Genie says to come prepared for the meeting on Monday the 1st of February with not only your warm clothes, but also some warm food. Yes, February's meeting typically consists of a pot luck, and this year is no exception. Everybody bring their favorite dish's, and also your favorite utensils, plates, and cups.
The directors had a board meeting on Monday night and in attendance were Katsu Young and her husband, Genie Coleman, Woody Taylor & Verley, Craig and Ruth Marlette, Al and Halle Toman, and Brian Shroy. Fred Nicholson would have made the meeting except that he's been off the continent visiting his homeland for a month or so. Also conspicuously absent was the newsletter editor (who has a software development project that needs to be ready to ship by March 1st -- I've always thought that sleep was much over-rated anyway).
Everybody had a great time at the meeting, and Craig suggested that we have board meetings more often. Of course, it really helped that Katsu was the Chef of the evening and had such interesting Chinese New Years offerings such as Spring rolls with Shiitake (she added that spring rolls are eaten so that "good things roll all year round", Fried Noodles with Morels (of course, everybody loved these), and Sweet and Sour with Shiitake. Woody (that's Grandpa Woody to me) was so taken by the Sweet and Sour with Shiitake that he asked for the recipe, which everyone present was quick to write down, I'll try to get it myself and publish it in a future Puffball. Katsu admitted that she had one dish that she somehow forgot to serve (why do I get the feeling that this may have been some especially delicious treat that maybe her husband had hidden).
It was agreed that this was a fun way to have a board meeting, and even Katsu apparently enjoyed preparing the meal. Maybe Katsu would enjoy creating a meal for each of the regular meetings!
At the meeting a discussion was started about the possibilities of starting a "Mushroom watch". Interested parties would give an account of the mushrooms growing, and the mushroom season in general, around their particular spot of Oregon. We have members living in Salem, Corvallis, Silverton, Cornelius, Sheridan, Jefferson, Clatskanie, and other areas of Oregon. We will discuss this possibility at a future meeting.
The discussion soon reached a topic warm on everyone's heart -- the weather. Because of the nice weather we've had for the last two or three days, Katsu suggested that perhaps spring had arrived early -- I think I can still hear the hysterical laughter even now! Things have been in a bit dormant to say the least because of the snow that we've had here in Oregon. Even the Oregon coast was hit -- now that's pretty unusual. Needless to say, there were no forays to report on. Genie did suggest that perhaps if the weather continued on like this for the next few weeks that perhaps we might find a few oysters, blewits, an occasional shaggy parasol, a Helvella laucunosa or two, or inedible spring Agrocybe's.
The talk about spring possibly being just around the corner(?) brought the conversation to a few recent spring-time forays by Genie. She had mentioned that last spring she found fourteen Morels growing out of her neighbors freshly landscaped and barked yard. This wasn't the first time that she's found Morels growing in freshly laid barkdust. Once in California Genie and her daughter found bagfuls of Morels growing in a development with fresh barkdust. Apparently the first years flush is pretty good, with successive years quickly dwindling to nothing at all (just a handful by the 3rd year). Wow, you can either drive all over Mount Hood, or just follow the bark trucks!
This brought up a foray for Morels that Genie took with Nancy Smith Weber and Zelda Carter "somewhere along the Santiam" -- don't want to give away too many trade secrets. She found that Zelda was finding twice the amount of Morels then she was. On further study she noticed that Zelda was using the infamous "Morel Crouch" technique of picking with her nose within two feet of the ground (or was that two inches -- well, anything for Morels). On this particular trip they found Verpas, Morels, and Half Free Morels (she said Nancy wouldn't let them keep the Half Frees because she needed them for study -- sure!).
Genie also mentioned that several days after their foray for mushrooms in the snow just before the December 7th meeting the club received a post card from Paul Esser of Silverton, who was visiting Belize. To keep you from having to pull the atlas out, Belize was formerly known as British Honduras and sits on the Caribbean side of Central America. He rubbed in the fact that he was spending his winter snorkeling for mushrooms.
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