A Pickup Load of Pigs - The Feral Swine Pandemic

Everyone,

Here is a link to a nice video about feral hogs here in the US. TONS of good information in it.

A PICKUP LOAD OF PIGS (click here)

Also, Mississippi State University has an awesome website for those of you hungry for additional information!

WILD PIG INFO (click here)

Picture I took recently with a trail camera here in Virginia.

Found a few more...pickin' up but still slow.

Mushroom Huntin' is pickin' up slightly....Some rain might help!

First MOREL MUSHROOM of 2011

Went out for a little while before dark, battling the ticks, to do a little mushroom huntin'. It is the first time I have ever found one all by itself....There are several potential reasons for the solitary mushroom and only one of which is a good thing.

The optimist's point of view is that I am EARLY for the patch (I am unsure if 1 constitutes a "patch"). In other words, more will burst onto the scene with the next rain....

The pessimistic views include that I was late for the patch, someone beat me there or wildlife consumed the others...I stop thinking about the negative possibilities after that point!

I ended up huntin' for a little over an hour and found some nice spots that look like they should produce and only collected about 10 ticks.

Mushroom Season is not off to a glorious start for me, but it's a start.

1st Morel Mushroom of 2011, Virginia.

Morel Mushroom Season

For those of you who might not know, mid to late April is generally when "mushroom hunters" begin finding the delicious, morel mushroom in various parts of the country. The exact timing of the emergence of these edible mushrooms depends quite a bit on weather and latitude (altitude if you live in the mountains).

As often as possible Dad, Gregory and I have made trips out to Missouri to "hunt" the traditional sites where Dad and other members of our family have harvested this wild food for generations.

It is nice to hit the old spots but what I enjoy is discovering NEW locations for these tasty mushrooms. I have been keeping my eyes peeled here in Virginia. We have morels in the state but it always seems like our "search image" for the microsite conditions (i.e., moisture, soil, associated trees and plants) likely to produce well are better in Missouri. A few years ago we got into some "GOOD PATCHES" in Missouri and had a blast!

Here are some links to more information about Morel Mushrooms. As with any wild food, BE SURE YOU CORRECTLY IDENTIFY everything before you eat it.

The Great Morel Webpage

Mother Earth News Article About Morels

Morels are notoriously difficult to cultivate and the wild collected specimens usually fetch high prices in the various markets for them. We usually fry the ones we collect...if not, we give them to family that enjoy eating them. Never have sold a one but I bet we could make some money doing it with the amount we find, ha!

Morel Mushroom Growing Kit 

These beauties (about 8 inches tall) were found my Chuck, Greg and Marc (myself) Gray in Missouri a few years ago.

Puttin' thought into working abroad

I have been puttin' some thought into working abroad in light of what may happen with the budgetary situation at work. While I am open to suggestions and obviously there has to be an opportunity to travel to.


Although not complete, a list of places that caught my attention are (in no particular order):


Australia
British Isles (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales)
New Zealand
West Africa (somewhere)
South Africa
Falkland Islands
France
Guyana

Essentially somewhere with cool wildlife and landscapes where they speak English or French like me! I suppose I am particularly intrigued by New Zealand and the Falkland Islands....