The Great Morel Hunt — Part 1

When spring is starting the woods become alive with buds and new growth which starts to change the color from browns to pinks and greens. Bluets appear in our yard and the cutleaved toothwort comes up in the damp hollows. The coltsfoot is blooming along the road sides, that is our first spring flower. The first mushrooms to appear that we have noticed are called earth stars. Shortly afterwards, the morels appear. They are called in this area Hickory Chickens and a number of people make a special effort to hunt them in their favorite secret spots in the woods.

Bluets in our yard.

Redbud trees bloom at the same time as the dogwoods in the woods.

Molly and Bobo are searching for morels on the southern edge of our garden. Two large poplars shade the garden in the summer.

The elusive morel!

Molly has found a morel and is seeing another just a little ways away.

You can tell she is optimistic, she is carrying a bag.

Molly also found this toad who was guarding two morel mushrooms for herself. Morel lovers are fierce in their passion for morels.

Go on to part two of the Great Morel Hunt

The Seasons
We’ve collected some photographs to show the four seasons in our woods.

Socks’ Frog Pond
Some photos taken during the late winter.

The Great Morel Hunt
tells about Molly's and George's hunt for the Great Morel Forest, a semi-mythical place briefly seen in Spring 2000. We attempt to find it again.