Monday, July 28, 2008

It's No Secret

It's no secret. I'm pretty sure these are mushrooms of some kind. In our area people hunt for Morales (I have no idea if that is spelled correctly...maybe blogger does). That means they go on a mushroom hunt. I've never been on one, a mushroom hunt, that is. I should put that on my life list of things to remember to do. It sounds interesting...or fun...or is it both?
Anyway when the atmosphere and conditions are such that the Morales are thriving (I suppose that's how it happens...sounds good anyway) it's time for the morale hunters to do their job. Armed with a paper sack, hiking boots, a long bladed knife away they go in the cover of secrecy. Yes, secrecy, and I suppose they also are wearing a full line of clothing, however, I don't know, for absolute certain, if they take a paper sack and long bladed knife...my imagination just suggests to me that those would make the hunt more endurable and profitable.
Now back to the secrecy part...from what I understand these mushrooms grow in the wild. But the locations of the best mushroom patches are heavily guarded family secrets, passing from generation to generation. I have a friend who found a "NEW" patch. (Until a neighbor accused him of stealing THEIR mushrooms and the mushrooms were to be returned at once! How was he to know that the newly discovered patch was their quietly guarded generational secret?) Oh great joy! He was able to harvest 5 pounds of mushrooms. Just think of the fried feast. Yes, feast! You see, a Morale hunter batters and fries these mushrooms and eats them. I'm not sure if they share or not! I've never eaten them either. AND I have no idea what a Morales looks like, but just in case "these (in the photo above) are they", (probably bad grammar, but I wanted to say it that way anyway!!!) it is NO secret. I can tell you exactly where they are!

So now if you aren't totally confused by this whole story, I have just 3 questions for you?
...Did I make you hungry?
...Wanna take a woodland hike?
...Make a list of mushrooms to research?

And for some unknown reason, I think maybe I'm about to decide that these mushrooms creep me out. Well whatever you decide to do with your summer Monday, I hope it is happy.
Love, Rachel
P.S. I still don't know if I have spelled Morale correctly (I'm just totally in the dark about these amazing fungi) but if you're a mushroom hunter...you will be able to correct me...you know, oh, yes, I know you know! This has been so fun to write about...off to research!

10 comments:

Amanda Pittman said...

You make me smile so early in the morning:)
I have been mushroom hunting, though I don't know what the proper name is or how to spell it, nor did the mushrooms we hunted look like these. I used to go with my dad as a child. I remember getting poison ivy, and I was always the one who would step on the mushroom rather than find it! But, oh they were so yummy! I talk about it every year, but you have to just know how to time those hunts and coordinate them with the weather, which I have yet to learn!

THE HOME THAT LOVE BUILT said...

Rachel leave it to you to make mushrooms interesting!!!
I only like them on sauces prepared by someone else.
Neat story! Have a beautiful day.

Blessings
Brook

Kim's Treasures said...

Cute story! I have no idea how to spell that type of mushroom...only know that my parents love to hunt for them.
Have a great day!
Kim

Anonymous said...

Hi there! Its morel. And I'm sure if you google images of them, you'll get lots of pics. They look nothing like your everyday mushroom...:)

Stephanie said...

Mushrooms, I love to eat them. My husband hates to eat them and loves to photograph them. Go figure.

Enjoyed the post.

Anonymous said...

HI,
Pretty picture, just don't eat them, unless you check first to make sure they are not the poison kind. We sure don't want you being sick after you have your fried, juicy treat!
Have a wonderful day. Love you, Donnie

Ronda said...

VERY interesting! Danny and I both LOVE mushrooms ;however, we have never been mushroom hunting!:) I didn't realize that they were such family secrets, either! Hope that you have a great week...

Kathi said...

Hi Rachel. I don't know what they look like either. I'm scared of them. Unless they come from the grocery store. So many are poisonous. Have you had anyone following you to this patch? Better watch out, if so, they may try to get to it before you and stake a claim. Ha! Have a great week, Kathi

Unknown said...

Interesting, I knew about the truffle hunting piggies, but not the secret morel hunting ninjas! Thank you for the mushroom education. :)

Farrah said...

Sorry it's been so long since I last visited! My blogging time went way down, so I was only commenting on a few blogs.

I wanted to comment on this post, because it reminded me of an interesting article I recently read in the news about the most expensive foods. The truffles remind me of these mushrooms...hard to find, etc.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fsb/0807/gallery.most_expensive_foods.fsb/index.html