April 3rd, 2024: A routine walk in the neighborhood got an instant upgrade when I noticed that a median strip was sporting some baby morels. I got extremely lucky that the homeowner pulled up as I was taking a picture and he generously offered to let me harvest them. I deferred for a couple hours in order to get the kids and they biked over to help.
The trees planted in the strip now did not look like morel hosts but we learned that ancient crab apple trees had to be removed 1.5 years ago. We got just enough to season a single pizza but a promising start to the 2024 season. I've kept walking and driving by this block since many crab apples remain but zero activity... another good reminder of how flukey mushroom foraging can feel.
April 17th, 2024: This handsome mushroom was popping up everywhere in Seattle for a week and my research had me convinced this was the spring field cap (agrocybe praecox). While they are abundant, they get mixed reviews on taste.
On another dog walk I gathered a few specimen that hadn't dried out enough to crack. After giving them the salt and butter treatment I found them to have a distinctive note of grass... However, I hate to prejudice your own testing (or make you feel bad about liking the taste of grass). I know there are several different sub-varieties of these mushrooms so I wish you luck in your own explorations.
