A Taste of the Woods: Morel Hunting

Soda, a retired gym teacher, walks briskly, scanning the ground side to side. He twists through brambles and disappears. I follow. You learn things in the woods. I learn about his mother, Dorothy, who taught him the love of the outdoors. I learn about bald eagles nesting on his land. I hear a tale about Dot, an old Dalmatian- mix dog of his that allegedly could find morels. I learn that some mushrooms are poisonous, but the morel is distinctive and easy to identify. I learn how refreshing it can be wandering a spring woods. And I learn the thrill of spotting a milky-creamy morel pushing out from a mat of leaves. We find 25 in the morning and 74 in the afternoon, low for Soda's standards (one season he "quit counting at 5,000") but pleasing to me.