We went mushroom hunting today in a park in Pittsburgh. These few weeks are the only time morels will grow on the East Coast. On our walk through the trails, we kept our eyes out for dying elms and tulip poplars. Morels will pop up near those trees inside of a twenty foot radius.

We saw plenty of signs of morel season — apple blossoms, garlic mustard blossoms, and may apples. So, we knew we’d find some good mushrooms if we kept looking. They can really hide, especially under leaves, but once you spot one, you’re likely to find a bunch.

We found three different kinds of morels on this trip, yellows, blacks or greys, and half-frees. The yellows and blacks have the typical morel cap. The half-frees have a cap with parallel ridges, which unlike the other morels is not attached to the shaft fully. It’s half free, hence the name. These morels are also known in the parlance of our obscene times as peckerheads.

We made sure to cut them off with a knife, and not just rip them out of the ground. We want the mycelium to stay healthy in the park so that this patch of morels might be there next year.

Now, how can we be sure that our morels are true morels and not fakes? One important thing to check is to cut them in half and look inside. Morels have a totally hollow interior. If your mushroom has a cottony middle, or has several chambers, it’s a fake. Don’t eat it!

True morels have either a fully attached cap, or a half attached cap. If the cap is mostly free, it’s probably not a morel. There are a few species such as Verpa bohemica and Verpa conica which look like a half-free, but whose caps are completely free. If you find one, it’s a fake. Don’t eat it!

In general, if you’re not sure, don’t eat it! And learn from an expert. Almost every city has a mycological society. They exist to help you find mushrooms safely. Ask them!

Now that we’re home, we’re going to make sure we wash and cook them or dry them before we eat them. It’s probably not a good idea to eat wild mushrooms raw. You never know what might be living in them!

First, on Friday we’ve got the Great Plant Auction at the Phipps Garden Center (remember, the Garden Center is located at 1059 Shady Ave, near the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts). Doors for the Great Plant Auction open at 6 p.m. Admission includes wine and heavy hors d’oeuvres: $20 members; $25 non-members.

Saturday brings the Phipps Conservatory used bulb sale, at the Conservatory from 9am to 6pm. Also on Saturday is the Audubon Society’s local plant sale at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, from 9am to 2pm.

I’ve been thinking about turning a section of the ether-garden into a native plants plot, and this is just the kick in the pants I needed. I’m definitely quite excited!

Last night we were treated to a lovely thunder storm, complete with huge flashes of lightning and wall-shaking thunderclaps. We sorely needed the rain as it’s been a bit of a dry April around here. After Saturday’s attempt for morels I figured I’d go out on a foray today in hopes that the rain encouraged the mushrooms to pop their little heads up. Boy was I right, these yellow morels are almost the size of Luminiferous’ hand! Not only did I not have to drive 30 miles out of town this time, but I found a few nice little caches of morels essentially in my backyard. Now I’ve got a little secret too.

We spent the evening cleaning and stringing today’s finds to dry. There were a ton of the big yellows, a decent helping of the blacks (some call them grays at this stage due to the white edging on the caps), and five half-frees. Half-frees are a new variety to me, so named because unlike the other morels their caps aren’t connected to the stems the entire way down but just halfway, the rest creating a hanging skirt. I’m hoping to go back out in a couple days, as I left behind plenty of very young mushrooms to mature in the woods before picking them. I’ll probably sauté those and freeze them, so I can compare how the flavor holds up with the different methods of storage.

This weekend was the Western PA Mushroom Club’s annual Morel Madness Weekend. The weekend consists of two days of forays, slide-shows, and camping. Morels can be quite expensive at the market, largely due to the fact that they do not cultivate well. They have a unique texture, much more al-dente than most mushrooms, and have a very distinct flavor. Many who do not like most fleshy-capped mushrooms such as portabello or traditional button mushrooms enjoy morels, so give ‘em a try.

