TERRE HAUTE —
Here I sit with Alan Reed at Starbucks Coffee about to figure out how and where mushrooms grow.
I will be talking to several different people on the subject, and I don’t think anyone truly knows how mushrooms grow or they would be millionaires if they could grow them.
Reed is a nice, thoughtful man that you can enjoy visiting with for hours on end. He’s a genuine person that puts in thought to everything he says.
So let’s get started. Which came first the chicken or the egg?
Does a mushroom re-seed itself or does it start from a newly generated spore or fungus? Of course, in coming writings we will explore the best spots to find them.
Reed has thoughts along with well-kept documentation from his own experiences.
In 2010, he discovered 150 morels of different varieties. In 2009, he counted 505, including a harvest of 300 gray and whites on April 15. In 2008, he found about 200; in 2007, about 380; and in 2006, about 310.
Reed feels that they recreate themselves by releasing spores, which he says you can shake a large one and see them fall to the ground.
A natural way they would do so is by wind or rain triggering them to release. So Reed recommends when you pick them to shake, bump or rub them to replant the spores where they are picked. This could improve the odds of reproduction due to it being the original environment.
Reed also thinks there are thousands of spores on one mushroom, so let’s think about what type of sack to carry them in. Reed made his own sack with open mesh material and a draw string at the top that he purchased at a local cloth store.
He is so dedicated to mushroom hunting that he looks for ways to make it better, similar to a deer hunter planting food plots.
To understand how something originates and exists allows you to better support its existence.
Reed gets all upset to see someone in the woods with a plastic bag. He sees it as someone killing his sport because people don’t understand the replanting concept.
How does a mushroom originate? Is it due to soil, vegetation, certain types of trees, a certain fungus or mold?
Reed feels different trees produce different types of mushrooms: there’s the yellow morel, black morel, gray morel and the gooesnecks or button-tops. Pine trees produce black morels, although yellow and gray morels are not particular for they like dead elm trees with bark coming off of them.
It seems the hillsides facing North with adequate sun produce well — light is good. Reed has researched the theory of snow cover and says it doesn’t matter. They get moisture and minerals from other sources.
How fast do morels grow? Many people claim they grow over night or let’s just say in a 12- to 24-hour period of time, night or day.
The stick theory works pretty well for a lot of people by simply sticking a stick in the ground next to the mushroom to gauge the growth the next day or two. A can placed over the top presents a more dark period of time that some folks think helps.
Hold on, I’ve got another couple sitting down beside us to enjoy a cup of coffee so let’s see what their ideas are on mushrooms.
I didn’t realize who they were until Reed ask if they were in real estate, and boy, are they in real estate. Burt and Patty Williams are as fine of people as you would ever want to meet.
They sold their real estate company, but they are not retired and still very active in the field. They live in Sullivan County, and have a very nice, isolated home, so they have their own private mushroom hunting area.
Burt grinned and said if they can’t find any they go to the Mansfield mushroom festival.
On April 15 one year, one of the best finds they had was yellow morels.
Patty said to prepare them, she soaks them in salt water, cuts them in half and places them in salt water. Then she places them on a cookie sheet, then bags the ones left over for the freezer so they can have a treat on Christmas morning.
Reed stresses to use a mesh bag. For the effort it takes, it may make the difference. His preparation is to soak them in water and he doesn’t worry about the little critters in them. He says they cook up to. After soaking in water, cut them in half, cover them with egg and flour, then cook. He then hopes there is some left after cooking them. There has only been two times he’s had any left to freeze.
Thanks Alan for a great afternoon of coffee and mushrooms.
If you don’t take to heart what you love the most, it will be gone forever.
Kenny Bayless can be reached by e-mail at kwbayless@aol.com.
Sports Columns
REDNECK QUAKER: Examining morel issues with passionate hunters
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TRACKSIDE: Local drivers, owners looking to have strong night at Tony Hulman Classic
In its rich 43-year history, the Tony Hulman Sprint Car Classic has long carried on a strong local racing tradition.
From its early beginnings starting in 1971, the U.S. Auto Club-sanctioned event has been the annual centerpiece of the racing calendar at the Terre Haute Action Track as well as a key stop on the USAC sprint schedule and one of the most sought after wins in big league sprint-car racing. -
Shooters compete to fight cancer
A team of employees at Taghleef, formally A.E.T, would like to give a personal invite for you to join in on a lot of fun while helping save lives.
