Morel (mushroom) hunting

capt. scotty · May 03, 2009, 10:21 PM

I just remembered this substitute teacher I had in 12th grade for a day in AP European history, like a 40-45 minute class. He was bonkers.

All he talks about the whole time is how he is in the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom society or something, and draws mushrooms on the chalkboard, and asks us all questions like what have we tried, etc.

the WHOLE time. Not 1 mention of history. He educated us about nothing except mushrooms ;D

.Walt · May 03, 2009, 10:30 PM

You best not be complaining about it! ;)

Who was this teacher? Johnny Appleseed? 8-)

goodjam2bn · May 03, 2009, 11:09 PM

I used to go ginseng hunting with my Dad and GrandDad. It was an all day walk to prime forest locations in the mountains in Virginia. Sold bag fulls of the ginseng roots to a local buyer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginseng

dragonboy · May 04, 2009, 01:37 AM

QuoteI used to go ginseng hunting with my Dad and GrandDad. It was an all day walk to prime forest locations in the mountains in Virginia. Sold bag fulls of the ginseng roots to a local buyer.

"I'm like a sniper, hyper off the ginseng root!"

Vadie Stark · May 04, 2009, 10:53 AM

Hey look what I found...........online! ;)

Didn't mean to derail yer Thread :) Carry on 8-)

Ruckus · May 04, 2009, 11:31 AM

QuoteCareful out there and sorey if wrong thread for this :)

Perhaps they thought they had an extra life?

That would have been a "BIG" mistake. Eat the green one man! [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

Shrooms + Amsterdam Museum of Modern Art = :o

capt. scotty · May 04, 2009, 12:09 PM

Quote
QuoteI used to go ginseng hunting with my Dad and GrandDad. It was an all day walk to prime forest locations in the mountains in Virginia. Sold bag fulls of the ginseng roots to a local buyer.
"I'm like a sniper, hyper off the ginseng root!"

;D

part of my favorite verse from 7th chamber, hell, 1 of my favorite Meth verses period 8-)

Hey yo RZA, hit me with that shit one time!

wharf rat · May 04, 2009, 02:47 PM

QuoteSweet Wharf Rat. It's awesome that you're passing it on. My dad usually does the whole salt and water bit too. So what type of woods do you go into? State Park, a friends land, or something even cooler? Good luck this year!

Here's a 2009 progression map. It's big, so I'll just post the site, not the picture. Cool website too, check it.

http://thegreatmorel.com/2009.html

Walts, when I was a kid we usually went on friends' lands with my brothers. Now, we have a small city park (all hiking/biking trails, no playground equipment or anything) that's about 1000 feet from our front door. This city park connects to a state park, so all total, there's about 3000 acres that we roam. Unfortunately I've had very little luck finding the morels. I think they are there, I'm just not finding the hotspots.
Before we lived in our current house, we owned 36 acres about 20 minutes outside of town. I did have some mild succes a couple of years out there, but the other three years I got shut out completely.
I'm with you, it's just fun to romp around in the woods!

.Walt · May 04, 2009, 04:28 PM

I wish I had friends with land. I went out to my cabin the other day to scope it out. Not a lot of woods, maybe a half an hour to circle whole thing. I see why my dad never goes there. Father knows best. But don't tell him I said that. ;D

Although I have a plan this year. Some D-bag from work broke into my house (twice). I caught him! He took my roommate to his secret spot last year, let's just say the secret is out! ;D

wharf rat · May 06, 2009, 12:28 PM

No luck again yesterday evening. We've got a few more days of showers coming up, so I'll be out hopefully another time or two this weekend.

Penny Lane · May 06, 2009, 12:41 PM

QuoteNo luck again yesterday evening. We've got a few more days of showers coming up, so I'll be out hopefully another time or two this weekend.

wharf--not sure if you're from athens area or another part of ohio but we used to do some up in the northeast part- i remember going out after it rained. i was a nature nerd, i used to be able to tell ya all the wildflowers, trees and fish. ha ha..i competed in on a nature team in high school, which sounds nerdy but was pretty big in rural areas--equivalent of 4-H. (lol another past time was finding all the birds that flew into the silos and trying to nurse them back to life)...sorry to digress but this thread made me a little sentimental. i would have checked it sooner but i thought it was about tripping on shrooms (which taken literally could mean that) i love the recipes, that's the way my friend's dad cooked them up.

