Once a Mushroom Hunter, Always a Mushroom Hunter

One beautiful shaggy mane

It had been over a year since the last time I went out hunting for wild mushrooms. I often think about those delicious morels.  I was walking around Lake Merritt today with the pooches, and suddenly I saw a fresh full size shaggy mane sticking out of the grass. Coprinus comatus, commonly known as shaggy mane or ink cap, is one of the wild mushrooms that I am very familiar with. It is very distinctive with the scales on its cap. This mushroom is unusual because it will turn black and dissolve itself in a matter of hours after being picked or depositing spores.  Another sure way to identify the mushroom is to cut it in half as the photo below. The cross section of shaggy mane has a unique kite line. It's hard to see from the photo below, but I have a better photo I took years ago in my wild mushroom photo album.

The biggest one started to turn black

I walked through the grass over to the shaggy mane and found 3 more smaller ones next to the big one. I took a photo before plucking all of them off the ground. I didn't have anything to put them in, and suddenly I remembered that I had doggy bags in my pocket. Perfect!

After taking them home, I sautéed them in some olive oil with some baby spinach then sprinkled some gorgonzola cheese on top. It was delicious!  We are supposed to have more rain. I can't wait to find more presents like this while out walking!

My First Morel Hunt

One of the very first morels I spotted

It has been at least 2 years since I went on a mushroom hunt. The job at the school has been a social life killer.  I often felt too tired to go on a group foray. Lately my energy level must has gone up with all the hiking I have been doing. I am also feeling more relaxed with school operation in general. Last week I spontaneously decided to respond to a fellow MSSF's member's invitation to join a group morel hunt up north (Sorry, I am not going to share the location). We decided to leave at 5:30 am on Saturday morning for an early start, spend a night camping out, then continue hunting on Sunday.

My first morel jackpot

I had a pretty good idea what morels look like, but after a two year hiatus, I needed some time to get my mushroom hunting eyes back. The couple I hitched a ride with were super sweet. They pointed out several morels, so I could get a really good image in my head. Pretty soon I was spotting them all over the place between the pine needles. We were all walking, looking down, bending down, and cutting a lot. I made sure to shove morels to Kelsey's nose and kept telling her to go look for them. On the second, she was walking around sniffing next to tree trunks and the ground. I actually found a good size flattened morel in front of her paw!

Kelsey snoozing with a big bag of morels above her

For dinner we sauteed some fresh morels in butter in addition to some awesome home made spicy chili and fresh tortilla. For second dinner (we were all hobbits for one night), we had pasta in habanero pasta sauce. Just by coincidence, we were all hot heads! Kelsey had a lot of fun hanging out with the other dogs in the group.  At the end of our grand morel hunt, we have picked at least 10 pounds of morels, and we each got a share.  More photos from are on the Wild Mushrooms photo album. I can't wait to do it again!

Another big find

Foraging Blackberries

 

Blackberry bushes are extremely invasive. Once you have them in your yard, it's almost impossible to get ride of them. They constantly pop up at various spots on Sand Village Farm. Although I love perfectly ripe blackberries, I have to keep cutting the berry branches off. They are just too thorny! So, instead of growing my own blackberries, I go pick them just like I would with wild mushrooms. They grow abundantly in the neighborhood and are free for the picking. As you can see in the picture above, it grows on someone's fence. In addition to providing berries, the bushes also act as a barrier against critters and burglars. Believe me, you would not want to fall into these bushes.

I took a walk this afternoon and picked a bunch of blackberries. There were a few other people picking them, too. Some areas obviously have been picked over. It would be a shame to let these wild blackberries go to waste.