May 14, 2000. The long wet spring has delayed the wild sage harvest, but mushrooms continue to come up. Young fennel bulbs are peaking.
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May 8, 2000. Morels are up if you can find them! Porcini in the Sierras and puffballs are good picking on the coast. Sage is in blossom, but damp. Nepitella is flowering in the North Napa Valley.
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March 21, 2000. miner’s lettuce is sweet and delicious dressed simply with salt and olive oil. Hedgehogs up on the coast.
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Today is Sunday Nov. 28 and after an 8 hour day in the field, I left with nearly 70 pounds of King and Queen Boletus ( PORCINI!!!) from Tio’s Secret Spot. So many mushrooms that darkness forced an end to the hunt. Unfortuately, I went out with only about 20 plastic grocerey bags and my daypack – not the big frame pack and its assortment of containers. At Times I could only carry my find about 50 yards before needing to stop. The carabiners on my knife and brush served as handles to conect the sacks of mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms are now available, but this year nearly all will go into the barrels for vinegar and my new Wild Mushroom Essence. To all aspiring foragers: Hunting mushrooms is BIG FUN. Selling mushrooms is NO FUN.
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Today is Saturday November 27. It has rained about two inches in the past two weeks and I took a survey of Howell Mtn. for 6 1/2 hours. Species collected included King and Queen Porcini, Butter Boletes, Cocoli, and early Canterelles.True to Tio, I was able to “scent” the porcini before I saw them. The most interesting thing was the discovery of a VERY professional sweep of one area of the mountian by a group using road cones and yellow tape to lay down a grid of the area. No porcini were found in this area no matter how difficult to collect. Tomorrow I head straight for Tio’s Secret Spot and hope for the best.
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Today is October 21, 1999. Porcini are up in Northern California, and I will be out picking Friday and Saturday. But dry off shore winds have all but evaporated the chicken-of-the-woods. I should go out picking fennel soon – most of the flowers have wilted.
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Today is January 2, 1999 and Tio once again found Matsutakes where no one else would have looked. With his pal Bobby dog, we hiked an 8 mile loop and old Tio kept the pace. The weather was cool and the sky clear and sunny. it was a perfect foray yeilding +20 pounds of matsutake and almost as much in white chanterelles.
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Today is December 24 and Tio is so much better off than I. Nothing really prepares you for picking olives. From the ache in your shoulders to the cuts on your hands, nothing else I pick has so much pain associated with it. Tio watches only briefly, happy to go back to rest by the woodstove. Tomorrow, Basset Claus will be here with his Christmas Wish…. an entire Columbus Salami, but not before the traditional breakfest of coffee, champagne and Hot buttered Panatone.
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Today is December 20 and Tio is in the Olive Grove as olives must be picked. I was able to get about 400 pounds. That was about 6 trees. There are 80 on the property. I think I may be here awhile.
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Today is December 19 and Tio decided to sit today out to sit by the woodstove. I went out on the west end and found no weight of commercial value. It was a wet walk and not very interesting.
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Today is December 18 and Tio was in the field scouting a new area of the mountian. We taveled lite and fast on this survey hike, stopping only that which truely begged- Chanterelles and Matsutake for a total take of 18 pounds. About 1/3 into the hike, Tio picked up the pace and we quickly covered the ground over two ridges when he began to sound – deer, and they were grazing on Matsutake!! He charged down the hill and I barely had time to start dropping bags to mark the area as Tio chased a small herd down the open meadow. I was keeping up fairly well when the deer banked to the left and began to circle toward our entry point. So I decided to let Tio have the deer and I went back and collected nearly all of today’s Matsutake. When I got back to the truck, Tio was waiting near the tailgate.
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Today is December 17 and Tio was again in the field stalking matsutake and chanterelles. The hikes are getting easier and the mushrooms bigger. Yielded 35 lbs. of White Chanterelles and 17 pounds of Matsutake.
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Today is December 15, 1998 and Tio has been in the field gathering mostly Matsutakes, and giving a dramatic leason in how to guard the matsutake patch… It seems that on this particular day Tio and I encountered two of our friends, who will remain nameless ( ‘cuz we still like them) who were out looking for mushrooms in “our” area. Now FYI, when you hunt mushrooms, especially when your learning from someone to hunt mushrooms, it is very poor form to go back to the spot that you were taken: go find your own spot. It is even worse to go to someone’s spot and then try to sell to thier accounts. Well, with are two friends we had such a situation.
