Saturday

foraging ~

I went foraging yesterday with my daughter  ... looking for the elusive and delectable morel mushroom.


 We found a few ... but not enough!
All together we spotted around a dozen of these gems of woods.  Yum :)

BUT ... there were tons of these buggers ~ the Beef Steak aka. False Morels.  Some people claim they are edible; but they have too high of a toxicity level for me to try them.  They say you can eat them but the toxin in them stays in your body and then all of a sudden ... one bite and you can be a goner.  Nope... not going to eat these:

 They really smelled good ... and there were so many ... so tempting; but nope! NO! No! NO!!! Don't eat the False Morels!



I also had a forager in the yard munching on clover.  Mr. or Mrs.  don't know the sex because I couldn't see under the tail ... Snow Shoe Hare ... all decked out in it's summer colors of brown. In the winter months it's pure white like the snow.




During the night ... more foragers :

A raccoon  and a flying squirrel ~




The biggest forager though of the neighborhood was a big black bear ... sorry no photo.  It was over at my Mom's place (a couple forties over to the east).  It ripped the screen off her house door! Poor Momma was a bit frazzled over the whole incident.

She heard something during the night and called out to my brother who lives with her.  She thought someone was breaking into the house.  My brother came out into the living room and when he turned on the lights he saw the bear on the other side of the door.  He hollared at it and it took off and went around the house to the kitchen door.  My brother then scared it off from there.  I guess he must of smelled the hamburgers that they had for supper and was wanting one.

Ahh... the joys and thrills of living in the woods!

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

10 comments:

  1. Tell Gram that she needs to stop being such a good cook, even the bear wants a taste! I bet that was scary though, thankfully he didn't get in. Good thing Eric was there to scare it off.
    The morels look yummy, Staci does have a prime spot for them. Don and I looked around our yard for some but never found any. He said that he has found them in years past so maybe I will luck out one of these years and they will start growing again.
    Love and miss ya! Oh and you need to post some more pics of Suzabell.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOVE the morels. Never a dull moment out there in the woods. Wonderful wildlife.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those kinds of mushrooms creep me out.I can't eat them , don't even ever want to try. But I have family that's crazy for them.LOL I have only look for them once. You have some critters. too. :):) Blessings to you and yours, xoxo,Susie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Morel hunting season sounds like a plan. I wonder what's in our woods. We've been so busy picking rock and planting onions, we haven't had time to take a ride...
    That was something about the bear at the farm and he's a big one, we hear. Mom was pretty excited when she called this morning. So it goes in our kind of exciting living.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We had lots of morels this year, in fact I saw photos of truck beds full! Glad you found some.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We haven't had any bear sightings in our neck of the woods yet.

    Seen a few morels, but none of the false ones.

    Beautiful weather this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I avoid all mushrooms in the wild, I would eat a toad stool and die!
    Love the creature shots.

    Mama was fooling she would stretch the bears tail and tie it in a knot. She just wanted Eric to feel needed. (It is good he is there with your mom. I know it does give her a lot of comfort.
    Nice entry, I really do like to see the black bear, but only his rear as he leaves....

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mmm...morels! I guess we should take a little hike and check for them. The story of the bear reminds me of when Granny B lived up north and she showed me the paw print of a bear on her single pane window. She said she took the heel of her shoe and tapped the window to scare it away.
    'love & hugs from afar'

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've never tasted the morel mushrooms..I feel like I'm missing something since you are not the first blogger that's been talking about the hunts! That was a close call with the bear..I wouldn't have hollered too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Read through the last 3 days!!! Goodness, you certainly DO have LOTS of critters around there. I have marauding deer, late night or early morning... that get my flowers, the pups does not wake up and warn, altho they must go right by bedroom window. Why have a dog, goodness be, if they don't do their job!!! (well their job is to be my baby too, I guess :) and she does an admiral job doing that for sure!! Love the eagle and the lovely colored birds!!!

    ReplyDelete