.Walt · May 06, 2009, 01:23 PM

I'm going out after work. We'll see what happens. So there's 3 of us who hunt? Last one to find some mushrooms buys the steaks! I like rib-eye!

Penny Lane · May 06, 2009, 02:06 PM

QuoteI'm going out after work. We'll see what happens. So there's 3 of us who hunt? Last one to find some mushrooms buys the steaks! I like rib-eye!

one more thing i miss living in the city----no grills allowed on balconies or fire escapes...no BBQs! :-( eat one for me.

wharf rat · May 06, 2009, 02:27 PM

Penny, nothing wrong at all about being a nature nerd. I have always considered myself one and try to pass on environmental messages of conservation and sustainability to my little ones all the time.
They still have Envirothon competition teams at the local schools. Unfortunately, my school didn't have this when I was in high school or I would have been all over it. You can be a jock and a tree hugger, right? ;D
Too bad about the no bbq rule. I am also a nut for grilling. All year round at my place. There's nothing like a nice jamaican jerk rubbed chicken, or a citrus salmon filet on the grill, with some grilled asparagus or corn on the cob!
Walts, good luck tonight. It's pouring here and thunderstorms are forecast, so I just canceled my son's baseball practice. I'm getting an itch to go play in the creeks and on the hills!

Penny Lane · May 06, 2009, 02:47 PM

well since we're on topic and no one else is reading this thread to judge me, i also collected arrowheads and my dad would also take me along on his trips to collect insulators (we'd walk along old train tracks and he'd climb the poles) NOT joking. He was a science teacher and also taught me how to grow crystals, too. You should do that w/your kids!

when i was at ohio state, i made a trip to lancaster (OH not PA) to see Lar Hothem, he wrote a book on arrowheads and if i remember, he had a really cool collection. i used to drag people along out near Blacklick (?) to go on hikes to look for them.

Yes, ours was called the Ecology Team and we competed in Envirothons. I was allergic to most animals so i could only be in 4H Forestry. I always wanted to raise animals, though LOL

Good luck hunting Walt.

wharf rat · May 06, 2009, 02:55 PM

Oh yeah, arrowheads! Freshly plowed fields in the spring down in the floodplain/bottomland are the absolute best for that. I haven't been out roaming for arrowheads in a couple years. I took my older son with me the last time (he was 5) and still to this day, if we're out in the woods, which is alot, he'll pick up some random rock that has the faintest resemblance of an arrowhead shape and ask "Dad, do you think this one's an arrowhead?" :)

pawpaw · May 06, 2009, 03:08 PM

Quote... and no one else is reading this thread to judge me...

[size=24]NATURE NERD!!![/size]

I'm just kiddin' Penny, I'm a total, unapolegetic Nature NERD. One of the things I'm most excited for (as a new father) is teaching my son about the natural world, and hopefully getting him excited about being outside and learning about that stuff.

pawpaw · May 06, 2009, 03:13 PM

Mushroon hunting is very cool, btw. I've never done it, but have much respect for those who do...I've heard that there's some good huntin' to be had out in the coastal forests here in CA.

Penny Lane · May 06, 2009, 03:16 PM

Quote
Quote... and no one else is reading this thread to judge me...

[size=24]NATURE NERD!!![/size]

I'm just kiddin' Penny, I'm a total, unapolegetic Nature NERD. One of the things I'm most excited for (as a new father) is teaching my son about the natural world, and hopefully getting him excited about being outside and learning about that stuff.

awww..if i had kids, i'd do the same. i imagine there's nothing greater than passing on the love of nature and music to kids. your baby's adorable bbill. i didn't comment on the other thread.

wharf rat · May 06, 2009, 03:20 PM

bbill, I think you shouldn't have a problem. It seems most kids are just intrinsically drawn to the outdoors, and it sure doesn't hurt if mom and/or dad like to be also. We've got some pretty cool topography around here and it's almost like the kids are just magnetized by it. Natural recess caves dot our landscapes, with lots of exposed rock, mostly sandstone, to scramble around on. Pretty steep hills and valleys with lots of streams. Just a couple weeks ago, the family was out playing in a rainstorm and my 7 yr. old found a 3-4 inch crawdad. I keep some baggies on me for just the occassion, and of course he wanted to take it home and take it into class the next day to display during class "share time". We fixed up a nice container with some stream gravel, leaves, and water and he took it in the next day. We released it after I got home from work back at the same spot. I've seen some of your outdoorsy pix on this site and I'm guessing that your little one will have no problem accepting and enjoying the natural world.