So winter has arrived and we're not used to the cold so we're chilled to the bone.
Yesterday I had a fire going in the fireplace to ward off the chill. The Christmas
decorations are still in place so it was quite festive and very relaxing sitting
in front of the fire with the cat curled up on my lap.
This time of year is always slow for mushrooming. When I was a kid we would get
ready for winter and sledding by sanding and waxing the runners of our Flexible
Flyer sleds. We started this as early as November. We wanted to be ready as soon
as the first flakes drifted down from the sky. Before it was sleds now it's cross country skis.
As spring approached we would have all of our fishing gear ready for opening day. Usually by the end of February
we were ready to go and had re-read every issue of the Pennsylvania Angler.
The mushroom season always begins before the first morels poke up. When the first
teaser days of spring arrive you can get into the woods to scout for likely hot
spots. The season begins even if you don't find any mushrooms. What do you do
until then. My gardening catalogs arrived in late December so it might be a good
idea to start thumbing through them so that I'm not ordering seeds at the last
minute.
Perhaps I'll inventory what's left of last year's morel harvest.
