? It seems you are one of  the forum experts thought, I was ahead of the curve and have been out looking but nothing so far 

I started foraging around 1990. I learned how to pick matsutake and morels from a friend in the food business while I was selling for Food Services of America. In 2002, I met a Cherokee named Running Squirrel (Earl Aherns/pictured) who'd moved as an infant with his father out to Yakima from the East. When I knew him, he lived in Washougal and was a supplier for an exotic foods company I worked for that shipped wild mushrooms, truffles, weird oils and vinegars, etc., to top chefs all over the country. I went with him on foraging excursions frequently, probably at least 20 weekends a year. He wasn't big on morels but in the Spring, we would forage wild greens and flowers - stinging nettle, mustard flowers and greens, wood violets, miner's lettuce, lemon balm, wood sorrel, wild roses, devil's club shoots, fireweed, and more. Out of these things he made a salad which has been featured in the NYT and the LA Times and was a favorite of these top chefs. We'd start picking porcini in May, lobsters in July, chanterelles in August, and about 8-10 other varieties during the fall.

Earl lived a meager life in an old single-wide with a rotten floor. He ate wild food and canned beans and had about 6 cats to keep the rats down. He'd pick in the rain, heat - didn't matter. I got him a rain suit that he wore for years until it tattered. When he died from lung cancer and a host of other ailments, his POS child molester son didn't let me know even though he knew we were close. I learned a few months later from one of Earl's old girlfriends who's a good friend to this day. I learned most of what I know about foraging from Running Squirrel and am forever grateful.

[Norman89]

Sounds like a hell of a mentor, and friend. Wish I had a friend like that, so many mushroom pickers are stingy with information and you can only learn so much from a book. Morels chanterelles corals and devil's club are the only known to me wild edibles that I go after, hell I just found out last week that east side of our state we have wild asparagus!

[pianoman9701]

Sounds like a hell of a mentor, and friend. Wish I had a friend like that, so many mushroom pickers are stingy with information and you can only learn so much from a book. Morels chanterelles corals and devil's club are the only known to me wild edibles that I go after, hell I just found out last week that east side of our state we have wild asparagus!

Were I you, I would join the Puget Sound Mycological society. Lots of mentors in that organization and you'll be able to go on forrays with experienced pickers. https://www.psms.org/

[Igottanewknee]

Found about 20 in my secret Tacoma/Parkland spot...will be eating some in about 10 minutes.

[Jake Dogfish]

They're coming up at 1500' just across the river. The thimble caps are pretty much done but there are blonds in the cottonwoods.

How many years have you been picking and where did you learn so much? It seems you are one of  the forum experts thought, I was ahead of the curve and have been out looking but nothing so far 

I started foraging around 1990. I learned how to pick matsutake and morels from a friend in the food business while I was selling for Food Services of America. In 2002, I met a Cherokee named Running Squirrel (Earl Aherns/pictured) who'd moved as an infant with his father out to Yakima from the East. When I knew him, he lived in Washougal and was a supplier for an exotic foods company I worked for that shipped wild mushrooms, truffles, weird oils and vinegars, etc., to top chefs all over the country. I went with him on foraging excursions frequently, probably at least 20 weekends a year. He wasn't big on morels but in the Spring, we would forage wild greens and flowers - stinging nettle, mustard flowers and greens, wood violets, miner's lettuce, lemon balm, wood sorrel, wild roses, devil's club shoots, fireweed, and more. Out of these things he made a salad which has been featured in the NYT and the LA Times and was a favorite of these top chefs. We'd start picking porcini in May, lobsters in July, chanterelles in August, and about 8-10 other varieties during the fall.

Earl lived a meager life in an old single-wide with a rotten floor. He ate wild food and canned beans and had about 6 cats to keep the rats down. He'd pick in the rain, heat - didn't matter. I got him a rain suit that he wore for years until it tattered. When he died from lung cancer and a host of other ailments, his POS child molester son didn't let me know even though he knew we were close. I learned a few months later from one of Earl's old girlfriends who's a good friend to this day. I learned most of what I know about foraging from Running Squirrel and am forever grateful.

Sounds like a great guy!  Cool story! 

[LDennis24]

I tried the old slurry in a bucket last year and poured it in the woods behind the house in certain locations. I'm gonna go look in about an hour and I will let you know if I find anything. If I do I will let everyone know forever until I die... That I managed to cultivate morels! LOL.     Yeah right huh....

I just did this yesterday to try and see if it works.What was your slurry if you don't mind me asking?I ran big branches through our big chipper and mixed 3 mushrooms each and added a big spoon full of honey to each bucket. watched a video of a lady that did that and said it worked real well. Will see if it actually works next year.
these are verpas we are picking . they are out heavy right now

I just used rice and bran as that was what I had laying around to sacrifice. I haven't found anything yet but it could take years! Who knows

[kellama2001]

They're coming up at 1500' just across the river. The thimble caps are pretty much done but there are blonds in the cottonwoods.

How many years have you been picking and where did you learn so much? It seems you are one of  the forum experts thought, I was ahead of the curve and have been out looking but nothing so far 

I started foraging around 1990. I learned how to pick matsutake and morels from a friend in the food business while I was selling for Food Services of America. In 2002, I met a Cherokee named Running Squirrel (Earl Aherns/pictured) who'd moved as an infant with his father out to Yakima from the East. When I knew him, he lived in Washougal and was a supplier for an exotic foods company I worked for that shipped wild mushrooms, truffles, weird oils and vinegars, etc., to top chefs all over the country. I went with him on foraging excursions frequently, probably at least 20 weekends a year. He wasn't big on morels but in the Spring, we would forage wild greens and flowers - stinging nettle, mustard flowers and greens, wood violets, miner's lettuce, lemon balm, wood sorrel, wild roses, devil's club shoots, fireweed, and more. Out of these things he made a salad which has been featured in the NYT and the LA Times and was a favorite of these top chefs. We'd start picking porcini in May, lobsters in July, chanterelles in August, and about 8-10 other varieties during the fall.

