Foraging Wild Mushrooms
Wild Minnesota mushrooms from spring to fall 2011
Wild Minnesota mushrooms from spring to fall 2011
Ithardly seems that another year has passed. Minnesota had a very wet Spring withslightly cool to average temperatures. This provided for a less than bountifulMorel season for all but the most seasoned hunters. The opportunity to beoutside, after so many months of winter, was still well worth it. I think mostwere able to find enough for a good meal or two.
Our wet weather continued through mid summer givingplenty of rain, however, temperatures we're unseasonably warm for extended stretches.Wild Oyster mushrooms were abundant and had multiple flushes during June and,with light leaf cover, they could be hunted from the roads quite often. Thecombination was also ideal for Chanterelle hunting and I picked fields ofyellow, some larger than my extended hand, with stipes twice the diameter of mythumb. We also had early fruiting of Hedgehog, or sweet-tooth, mushrooms. Thisis one species that had a great year with larger than average numbers, size offruit and length of their fruiting season. King Boletes were to be had, but notin the kinds of numbers I might typically see. Black trumpets were out inenormous numbers with one fellow forager describing the numbers so vast he wassimply grabbing whole handfuls and cutting the bottoms off with a pair ofscissors. Lobster mushrooms were scarce early and finished with a pretty goodbang. I picked large numbers toward the end of August and for about two weeksafter.
By mid-August the rain stopped abruptly and we had nosignificant rain fall for more than a month. Temperatures were average toslightly above average, but the lack of rain was just too much for so many fallspecies that the end to our season was a bit of a bust. Although we did findMaitake and Chicken of the Woods, they were not in the kinds of numbers onenormally see's. Blewits were also nearly non-existent. The two speciesthat had large single flushes were he Honey mushrooms and AbortedEntoloma's---though the lack of rain also made for little more than a singleburst of fruit.
Looking back, every season is unique and brings its shareof anticipation. Each Spring I get to start fresh, explore new areas, learnmore nuances and reflect about how lucky I am to call this "work".Foraging for mushrooms demands that a person move slowly, look carefully andmost of all take stock in everything around you be it plant, animal, or fungi. Ifyou follow these rules, a walk in the woods never gets old, it is always new.
Our wet weather continued through mid summer givingplenty of rain, however, temperatures we're unseasonably warm for extended stretches.Wild Oyster mushrooms were abundant and had multiple flushes during June and,with light leaf cover, they could be hunted from the roads quite often. Thecombination was also ideal for Chanterelle hunting and I picked fields ofyellow, some larger than my extended hand, with stipes twice the diameter of mythumb. We also had early fruiting of Hedgehog, or sweet-tooth, mushrooms. Thisis one species that had a great year with larger than average numbers, size offruit and length of their fruiting season. King Boletes were to be had, but notin the kinds of numbers I might typically see. Black trumpets were out inenormous numbers with one fellow forager describing the numbers so vast he wassimply grabbing whole handfuls and cutting the bottoms off with a pair ofscissors. Lobster mushrooms were scarce early and finished with a pretty goodbang. I picked large numbers toward the end of August and for about two weeksafter.
By mid-August the rain stopped abruptly and we had nosignificant rain fall for more than a month. Temperatures were average toslightly above average, but the lack of rain was just too much for so many fallspecies that the end to our season was a bit of a bust. Although we did findMaitake and Chicken of the Woods, they were not in the kinds of numbers onenormally see's. Blewits were also nearly non-existent. The two speciesthat had large single flushes were he Honey mushrooms and AbortedEntoloma's---though the lack of rain also made for little more than a singleburst of fruit.
Looking back, every season is unique and brings its shareof anticipation. Each Spring I get to start fresh, explore new areas, learnmore nuances and reflect about how lucky I am to call this "work".Foraging for mushrooms demands that a person move slowly, look carefully andmost of all take stock in everything around you be it plant, animal, or fungi. Ifyou follow these rules, a walk in the woods never gets old, it is always new.
