Dreams... and reality

11 June 2012

After yet another fruitless expedition for my beloved chanterelles this weekend, I've decided to turn to my photo archives, to see what pickings were like in the previous years.

I really was quite sure that I was collecting mushrooms as early as late May, and this post was going to be full of complaints about the late cold spring and how grass was greener in the years past.

Somewhat sheepishly, I have to admit that all I really have to complain about is my faulty memory: I have been faithfully recording the results of my mushroom forays since 2007, and the earliest photo I could find was dated 11th June, and only one other was taken on 13th June.

13 June 2010

Apart from identifying false memories, I discovered something else while going through the photo archives: it appears that early start of the season and abundance, or otherwise, of early mushrooms, have no predictive value as to how good pickings are going to be. 2012 was in fact one of the poorer years, 2010 only average, and the best year I've had so far was 2011, the first photo record for which was in early July. I collected so many mushrooms that summer that at some point I ran out of freezer space, and for about two months my long-suffering family ate wild mushrooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They of course knew better than to complain.

So it looks like there is hope for a good season yet. Just need a little patience.