Fungus Mania

Spring and fall time in Michigan are time for mushroom hunting. I learned how to mushroom hunt from my father. The main mushroom we look for is the morel. This fungus grows in all kinds of locations from in the woods to grassy open areas. The most popular area is the woods with the rain and warm nights tend to force the population to emerge from the ground overnight.

How do we know that what we are harvesting is ok for us to eat? The book MUSHROOMING WITH CONFIDENCE by Alexander Schwab is a great way to become knowledgeable in the fungus world in Michigan and other parts of the east, northeast America. This book was a gift from one of our fellow hunters. In the years past we have encountered several different mushrooms during hunting season. As we walk by all these other mushrooms, we never even think twice about them being edible.

Within this book, it explains the way to identify the edible mushrooms. How to harvest them and how to preserve them for later days. Right in the beginning of the book it lets you know that you need to be reading this book several times to become confident with the choices you will be making in the field. Like most of us mushroom hunters we grab our mushroom bags and head to the woods to forage. As we start to find all elusive shrooms we reach down and pluck them from the ground all excited to get back to the house and have that cook we have been waiting for. We have not thought about how we are damaging the environment the fungus love to grow in. To make a long story short mushrooms and the places they grow are very fragile and need to be taken care of. So, I urge you all to get or take with you all a knife. Use this knife to cut the mushroom from the stem and not disturbed the integrity of the root system to preserve the hunting grounds. There are several kinds of knifes out there some have brushes, and some have curved blades to assist in the cutting process. So get out doors and happy hunting.