Anyway, we chatted and they wanted NOW to learn to hunt MATSUTAKE! My instinct was to run as fast as I could, but at 14, Tio is not much of a runner and I needed him…. so we all headed off to a hillside that I picked clean a few days ago. We faned out on the hill and worked up. “A” started collecting some slippery jacks- which I don’t pick because, well i don’t like ’em. As we approached the crest, I suggested that we sweep back down to cover the hillside. Tio had other plans. When he got to the crest he went straight down the other side, and once going downhill he dosen’t change directions verbally; you have to physically turn him.
So I went down the hill after him and caught up on the bottom on the other side of a creek. I tried turning him around, and there was no doing that: he was a dog on a mission. Then it occurred to me that Tio was right: ditch’em!! And for the next 45 minutes Tio went at crusin’ speed straight to the matsutake patch where we harvested about 50 pounds and about 20 pounds of chanterlles!!
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Today is December 5, 1998 and Tio is in the grove wondering why I bother to pick olives when mushrooms are up. And so do I…..
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Today is December 3, 1998 and Tio is in the field hunting down an early year for wild Matsutake mushrooms. i found it extremely interesting to notice that I can now smell the scent of matsutake in the air- although I am sure that the dry weather has helped bring up the scent.
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Today is November 23, 1998 and tio is a having a wonderful season for white chanterelles. The old man is whipping himself back in shap and is spending an average of 6 hours a day in the field.
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Today is November 17, 1998 and Tio is sitting next to the woodstove recupperating from hunting the wild chanterelles. Both White and Golden varieties are up in the Napa Valley. With rain forcasted for the upcoming weekend, Tio will not begin the olive harvest until Tuesday.
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Today is November 11, 1998 and Tio was in the woods today for his first mushroom foray of the season. What did he find? Some delicious shrimp mushrooms that I enjoyed with a butter and garlic sauce….
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Today is November 5, 1998 and Tio is in the vineyards second picking and gleening old vine Zinfandel and Cabernet for his Big Paw- Big Red. No, it is not for sale. it’s just something I need to do to put up with Tio: a bottle a day takes those doggie blues away.
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Today is November 2, 1998 and Tio is in the field picking Wild Fennel.
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Today is September 10, 1998 and we have been “down” due to the slamming of our web page! That’s right, some rouge ISP stole our site, or my ISP really screwed up and this was a lame cover-up. This site will be undergoing changes for the rest of the year. Hopefully we will be taking credit cards by then.
But, back to Tio. The old man is spending the summer close to home- it’s too hot for him to wander very far. the real Tio news is his new routine and the unbelievable amount of food he is putting away. It seems that just before noon, Tio visits his friend Bobby dog, where he has been getting lunch- A bowl of rice, cottage cheese and …dog food! They then dessert with oversize Milkbones. In the afternoon he is mosseying down to Folie a Deux where he has been cleaning out all of the cat food ( if you can’t catch’em, starve’em). i advised placing the cat food a foot high off the ground, but they have taken to putting out an extra bowl. Now in the evening he gets his dinner- two cups of rice with a breast of chicken (no, he is not being starved). In addition, Tio has his own box of Milkbones that sit open on the kitchen floor. Why do I need to be bothered because he wants a dozen cookies? Of course, at about 10:00 it’s time for ice cream, and don’t try pushing off frozen yougurt- it’s Ben & Jerry’s or Hagen-Daz only.
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August 17, 1998 and Tio is in the field at his notorious Happy Hunting Ground stalking the Wild Porcini mushroom. However, this year is off due to…. El Nino, and we harvested Chanterelles instead.
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Today is June 13, 1998 and this weekend Tio will be at Folie a Deux for a tailgate sale of over runs and bad paint jobs.
June 6th was Tio’s Birthday- the old man is 14! It is unfortunate to report that he hasn’t slowed down a bit because he never moved too quick from the start. Due to unseasonable weather, we postponed his birthday dinner of beef ribs at the Smokehouse for warmer days.
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Today is April 28, 1998 and Tio is at Dr. Steve’s for an OPERATION!! Turns out that he is such a big a-hole that he needs a new one. I have requested a teflon model : no drip- no stick.
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Today is January 6, 1998 and Tio is in the field for the majority of this month harvesting wild mushrooms. Currently our prey are White Chanterelles, which are fruiting large and dry. Tio has also uncovered white truffels – 7 to be exact. Other mushrooms that we are taking out are the Saffron Milkcaps and Pine Spikes.
Of course, Tio can be found roaming the streets and hillsides near the town of Calistoga. However on September 27, Tio was busted for sleeping in the middle of Lincoln Avenue and causing a traffic jam, so unsupervised walks in town are being suspended until cooler weather.
Tio can also be found at Folie a Deux Winery chasing back the cats that stray into his yard.
Woof!