Last year there was a drought. I went out to my secret places regularly but never found a single black trumpet. The year before, my friend Danielle and I found more than 30 pounds of them but last year, nothing. So, when I came upon a colony of them, imagine my happiness! It had been nearly two years since I’d seen them, my friends. Plus, there is something very happy about a village of black trumpets. I cut them with scissors so as not to disturb the root that connects the flower to the mycelium below and cut judiciously, just enough to eat and some to give away.
I also found these Old Man of the Woods, which appear so shaggy that they seem like a more pristine mushroom gone-by. But they are good too.
Here is how I travled to find these friends….what a faithful sturdy horse, this Jasper. It is quite a feeling to be able to just leave from home on him and just go into the Poverty Mountain woods behind me, and come home with a satchel full of dinner.
Here is what I did with them, along with some bi-color boletes that Bob Winston gave me in exchange for some of the trumpets.