raising girls. praising Him.: mushrooming on the farm

We enjoyed a visit with John's parents on the farm this weekend. In addition to some quality time with them as well as Sally the kitty (with whom Abby was enamored), John hunted morel mushrooms with his dad. It's an annual tradition in late-April/May that John's taken part in for most of his life. I've had the opportunity to hunt them since John and I have been together for the last 10 years or so.

At first I enjoyed it because I loved the nature walk, tromping up the hills and through the woods behind John's parents' house. Then I quickly learned that finding a good patch of morels is often strategic and requires some meausre of luck. We've had better luck in previous years, but John and his dad were able to round up a pound or two of morels over the weekend. A good day of hunting morels will turn out 5-7 pounds, and a very successful day of hunting could turn out 10's of pounds!

Once found, we bring them back to the house where John's mom rinses the dirt off and soaks them in salt water for a number of hours to force the tiny bugs out. Yes, there are bugs in them when you pick them. Yuck, I know. But once their dipped in egg, rolled in cracker crumbs and fried up to perfection, you'd never know! :-) Yum-o!! If you've never had a morel mushroom--especially a fried one--you're definitely missing out on one tasty treat!

Like last year, Abby had the opportunity to pick a few this year as well. Unortunately, weather conditions weren't the best when we took her out (misty and windy), and it had already rained enough to make the short walk muddy. She loved it nonetheless.

Look closely and you can see the morel in Abby's left hand (kinda blurry...it was raining)

helping Grandma dry dishes playing with Sally (who was caged because she was pregnant at the time and they didn't want her wandering off to have the kittens where they couldn't find her/them)...and she had three kittens this morningblowing bubbles for Sally :)