My search logs are starting to show hits for morel season, so it's time to put this year's post together. The early reports from the morel progression sightings map show a few isolated dots in southern Michigan, as of April 22 2009, but typically May is morel month, when and where the May apples are in good form.
Here's a list of some morel festivals in the state; if I have missed any, please let me know so that next year's list can be better.
Make your plans for May 8th –10th, 2009 for our
“Golden Anniversary” 50th Annual Mesick Mushroom Festival. Mesick is on M-115 NW of Cadillac; they helpfully sell "spore bags" to pickers so that when you go out in the woods looking for morels you can seed new crops for future years.
49th Annual National Morel Mushroom Festival: Boyne City, Michigan May 14 through 17 2009 Brochure (pdf), and the site has the song, the Mushroomer's Waltz (mp3), which tells you precisely what sorts of locations are good to go picking.
The University of Michigan Press has a book - How to Find Morels, by Milan Pelouch, recipes by Lila Pelouch - which tells all:
While many morel fans remain tight lipped about their favorite subject, in How to Find Morels author Milan Pelouch freely shares everything he's learned during his years of morel hunting. The book covers all aspects of finding and eating morels: identification of true and false morels; what to wear (and not to wear) and take with you on mushroom hunts; when to search for morels; the best places to look for them; cleaning and preservation methods; and, of course, delicious recipes using morels in dozens of different dishes, from soups to entrées. Although the author's preferred hunting area is northern Michigan, his tips can be used in any location in the United States.
If you want Scientific Research to go with your morels, see doi:10.1007/BF02858213, a touching account from a Harvard lad fresh to the Michigan woods published as Morchellamania in Michigan, Economic Botany, Volume 33, Number 1 / January, 1979.
Any day you can go for a walk in the woods is a good day!
