As the last traces of snow melt into the earth on this dreary mid-March morning, I can almost taste the imminent approach of the coming mushroom season. This will last until I see snow gather once again next Fall, and that is a comforting thought...
I've always had a fondness for mushrooms, but my experience of them never went further than my local grocery store. That all changed several years back when I received, as a gift,The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms.. My life would never be the same.
The following Summer I nearly tripped over several enormous Horse Mushrooms (Agaricus arvensis) growing in my yard. After a positive identification provided by my new book, I sauteed and savored what would be the first of many wild harvested mushrooms. What happened next was no fly-by-night fling or casual encounter, but a full blown love affair with all things mycological.
Each season I would add another species or two to my growing internal database of edible wild mushrooms, and my obsession with finding newer and rarer varieties flourished. Just last year I began the study of using mushrooms medicinally through the use of teas and tinctures, which widened my experience of these natural wonders once again.
So now I patiently sit, waiting for those first few warm April nights that will trigger the beginning of Morel season here in Ohio. I envy my brothers and sisters in the southern states that may already be stumbling upon those little gifts, but I'm secure in the fact that I will soon be trekking through the unmannered cathedral that is the open forest, and that someday soon I will look down to see a natural gem poking it's way through last year's carpet of Fall leaves.
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