I have such great friends! ❤️
As you may know from reading previous blogs… My business partner and friend Liesl and her sweet husband, Andy, have a fully functional homestead, where they produce most of their own food. Liesl is also a natural medicine goddess, who wild crafts her own medicinal tinctures and teas. On top of this, they both spend a lot of time off of their homestead foraging and fishing.
These two sweet people invited me along on an adventure last week… to go Morel Mushroom Picking! 🍄🟫
We headed north out of town and onto crown land where there had been wildfires last year… we were in search of Fire Morels!
Andy told me, on the drive out, that these type of morels only grow once the heat of the fire activates their dormant spores. So cool! Here is what a little more research revealed:
The spores of fire morels find organic matter in the soil and create microsclerotia, a kind of food reserve that is surrounded by a tough envelope. This nutrient filled envelope allows them to be patient for many years while they wait, and wait, and wait… for a fire! 🔥
The fire causes a rise in the PH of the soil, which in turn causes the food reserves (the microsclerotia) to germinate and merge with each other, forming an underground web-like network called mycelium.
The mycelium feeds on the fire damaged or dead roots of the trees and if the weather conditions are perfect, not too hot and not too wet, fire morels make their way to the surface!
These little miracles of nature only appear the year after the fire!
We parked the truck and headed into the charred woods. It was a bit like being on a moonscape… almost totally barred with only the odd sprig of green beginning to emerge from the forest floor.
The only real life present in the woods were the fire morels poking their heads out of the blackened soil.
Liesl and I call Andy “the mushroom whisperer”… I swear, the dude can see a morel from a 1000 feet. He kept kindly saying to me “You just need to get your morel eyes on and you will be ok,” as he was pointing out mushrooms directly in front of me… that I still could not see!
They look just like pinecones half buried in little cracks and crevices at the base of the trees. Sooo hard to see! 👀🍄🟫
After about a half hour I began to find my rhythm in little pockets of growth that Andy had scouted out for us. I settled into the quiet beauty of the woods, the warm sunshine, and the sweet safety of being out in the wild with a true outdoorsman! (He always knew exactly where the truck was!)
This is when the magic started to happen… I began to catch tiny, little flashes of fire in my peripheral vision and hear the high pitched hiss that a smokie makes when being roasted over a campfire.
I quickly realized that if I followed the sound and the little flashes… I found the morels! It made so much sense that fire morels have fairies that look like a tiny Phoenix rising from the ashes… they are the first life that emerges from the devastation of a fire!
I spent the rest of the day in a complete sense of awe at the magic all around me, in what looked, on the surface, to be a barren, lifeless landscape!
I began to wonder what everyday life back in the city would be like if I acted just like the forest… no judgement of good or bad… just an acceptance of what is!
The forest wasn’t freaking out and moaning or groaning about last year's fire… it was gettin’ busy living! I could feel the energy of life just under the forest floor preparing to spring forward… led by the magical, tasty morels!
My day in the woods was spectacular on so many levels… I got to hang out with two dear friends, picked an awesome haul of mushrooms, got filthy dirty, and ate the best tasting lunch ever, sitting on the tailgate of Andy’s truck… but the most spectacular part has been the lasting impression that all is well!
Magic is everywhere! 🔥🧚♂️🍄🟫
Much Love
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