Chanterelle Mushroom Season

Yep, it's that time again: Blackberries and Chanterelles from the forest

But, of course, the Important Thing is that means it’s also Chigger Season! Which means Tick Season has, well, not ended, but certainly tapered off (I’ve picked an engorged tick off of Nashoba in December).

I could do about 100 Postings regarding Chiggers! Went to 2 Open-Mikes this week (so far) and played my Brown County Chigger Ballad as a Public Service Announcement (it’s been recorded by the Brown County Historical Society, so maybe someday I’ll be famous). That one song goes on for about 15 minutes, and I could go even longer, just playing 2 major chords [E and A] with the occasional B-7th thrown in. I have a Test at the end to see how much people learned from my Dissertation (I have a Ph.D. in Chiggerology); the results are pretty pathetic. Sometimes I think I’m just wasting my life trying to enlighten people and I could probably teach people something really useful and meaningful that will change their life, like physics, with better results.

Compared to Morell’s, Chanterelles are SO easy to find! Everything in the forest is green, and the Chanterelles are orange! You can spot them a hundred feet away! I can’t see a Morell even if it’s staring me right in the face.

This will be the first year I won’t be able to bring my wolf Nashoba along with me … I stopped hiking with him last year this time after a mushroom hunt. We were coming back a different way (I took the wide-easy-graded un-used logging-road rather than than narrow winding trail down the last ridge). And I saw Nashoba turning his back leg, and stumbling on his front legs (and I had even cut the hike short after only going halfway along one of my gathering-trails because I had a full load). That’s when we stopped hiking together, and I pretty much stopped hiking. He would follow me anywhere, even if it would kill him; and it just isn’t as much fun hiking alone.

Anyway, saw fresh Chanterelles at the market yesterday, 16$/pound. If I want to really depress myself, I time how long it takes me to get my stuff together, drive to the tail head, take my hike, collect mushrooms, come home and clean them (and then Sautee and freeze them), and see if I am even paying myself a minimum wage! And Shit! You know I still have sautéed Chanterelle’s from last year in the freezer! Today the high temperature will be only 78 F, and no rain, so I’m going mushroom hunting, might even smoke a Fat One. I shouldn’t say “hunting”, but rather “gathering” or “collecting”. Oh, and don’t worry about me: I live a Good Clean Hoosier Chigger-Free Life, because I wrote the book (or at least the song) on that!

And the garlic is ready for harvesting, and I have a good crop this year. And Shit! I still have some garlic left over from last year’s paltry harvest in the pantry, and it’s still good. So, tonight for dinner, it shall be fresh Chanterelles sautéed with fresh garlic and onions over fresh pasta with wilted spinach, lots of freshly-grated Parmesan, and a good red or white wine (enjoyed with a beautiful babe on my back deck overlooking the pond).

How I suffer!

I have a bunch of good mushroom jokes, and mushroom stories, but I think I’ll stop here for today.