Tis the Season

5/10 – 5/11

Since 2022, the morel mushroom seasons have been dry for us. Were we too early, too late, or maybe the weather wasn’t right? – it’s always hard to pinpoint an exact reason. Morels move season to season as well, making them hard to track. One year will have an explosion on a wooded hill, and the next year when you check, there won’t be a single one. There are some secret spots that usually bring good luck, and this year it was warm and wet earlier in the season. Conditions were perfect the weekend of May 10^th, so we set out to hunt under the shade of poplars and over crunchy forest floors.

We found a ton! This year was a great haul. Both light and dark morels were poking out from under leaves. We took them home that night and cooked them up.

Butter, minced garlic, and red wine boiled down with the mushrooms until they were perfect to eat on their own or with a Triscuit and cheese. We made morel pasta that night, and it was delicious.

Across news channels and social media, there was talk of a strong geomagnetic storm that could cause a show of northern lights in Michigan (and even further down the country) that night.

Northern Lights

5/12 – 5/13

In the early hours of the 12^th I set an alarm for 12:30AM. A friend of mind who chases these storms planned to meet me and go out to try our luck. The strongest solar flare had happened the night before, so it was a gamble. But with the lake stretched out in front of us and minimal light pollution, we were shocked by what we saw as we walked down to the beach.

The beach is less than a 2 minute walk from the house on Mill Street, and from the parking lot with street lights above, we saw nothing. But as we walked down the dunes to the shoreline, we saw bright tendrils of light all across the sky. We could even see them move and pulse, stretching up towards the Milky Way. iPhone long exposures added color we couldn’t see with the naked eye, but those white streaks were clearly seen, ebbing and flowing for just 10 minutes.

The next morning we woke up, had some morels in our eggs with coffee, and headed out to hunt more! My friend joined me and found her first morel, and then quite a few afterwards.