This year we might have been a bit early for the morels, it was hard to say. Most of us didn’t find a whole lot, and though one guy seemed to know the secret spot in the park where the morels were flourishing he wasn’t sharing his secret with anyone. Oh well. We might go back in a week and see what we can find.The outing wasn’t a complete bust though as we did find some rather tasty Dryad’s Saddle mushrooms, and were privy to the glories of spring in South-Western PA.

Throughout the wood were signs of spring oft missed by us city dwellers. Lovely white and red Trilliums made carpets through the forest, accented by the occasional patch of Jack-in-the-Pulpits. A few of our varieties of Trillium, including most of the reds, are classified as either at-risk or endangered, so it was quite a treat to get to see those. I was glad to see the deer hadn’t eaten them all up yet, as they are prone to doing. We also saw all manner of Violets ranging from white to yellow to purple, wild onions, garlic-mustard, and a few ramps.

Urban gardeners often think of the signs of spring as the crocuses, tulips, and daffodils we have planted into our yards. While I didn’t come home with even a single morel this time around, I did come home with a reminder of what spring looks like in our native forests. Maybe we can put in some trilliums for next year, to bring this reminder a bit closer to home.

Speaking of co-operation I stopped by my local co-op, the East End Food Co-Op today and they were putting out the first flats of locally-grown organic and heirloom transplant seedlings for sale! I didn’t get to see all of what they had, as they seemed to be explaining the different plants and prices to the staff when I arrived. I did see garlic chives, a few other herbs, and rhubarb. Mmm… rhubarb. I think I’ll have to snag myself some of those seedlings. Remember back when I was talking about what all I’d be growing this year, and how it was subject to change based on the available seedlings? Yeah- this is what I was talking about. I’m a sucker for baby plants. They’re just so darn cute (and tasty).

Tonight I attended a delightful little food tasting event as part of the Farm to Table Conference. There were about a dozen exhibitors there tonight, and everything I tasted was simply lovely. There is so much to talk about from the conference earlier today as well, but I’d like to save that for a little later. A few vendors stood out in particular tonight for me. Local sprout farmer Chris Wahlberg of Mung Dynasty was there serving some of his wonderful soup. Tonight’s offering was a lovely sprouted sweet- and english-pea soup garnished with mustard sprouts. It was a lovely take on the traditional split-pea soup and the sprouted peas gave a nice toothsome texture.

There was some wonderful locally raised turkey and chicken, raw milk cheeses, hydroponic lettuces, local hormone-free cottage cheese, and some local cheese from Emerald Valley Artisan Cheeses. Not quite so local but still tasty was some smoked salmon and fish chowder from Alaska Wild Salmon Company. After all that cheese it was time for a little wine, and lucky for me Joseph Skocik of Plum Run Winery brought along a delightful array. I sampled a few of his varieties earlier today, and added one more to the list tonight. Among my favorites were his Elderberry, Mulberry, and Honey Mead for the sweets, and the Pinot Noir and for something drier.

What better to go with my wine than some locally made chocolates? I couldn’t think of anything- so chocolates it was. Taste of Chocolate is located in Saxonburg PA and makes all of their chocolates by hand in-house. While their Amaretto decadence is one of their best selling confections, I was partial to the chocolate covered dried cherries. While I was tempted to get Jeremy a packet of chocolate covered local bacon, I decided that one chocolate-bacon candy was enough for the year. I think we’re over the bacon fad anyhow.

I finished off the night with some simple yet savory mushroom toast. All night I’d noticed everyone carrying these delightful looking canape type toasts, but hadn’t seen them. Turns out it was hiding by the cash-bar by the second entrance. A lovely two-tiered dish of minced sauteed mushrooms with baguette toast and grated cheese. I only wish I knew who made the lovely mushroom dish, so simple yet so perfect.

Tomorrow morning they are having an organic local breakfast for those of us attending the early-morning demonstrations and speakers. The flyer boasts organic fruits, raw milk yoghurt and kefir smoothies, buckwheat pancakes (my favorite!), local raw honey, and a myriad of savory breakfast goodies. I’m excited as this makes getting there by 9:30am for the fermentation workshop much more bearable.

