Column: Local Morel Mushroom Hunting Creates Some Favorite Memories

By: Forrest R. Church, Publisher
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
COLUMN – CAUGHT MY EYE / CROSSED MY MIND

Spring is a favorite time of year for me because it signals the arrival of morel mushrooms arriving in our little area of the country. It’s a real treat to venture into the woods and leave technology behind for awhile. Taking a break from computer and smart phone screens and slowing down even for just an hour is a way to celebrate the warmer weather and the end of winter, at least for me.

Lots of people have no clue what I am even talking about, but those that have been bit by “the mushroom hunting bug” – we know the arrival of these fungi are about as exciting as presents under the Christmas tree.  And if you like the taste of mushrooms, they are second to none.

Before I go any further, please note eating unidentified mushrooms is dangerous.  If you cannot identify mushrooms, DO NOT eat them, they can kill you or make you wish you would die (sick beyond sick).  So do not go out to the yard and chew on a toadstool you find growing out of a rotten log.

If you do end up with a plate of these delicious SAFE morel mushrooms, whether fried, diced in an omelet, or on top of a pizza, you will know just how tasty they can be.

Think I’m crazy? Note that the price per pound for morel mushrooms averages $50-$75 at grocery stores.  I have even seen them go for over as much as $100 per pound at the annual Osseo, Michigan Mushroom Festival for a fundraiser several years ago.

Even more valuable than that, you will appreciate the peace and serenity of being in the woods and taking a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life if you decide to take on this annual hunt that tends to last locally from April – May each year.

As a child, I heard tales from my grandparents of their trips to upper Michigan (slightly below the bridge) where they filled buckets with morel mushrooms. I have seen photos of family members holding morels that were almost a foot tall in the 1960s and 70s.

We lost my grandmother recently. One of my favorite memories about six months before her passing was sitting at the kitchen table and viewing the family in younger years via old Polaroid camera photos.  Massive morels finds were celebrated in those photos and her face lit up from the precious memories being relived in her mind.  In her later years I tried to bring some morels to her during Mother’s Day to relive the old fond memories and those old stories were shared once again.

My own attempts at hunting for morels as a chunky kid with my relatives at Kaiser Lake, Clark County, Ohio along with some local Northwest Ohio locations proved largely fruitless. But like fishing, it is more about getting away from the routine than success.

As an adult, I have had some “sporadic” success and have even had some quality father-son time with my boys during our recent hunts held in recent years.  Like anything in life, the more you try something the better you become at it.  You can discover spots where the morels like to hide, what trees they like to grow around, signs on the forest floor if critters have been nibbling on the morels, etc.

I can remember hunting in Michigan around 10-12 years ago with our now teenager.  We had been out for hours on a beautiful day but had zero success.  He didn’t really care what a morel mushroom was, he was exploring all the various plants and hidden finds on the forest floor.

It was getting around lunch hour and we were pretty deep into the woods when I squatted down putting my hands on his shoulders.  “Sorry buddy I do not think we are going to find any mushrooms this time.”  Guess what was literally between my feet on the ground when squatting down – A MOREL!  I will never forget that memory, what were the statistical chances of that happening?

Just last year the season was getting pretty late for mushroom hunting here in Ohio and I thought they may be done popping for the year.  Sure enough our then 7 year old middle child looked over and found the biggest one of the season.  He was beyond excited and was still talking about that find when we went out recently, a full year later.

This year added yet another memorable moment.  Our five year old daughter went to the woods with us guys (the teenager had to work) on a very cold and wet day in her pink coat.  It was in the 40’s and raining, I figured there was a zero chance of finding anything with two young kids.

There are two types of morel mushrooms, grays that come out early and are hard to see because they blend into the forest floor and yellows that can really pop in color if growing next to green vegetation.  We were out early enough that the grays that arrive first would have been our option.  With recent eyesight issues from low blood sugar, I cannot see detail well, kids are not the best as being detail oriented, so I figured little to no chance of finding anything during that particular cold and wet hunt.

I showed our little five year old daughter a picture of a morel mushroom on my phone.  She with doll baby in hand in the middle of the woods went off to become the next generation of mushroom hunter in the Church Family.  Sure enough a few minutes after showing her a photo of a mushroom on my phone, “Daddy, I found one!”  I chuckled and went over to her to find a corn cob that was picked clean by a squirrel.  “Those look kind of look like a mushroom sweetheart, but that is corn.”

Fast forward five minutes, “Daddy, I found one!”  I rolled my eyes and laughed, going back over and sure enough, our little girl found a gray (elusive) morel mushroom – pictured.  Soon our eight year old son came over and he found another.  Before we knew it we had a pretty good little haul but more importantly we added to family memories that I will always treasure.

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NEWSPAPER MOTHER’S DAY WISHES – I will admit I am a bit disappointed in the volume of responses inside this year’s free Mother’s Day wishes; just a handful received.  This free option was made available for our communities to share a special text tribute with their moms (alive or deceased), wives, or any special mother figure in their lives for free.

The first time we conducted this feature a number of years ago, we were slammed with responses.  It has dwindled in recent years. I will likely need to consider discontinuing the feature next year.

Looking inward I have questioned did we somehow not promote the feature as well as in past years?  With our circulation numbers increasing both in print and even more so online compared to past years, visibility should not have been the issue.  The option appeared as a banner ad on top of every news story on our website (tens of thousands of visits on a busy day), via several social media posts (26,000+ follow us online), and via two emails to our reader newsletters list of over 5,000+.  So I do not believe lack of response is anything we have done poorly internally to promote the option.

I think it rather falls with the concept times are changing.  I can remember as a kid that Valentines Day was a huge deal.

I remember early in our marriage that Sweetest Day was something to avoid missing or least the couch was the end result, now you do not see anything about it.

When I became a person of faith back in the late 90’s I can remember the large gatherings for National Day of Prayer along with other community gatherings where churches came together.  We are now finding well under 50% of our towns / ministerial associations locally even do anything, noting low attendance in past years the reasoning.

I dislike seeing the direction we are going in society in these areas.  Is this observation just me? Am I fully missing the mark?  Has social media and/or the pandemic changed society more than we realize?

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THANK YOU NEWSPAPER STAFF – This is the busiest time of the year for our team at the newspaper.  Covering sixteen schools in the two county area and preparing for the end of the school year creates and amazingly busy scenario.  Forthcoming Graduation Tribute pages, year end awards, Spring Sports Season Tournament action, prep for Memorial Day services, many of the schools “catch up” on press releases, the last Honor Roll of the year, shutting down the school year and preparing for the next via School Board Meetings, on and on.  I’m forgetting to mention a lot I’m sure.  Throw in that an average community newspaper is 8 pages and we average 48 (up to 72 in some of our bigger weeks) and our team is extremely busy.

Our success in part is due to LOCAL team members that work hard to make publication each week possible.  In a time when the stress level increases heavily, I would like to give a shout out to their effort and thank them for all they do for our newspaper and the communities/schools we serve.

I would love to hear from you.  As always, feel free to reach out to me at publisher@thevillagereporter.com or via the mail at 115 Broad Street, Montpelier, Ohio 43543.