Cindy and Mark Wilguess are the inspiration behind the Taghleef Team. Cindy herself fought this battle with cancer and won. Last year she led her team to be the No. 1 fundraisers in the Relay for Life. -
TILL IT'S OVER: Terre Haute Triathlon's new race director seeks more events for his hometown
Today is the day for the Thunder in the Valley, and the Terre Haute Triathlon is under new leadership in 2013, the 28th year for the event at Hawthorn Park.
A former Terre Haute North track and cross country standout, Ethan Page is the race director as the race falls under the reign of Page’s new company, Crossroads Events. -
TODD GOLDEN: Don't give up on ISU baseball just yet
If you had to pick one word that would describe the 2013 Indiana State baseball season, it would have to be frustration.
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RAMBLIN’ RECK: Pacers having a ‘Garden Party’
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KENNY BAYLESS: Sponsors sought for 'Ladies Only' event at Terre Haute Sporting Clays
Sponsors are being sought at the Ladies Only event at Terre Haute Sporting Clays on Saturday at 10 a.m. Sponsors should be willing to donate $1 or more for every broken bird. Each lady is allowed 25 shots. Flat donations are gladly accepted. Also, organizers are looking for more ladies to participate. Ammo, clay birds, and guns (if needed) will be furnished.
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College Report: Lively earned collegiate upgrade with strong play
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Lively was impressive enough to earn a Division I scholarship to Southeast Missouri State of the Ohio Valley Conference, and both her future and past college coaches think she will continue to succeed there.
“She fits what we need,” SEMO coach Ty Margenthaler said. “She has college experience, she is strong and physical and plays well around the basket and moves well.
“Her strength, rebounding and touch around the basket will be a big help. On the defensive end, she’ll be able to guard a true center.” -
RAMBLIN' RECK: It’s May … a time for horses and horsepower
It’s the first day of May, a great month for sports.
It begins with the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. My Old Kentucky Home is played before the start of the race on which hundreds of bets will be placed by folks who ordinarily don’t bet on thoroughbred horse racing.
A week later, practice begins for the Indianapolis 500.
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Terre Haute runner sets up race to help Boston
Having competed in the Boston Marathon once before in 2003, 35-year-old Majel Wells of Terre Haute thought she should give it another try in 2013.
“My goal was just to finish and enjoy Boston,” she reflected this week. “I had an injury [runner’s knee] beforehand, so I wasn’t too worried about beating my time from 2003 [4 hours, 10.20 seconds].
“But nobody cares about what your time is at Boston anyway.”
From what I’ve heard over the years, she’s right. Unless you’re a super-serious runner, the Boston Marathon has been more about taking in the atmosphere and having fun than placing in the top 50, although Wells was pleased that she beat her previous time by finishing in 3:55.19 on April 15.
Obviously, her race time wasn’t the most vivid memory that Wells took away from her 2013 Boston experience. -
Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs to put TVs to good use
If Jenny had known, she probably wouldn’t have bought that TV.
But four or five years ago, my Fathers Day present — for those unfamiliar with Amey family traditions, the Fathers Day one is “let’s get something we all really want and pretend it’s a gift for Dad” — was a 42-inch Vizio. It’s been used even more than the cell phone I never would have bought for myself, or the TomTom that disappeared since Jenny’s smartphone arrived.
And it came with high-def.
I’m not going to insult you by telling you how great high-def is, because to do so would be to imply that you are even farther behind the technological curve than I am. I’m guessing, however, that not all of you have yet discovered what it does for hockey. -
Foot Notes: ISU track athletes looking to keep improving at Drake Relays
Indiana State’s track schedule has helped its men’s and women’s teams escape the glacial Wabash Valley weather and enjoy warm days in Auburn, Ala., and Knoxville, Tenn.
With the Sycamores’ track facility basically laid to rest for competition and construction on a new one planned near the Wabash River to begin in 2014, major kudos go to everyone involved for continuing to produce athletes that are NCAA contenders who race with some of the world’s best.
Some of ISU’s current athletes are hoping for season-best performances this weekend against strong competition in the Drake Relays.
Former Sycamore NCAA pole-vault champion Kylie Hutson, who competes professionally for Nike and trains in her hometown of Terre Haute, also has been in Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the Pole Vault in the Mall on Wednesday night. -
REDNECK QUAKER: Variety of birds to search for in turkey hunting
My father-in-law, Donnell Dunn of Jacksonville, Fla., is a retired engineer from J.I. Case and an avid reader and loves information on anything he takes interest in. He has five patents under his belt during his career.
