My culinary love of fungi has led me to a new hobby–mushroom foraging! I joined the Puget Sound Mycological Society (PSMS) last fall and have enjoyed meeting with other mushroom enthusists and learn more about the gathering of the fruits of the forest.
Now my first field-trip was nearing and I needed to gear up for some trompin' through the forest. Well, of course I needed hiking boots. Reading my materials from PSMS I noted I needed quite a few other items I lacked: compass, whistle, maps, basket for my gatherings, of course that urged a trip to REI.
OH wonderland of outdoor activities! Haven of the true Northwesterner! So many gadgets! When looking for a compass I found such a myriad of choices it sent my head spinning, not to mention the scads of expensive GPS units. Well I certainly did NOT want to get lost in the woods! Fortunately a outdoorsman was explaining to a friend of his who was also a newbie to wandering the wilderness what the best compass for the price, was so I got away with one of the less expensive units. Score!
As I strolled through the indoor-outdoor-store I saw a few other items that I thought might come in handy, fingerless gloves, space blanket (just in case), hand warmers, compact emergency kit , and of course I needed a small pack to carry all my crap in. I put together a very compact and compete day hiking kit. I had plenty of clothes to layer. I figured I was set.
Then the day before the trip it SNOWED in late May!
...back to REI... to get a rain shell, now the price of this hobby was rising!
Early Saturday morning I set out for Carnation Washington to meet up with the rest of my new friends. The snow had thawed but it was still cold and drizzly and I was glad I had a rain coat especially with a hood. Off I went with a lovely sack-lunch and chocolate chip cookies to share. Our hosts of the trip brought coffee and pastries which were a pleasant surprise to nosh on while the experts outlined how and where we would search for the elusive early morel. Then off we went into the forest.
I was the first of my group to find a morel, I was SO excited! Right then I new I was hooked. Our group continued to forage for a couple of hours, finding a few more morels and gathering other mushroom samples for examination by the experts. I found two more morels that day and was very proud of my tiny treasures. After meeting back with the group, we learned about our many interesting found fungi formations, and some other cool stuff others found like nettles for tea and fern fronds. We all enjoyed eating our lunches and chatting about what we would do with our 'shrooms. It was wet and soggy and a little early in the season for many morels but I had the best time!
That night I made I nice mushroom sauce for my tournedos with my three little morels and paired that with some sautéd fern fronds and a little Pinor. Lovely!
The next outing is an over-nite ...and I got a tent... The price of mushrooms is rising fast for me!
Ciao for now!
Lisa
