This has been a poor year for morel mushrooms.
Last year, we were so busy with the house that we did not have time to forage in our woods for morels until the end of May. We found a few good ones, but we also found many that were past their prime. This year, I vowed to start earlier and spend more time in the woods.
I have walked through the woods every weekend in May, including two mornings going off-trail into areas I had not visited before. I looked at the base of dead trees. I looked on the south slopes. I looked in the bottomlands where it is moister. So far, I have found zero morels, although Maggie did find some Pheasantbacks that she harvested. I have not never tried these as I am a little worried about their correct identification, but since she is still alive I assume they are edible, or at least not poisonous.
The Facebook page I follow for morel foraging has similar reports, although many member have at least found a few. One woman in particular sounds like she lives in our general area and keeps posting photos of lots of morels. I am not convinced she is not posting photos from past years!
It has been a very dry spring in the driftless area, which has affected the morel growth. It has also been cooler, which has resulted in cooler soil temperatures that also slow growth. Although much of the state received an abundance of rain over the past week, these large storms have missed us.
I had visions of finding lots of morels and selling them to raise some money to pay for some of our summer garden experiments. Sadly, the Muscoda Morel Festival was canceled this year, a casualty of the COVID19 lockdowns. Maybe some of the recent light rain and warmer temperatures will trigger a late spurt of growth. If not, we will need to wait and hope that next year will be better.
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