Donnell took great interest in the Turkey World Slam display at Gander Mountain and thought each bird needed some info to help people understand more about them. -
TRACKSIDE: USAC racing picking up, including Sunday's stop in Terre Haute
With a break in the weather, U.S. Auto Club-sanctioned racing will kick into high gear on the area motorsports scene this weekend with events scheduled at three Indiana ovals.
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Ramblin’ Reck: Sato first Foyt winner since 2002
Takuma Sato made Izod IndyCar Series history Sunday when he won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
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Former South players to play in Saylor benefit game
I had my first phone conversation with Mike Saylor since mid-February on Thursday and he sounded good.
The former Terre Haute South High School boys basketball coach, who’s been battling cancer this year, has been traveling back and forth to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for chemotherapy treatments. -
COLLEGE REPORT: Valley prep athletes getting ready for next level
The NCAA “regular” signing period begins Wednesday for all sports except football, field hockey, soccer, track and field, cross country and men’s water polo.
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RAMBLIN’ RECK: Pacers closing out a nice season
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Amey Takes Aim: Can’t bottle the joy of Amey vacations
The first bad sign was the Gatorade bottle.
In the Bataan-Death-March drive to Orlando that got the Amey family spring break vacation off to a bad start, seeing it between lanes of I-24 — as we zipped along at a 100-miles-in-five-hours clip — filled with an ominous yellow liquid was a little bit scary. And although we didn't stop to check for sure, I'm fairly certain I knew about its contents.
And the person stuck in the same traffic jam with us, the one with the existential license plate YMIHR4, couldn’t have asked a more pertinent question.
But, after seeing a lot more of Oak Grove, Ky., than we’d planned, and after enduring more traffic slowdowns in Nashville, we were on our way. Even some rain in the dark in the Smokies didn’t slow us down much, so you would think our first-day troubles were over.
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Redneck Quaker: Mascari gets thrills from turkey hunting
Annie Mascari is a beautiful, vibrant, 26-year-old lady that loves the outdoors.
She comes from a large family of four brothers and a sister and lives the teachings of good family values.
Olivia Rightly let me know that I “should talk to my teacher at St. Pats School, Ms. Mascari, because she’s taken a turkey.”
As I shook Annie’s hand, I could feel the energy she has for life. As proof, the first time she went up in an airplane, she jumped out of it!
She’s also quite the hunter. Mascari picked up a used PSE bow for $30, one for a left-hander because her left eye is dominate for shooting. The Page Arrows are her choice for broadheads. -
RAMBLIN’ RECK: Louisville gets two shots at NCAA title
Louisville met Michigan in the championship game of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Monday. Louisville faces Connecticut in the title tilt of the women’s tournament tonight.
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REDNECK QUAKER: Learning to shoot clays a great experience
Tom Mitchell from Burnett is an all-around outdoor enthusiast. His passions are motorcycles, cars, and most of all, shooting sports. When he sights in on metal target shooting with a hand gun or rifle you will hear a lot of “clang” noises, he can shoot very quiet also, because he is licensed to own suppressers.
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TRACKSIDE: Racing season picking up speed
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RAMBLIN’ RECK: Out with the hoops, in with the bats
It’s a super week for sports fans — college basketball comes to a close and the first baseball games are played in the major leagues.
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COLLEGE REPORT: Conferences honor Valley softball players
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FROM THE PRESSBOX: Content McKenna has enjoyed seeing ISU's progress
It all happened so fast in June 2010.
One minute, Kevin McKenna was head coach of the Indiana State men’s basketball program. Then — poof! — he was gone.
McKenna resigned from his head coaching position at ISU on June 13, 2010 to take an assistant coach position on Dana Altman’s then-burgeoning University of Oregon staff. -
FROM THE PRESSBOX: NCAA got it right with Louisville in Indianapolis
The worst decision and the best decisions made by the NCAA Tournament selection committee shared space on Lucas Oil Stadium’s hardwood Friday night.
The Midwest Regional’s opener pitted Louisville and Oregon, two teams that were on the opposite sides of the NCAA’s coin on Selection Sunday.
Oregon, winner of the Pac-12 Tournament and Pac-12 runner-up in the regular season, was shockingly seeded 12th in the Midwest Region. - More Sports Columns Headlines
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