Earl lived a meager life in an old single-wide with a rotten floor. He ate wild food and canned beans and had about 6 cats to keep the rats down. He'd pick in the rain, heat - didn't matter. I got him a rain suit that he wore for years until it tattered. When he died from lung cancer and a host of other ailments, his POS child molester son didn't let me know even though he knew we were close. I learned a few months later from one of Earl's old girlfriends who's a good friend to this day. I learned most of what I know about foraging from Running Squirrel and am forever grateful.

Sounds like a great guy!  Cool story! 

  very cool story! And a blessing to have known someone like that. Looking forward to getting out and foraging this spring, but looks like it'll be a little while yet. Just had more snow dumped in my good spots this week 

[pianoman9701]

They're coming up at 1500' just across the river. The thimble caps are pretty much done but there are blonds in the cottonwoods.

How many years have you been picking and where did you learn so much? It seems you are one of  the forum experts thought, I was ahead of the curve and have been out looking but nothing so far 

I started foraging around 1990. I learned how to pick matsutake and morels from a friend in the food business while I was selling for Food Services of America. In 2002, I met a Cherokee named Running Squirrel (Earl Aherns/pictured) who'd moved as an infant with his father out to Yakima from the East. When I knew him, he lived in Washougal and was a supplier for an exotic foods company I worked for that shipped wild mushrooms, truffles, weird oils and vinegars, etc., to top chefs all over the country. I went with him on foraging excursions frequently, probably at least 20 weekends a year. He wasn't big on morels but in the Spring, we would forage wild greens and flowers - stinging nettle, mustard flowers and greens, wood violets, miner's lettuce, lemon balm, wood sorrel, wild roses, devil's club shoots, fireweed, and more. Out of these things he made a salad which has been featured in the NYT and the LA Times and was a favorite of these top chefs. We'd start picking porcini in May, lobsters in July, chanterelles in August, and about 8-10 other varieties during the fall.

Earl lived a meager life in an old single-wide with a rotten floor. He ate wild food and canned beans and had about 6 cats to keep the rats down. He'd pick in the rain, heat - didn't matter. I got him a rain suit that he wore for years until it tattered. When he died from lung cancer and a host of other ailments, his POS child molester son didn't let me know even though he knew we were close. I learned a few months later from one of Earl's old girlfriends who's a good friend to this day. I learned most of what I know about foraging from Running Squirrel and am forever grateful.

Sounds like a great guy!  Cool story! 

  very cool story! And a blessing to have known someone like that. Looking forward to getting out and foraging this spring, but looks like it'll be a little while yet. Just had more snow dumped in my good spots this week 

It'll be interesting to see what this snow does to the morel season, as we really have little history to indicate it, at least on the westside. Could the extra nitrogen in snowfall help? Could the cold stop the early season altogether? How will this affect the burns?

[Skyvalhunter]

The past couple spring years have been wet on the wet side. For the false morels this cold, wet years has reduced the crop significantly. Instead of a fair amount around the cottonwoods the numbers are way down. Just my observation.

[OutHouse]

They're coming up at 1500' just across the river. The thimble caps are pretty much done but there are blonds in the cottonwoods.

How many years have you been picking and where did you learn so much? It seems you are one of  the forum experts thought, I was ahead of the curve and have been out looking but nothing so far 

I started foraging around 1990. I learned how to pick matsutake and morels from a friend in the food business while I was selling for Food Services of America. In 2002, I met a Cherokee named Running Squirrel (Earl Aherns/pictured) who'd moved as an infant with his father out to Yakima from the East. When I knew him, he lived in Washougal and was a supplier for an exotic foods company I worked for that shipped wild mushrooms, truffles, weird oils and vinegars, etc., to top chefs all over the country. I went with him on foraging excursions frequently, probably at least 20 weekends a year. He wasn't big on morels but in the Spring, we would forage wild greens and flowers - stinging nettle, mustard flowers and greens, wood violets, miner's lettuce, lemon balm, wood sorrel, wild roses, devil's club shoots, fireweed, and more. Out of these things he made a salad which has been featured in the NYT and the LA Times and was a favorite of these top chefs. We'd start picking porcini in May, lobsters in July, chanterelles in August, and about 8-10 other varieties during the fall.

Earl lived a meager life in an old single-wide with a rotten floor. He ate wild food and canned beans and had about 6 cats to keep the rats down. He'd pick in the rain, heat - didn't matter. I got him a rain suit that he wore for years until it tattered. When he died from lung cancer and a host of other ailments, his POS child molester son didn't let me know even though he knew we were close. I learned a few months later from one of Earl's old girlfriends who's a good friend to this day. I learned most of what I know about foraging from Running Squirrel and am forever grateful.

Sounds like a great guy!  Cool story! 

  very cool story! And a blessing to have known someone like that. Looking forward to getting out and foraging this spring, but looks like it'll be a little while yet. Just had more snow dumped in my good spots this week 

It'll be interesting to see what this snow does to the morel season, as we really have little history to indicate it, at least on the westside. Could the extra nitrogen in snowfall help? Could the cold stop the early season altogether? How will this affect the burns?

I have four inches on the ground 10 minutes west of Yakima. My hope is that the extra moisture helps the crop. If it melts soon and we get some rain in early may could be good.

[pianoman9701]

My hope, as well. But that's strictly based on wishing. We'll know for sure very soon.