That is correct! I spent the weekend in Michigan visiting my brother while lumping in a mushroom hunt as an activity. Mother's day was traditionally the time when my Grandpa Genther would go up north to hunt for morels. And, to the best of my memory, there was (only) ONE time where we hit it good and filled up several grocery bags with black Morels. Ever since then, I have associated that day ( time of year) with peak Morel hunting time in the northern parts of Michigan. 
Well, Manistee is nearly at the same Latitude as Marrion Michigan... So the times Should match up... Right?
Well, not so much. I think we were a little late to the party. It did not matter too much as I had to work last week anyway, so I would not have been able to get that time off. But I had hoped that we might get it lucky. And I KNOW that there are at least some Morels on the Property... so simply finding the location where they pop up would not be the main challenge.
When the Morels are in their prime. ( Whenever that is....) You can find them usually from the road. We have done it before! But if they are not... Meaning: you are early or a little late, Then you really have to hunt for them. And since I am not a master of habitat or Tree Identification... It is kind of like searching for a needle in a stack of needles. (Elm trees are the gold standard, by the way. Still does not mean you will find them around the bases.)
That all being said, we did find a few mushrooms. Mostly the Poisonous ones.... People have been posting their finds for over the last two weeks now. And the rains of early April had flooded a number of places. But things dried out pretty good and we only found a few. Mostly of species that were not edible. I did find a small button of spring Oysters, but they were so small and hardly worth eating.
On Saturday, We went over to visit the Arnold's on their 40 and see if we could find some there. Eric spent the time fixing his Quad runner while Ed and I went out with the Dogs. We only found a bunch of Birch Polypores and were about to give up and spend the rest of the evening drinking beer, when Ed saw a mature Dryad Saddle!
We harvested it, even though it was well past its edibility stage. we figured we could seed some parts of Erics property with slices of the mushroom.
In the mean time, Ed ended up twisting his food trying to carry his dogs across the creek. I thought it was funny, because the dogs had been running and swimming in every puddle that was there on the land. But the moment they had to cross the creek, they suddenly became "Damsels in Distress!"
We enjoyed some dinner and swapped some stories. ( And drank some Beer... of course.) I really should make plans to visit more often. Uncle Bill went to the gun show and came back with two more shotguns to add to his "collection". (He is a proud, card carrying NRA member!)
And then yesterday, Eric and I found three small Morels right where we USUALLY find them on the property. I had looked there just days before and could not find them. They were pretty dry and brittle, but I harvested them anyway.
On the way home, I stopped by Grand Haven's Harbor Island. Where we had always found them when we lived there. No luck.
But I did manage to make friends with a Mourning Cloak. With the Sun being hidden behind the clouds, and the temps dipping into the 50's, this little guy did not want to fly. I only noticed him because he looked like a mushroom shadow from a distance. But finding a little gem is still a bit of a thrill, and I took his pictures for the blog.
And now I'm home. I washed the car; did what little laundry I had; and went shopping for this week's Lunches. The Cat was happy to see me and I have been hanging with her pretty much all day. And I certainly could use a little time to relax before heading back to work tomorrow. All good things have to come to an end eventually.
By the way, Dave is coming back to sign papers and will be stopping in for a visit tomorrow. I'm sure he will not have much time, but he wanted to at least stop in and say "hi" before heading back. I think he wanted to visit as many family members as he can while he is here as well. It works out since I will be heading to work in the afternoon anyway.
There was much more to blog about on this little visit, but I will keep this one limited to the Mushroom hunting part of it. The weather in Michigan was as close to Heaven or Alaska as I could have asked for. Warm Sun, cool air, Gentle breeze.... With just enough clouds to keep the sun from being annoying. The bugs were out, ( The Arnold's Property is located near a swamp.) but they were not terribly annoying or bad. In short: It was a peaceful Weekend.
Some of the areas we searched might be great for Future Mushroom hunts in the Summer. Ed tells me that they have "Those Yellow Mushrooms" and Corals later in the summer and early Fall. I would love finding a bunch of Chanterelles and Corals and cooking them up on the grill with some steaks or pork chops! We shall see how the Summer plays out. In the mean time, I will try to make every second count.
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