A New Mushroom Legend

A story to pass on to the Grandchildren: So, Daddy was driving down an old country road, driving about 60 mph, (minus 55), and Mommy was looking out the window, and she yelled, “Stop, I see one!” Once the car stops, she jumps out of the car to retrieve her treasure.

You can’t see it? It’s right there! A wild snakehead mushroom. Never in my life, nor have I met anyone, who spotted a wild snakehead mushroom from the inside of a moving car. It’s almost as if a fairy told me where to look, and when.

Thinking we had hit the mother-load, we pulled over and started looking for the mushroom’s twin. (They always grow in pairs.) Earlier that morning Daddy found a morel (grey sponge) mushroom at the city park during lacrosse practice. With that one mushroom as our motivation, we headed out of town to the woods to find more.

Snakeheads are usually early, so there is probably still be more to come over the next few weeks. We need rain. (Do I sound like a farmer?)

It’s was almost as if the mushrooms heard us making so much noise, so they tucked back under ground.

I stood in one spot, saw fresh deer tracks, wild roses, earth moist from a creek, and a hill. Here, I had all of the trappings for a big mess of mushrooms. But not one was in sight. But I could smell them.

We found only a few more snakeheads, after a couple of hours searching in the woods. A disappointment, as my sons have now acquired a taste for this exotic delicacy, and there were just a few to share. (I only ate 1 before they were all snatched up!) We took a cell phone picture of our mushroom find for the day and sent it to my brother. His one-word text response was simply, “Where?”

See more Best Shot Monday’s at Mother May I.