And the mushroom gods smiled

Craig and I spent almost the whole day morelling.

Technically, it was a mixed success. Which is to say that we failed to find new morelling grounds, but we found lots and lots of morels at our established morelling grounds. Right now, I'm thinking that the latter point outweighs the former. Though I think I want to try a couple places off highway two I've heard rumors about next. (Okay, there are other reasons I want to go there.)

And then on to a triumphant pizza dinner at Village Pizza in Roslyn.

Craig took a bunch of pictures. Hopefully we'll get them up...

All mushrooms have their own stories. Shaggy manes are about seizing the day, because they pop up without much warning, in large numbers, and must be cooked soon after or they begin to digest themselves (ew!) Boletes and chantrelles are both about stewardship -- their mycorrhizae mean that they are bound to the trees they are symbiotes with, and will return faithfully each year given even reasonably decent weather if their sites are cared for. (There is also something in there about getting there first, though in the case of boletes one must rush to beat the maggots -- serious bolete hunting often boarders on cultivation, for one must check in with one's patches frequently -- and in the case of chantrelles it's mostly about getting there before other people. And I've found hunting white chantrelles, which are not as heavily competed for, helps.)

But morels are, I think, to me, the most magical of my favorite edibles. The mycelium is often fragile and short lived, so while you might know of general areas where they do well, they rarely appear in the same location year after year. They are shy, reclusive mushrooms, looking at first a little like pine cones but softer of contour and greyer, peeping out of from among the needles on the forest floor. And they are so strange! Arcane contours, oddly tough flesh and hollow in the middle. Coy little horns poking out of the earth. Other mushrooms one can have a reasonably reliable relationship with, but morels you hunt, year after year, attempting to bribe the mushroom gods and buy yourself luck.

(no subject)

Pretty sore today. Sword went okay, but neat the end of it my neck and shoulder cramped up. My hip and ankle are also bitching at me (for hiking yesterday with my ankle out of whack -- Craig helped me whack it later, but by then everything was a little tweaked) so I pretty much have the whole right side in a snit. I suspect, however, that if I'd gotten near enough sleep it would have been easier to work through. And I skimped on stretches a bit this morning.

Stretches and weights -- and I think I'd better take it easy on the weights -- and then to bed for me.