• Early Girl: Bears heavy crops extremely early, continues longer than most varieties
• Big Beef: Extra large, 10-12 oz., red fruits are firm, juicy and highly flavored
• Big Boy: Rich, tangy flavor, extremely juicy, solid texture
• Better Boy: Huge, delicious, red fruits, many 1 lb. each. Good leaf coverage

All of these are good tomatoes and great choices for someone not as interested in maintaining heirloom lines. I grew these and other conventional tomatoes for many years, and they definitely have the advantage of being available at almost any garden center or commercial nursery.

Gradually I began swapping out my conventional seedlings for heirlooms. My local food co-op happens to carry a variety of heirloom and organic vegetable seedlings in the spring and early summer, which really helped me get started with these wonderful plants. I still grow heirlooms, but now I go a step further and start my own seeds, rather than purchasing seedlings.

2006 was the first year I grew exclusively heirloom tomatoes. I was still using chemical fertilizers such as Miracle-Gro, but that’s a discussion for another day. I chose four heirloom seedlings from my co-op based on nothing other than what sounded tasty and interesting. I’d never grown potato-leaf tomatoes before, so I made sure to choose a few of those. My choices that year were:

• Brandywine: red steak tomato, potato-leaf, late 1800’s amish
• Chianti Rose: pink brandywine and italian cross, potato-leaf, unknown date
• Garden Peach: small yellow with a soft “peach fuzz”, native origin is peru
• Ruby Gold: large variegated red and yellow steak tomato

The Ruby Gold and Brandywine both produced very large, heavy, meaty fruit in a modest quantity. The flavor was lovely- perfect for slicing and eating on sandwiches or in a salad. the Chianti Rose gave me average sized tomatoes, of an average yield, and an average flavor. They were very soft-fleshed and mostly ended up in my tomato-sauce pot. The Garden Peach gave me such a bounty of tomatoes that they would fall off the vine before I got a chance to pick them all! These tomatoes were lovely little ping-pong ball sized golden yellow beauties covered in a soft fuzz. I gave many of these away as gifts, sauced some, and ate even more just as they were. I have a special place in my heart for these little guys, as they bring back fond memories from my childhood. I can’t help but reminisce over watching Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (the cartoon version of course), and how similar these sweet tomatoes are to the adorable FT, short for Furry Tomato.

2007 was a bad year for tomatoes for the home-gardener in my area. Across the board, tomatoes were maturing very late, and producing poorly. I had the deck stacked against me as I also had to container-garden my tomatoes rather than planting them in their usual spot along the garage, as I was moving mid-summer. I decided to grow only three varieties last year. I grew a a pink, a white, and Black Krim. Unfortunately, I cannot recall what the white and pink tomatoes were. These poor tomatoes, they did really try their best. I got a few large fruit off the Krim, a couple fleshy pinks, and a few small but adorable whites. Nowhere near the amount I needed for my yearly canning endeavors, so I resorted to farmers market tomatoes for that.

This year will be better. The tomatoes will be grown in one spot, with plenty of room this year. They will be planted in rich yummy soil and watered with the finest of fish-tank water. All I need is for mother nature to be kind and do her job well. I’ve chosen to grow a minimum of four varieties this year and, as I’ve mentioned previously, I’m likely to pick up a few seedlings locally. I’d like to try my hand at a white tomato again as they are quite lovely and sweet.

While I’m on the subject of tomatoes, there are a few interesting links I’d like to share. First, for those of you interested in growing heirloom tomatoes yourself there is Garden Desk’s handy post- The Pros and Cons of Heirloom Tomatoes. There is also a wonderful blog dedicated to that favorite fruit of mine, Tomato Casual. Lastly, a sad bit of tomato news for the state of Pennsylvania. Our top tomato farmer for direct-to-market tomatoes is quitting the tomato business, citing lack of labor.