Tai Chi of The Forest

Morel Mushrooms

Picking morels is a slow motion dance, best described as Tai Chi of the forest.  Heel to toe, shifting the weight, balancing and stepping.  Dancing gracefully under, over and around logs and brush, stooping to pick those delicious mushrooms.  Head down, circling round and round the giant cottonwoods, one must know how to navigate the forest, or suffer the embarrassment of being lost.  

Lucky for me, Daddy taught me how to find my way in the woods a long, long time ago.  If you're new to the forest, I'll share a few tips on finding your way:  

• Know the area, have a look at a map knowing what direction the roads, trails and creeks are running.  
• Have a compass in your pocket and use it, know that if you're hunting east of a road or trail that you need to go west on your return.  Once in the woods, take a reading, turn the compass until the needle is pointed north and read the direction back.  I like a compass with an outer ring that spins so you can mark that direction.  

                                   

• Lacking a compass, you can still navigate quite effectively.  On clear days, you can use the sun, remembering that it rises in the east traveling an arc that sets in the west.  Wherever the sun is when you start, put it on your opposite side to return (remember to allow for its east-west journey).  
• On a cloudy day, one can even use a watch, just make a big right hand or left hand rectangle.  For a 2hr.  journey, you could walk straight for 30 min. turn right, walk 30 min. turn right, walk 30 min. turn right, walk 30 min. and you are back at your starting point.  This is very effective, especially if you take care to walk straight, allow for slower, rougher terrain and differently shaped rectangles.  
• Finally there's looking for landmarks that can be used just like the sun to find your way - valleys, mountains, rivers, giant rocks or trees etc.  It's also a good idea to look behind and pick landmarks that identify your return journey.

Get yourself a mushroom field guide with color plates, identification is easy and safe once learned, best to go with a friend the first time.   Morels in the Pacific Northwest are associated with cottonwoods.  The only similar mushroom that's poisonous is the false morel.  It's generally larger, darker and more like a brain on a stem, see your field guide.

For us older folk, a good walking stick is a must and handy for turning over the occasional clump of leaves.  Some people rake to find the mushrooms, please don't do this.  It's equivalent to cutting down  your apple tree to pick the apples. Most of the plant is growing under the leaves and the mushrooms that poke up through the leaves are the equivalent of fruit.  When you rake, it destroys the plant and mushrooms will not grow well for years.  If possible, try breaking the stem off without disturbing the roots and further disrupting the plant's growth.

There are many good recipes for mushrooms, I like them scrambled with eggs for breakfast or floured and fried with a little salt and pepper.  Just the other day, I sauteed some mushrooms in a sauce of whipping cream, blue cheese and wine, pouring this over a prime rib steak - yum!