Big Blue, swimming with "yes"

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I thank you God for this most amazing day, 

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, 

and for the blue dream of sky 

and for everything which is natural, 

which is infinite, which is yes.

~ e. e. cummings

The last post was a bit of No.

When you’re a child, you want what you want, freely, if you’re lucky. But somehow, sometime you learn not to want everything that you want. Because someone says NO. Then, when you hear No often enough, after a while you start to say it yourself. Pretty soon it's your first response to a lot of things. You even say it before the question is asked, before the want is wanted. I hate to say it, but for some, it even becomes their favorite word.

There’s a woman whose life seems to be the answer Yes. (My favorite word.) Shelley Gill was at Don’s school last week, and he said she was the most inspiring assembly speaker he’s heard; the kids thought so too.

What Shelley always wanted was Alaska and a dog. When she turned 18 she moved from Florida to Alaska with $14. With her $14 she bought a husky dog. Years later she became one of the first women to compete in the 1,100 mile dog sled race, the Iditarod.

When Shelley Gill's daughter Kye was nine, she wanted: To swim with a Blue Whale. She knew all about them, because her mom had been working to protect them, driving a whale-research boat, hanging out with marine biologists. Though there were once at least 200,000 and maybe as many as 400,000 of them swimming in the waters of the world, by the 1960s blue whales were on the verge of extinction because of hunting practices. As you may know, the blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived on earth. Bigger than dinosaurs. A blue whale’s heart is as big as a VW Beetle. She eats 4 to 8 tons of krill a day. A blue whale’s tongue weighs as much as an elephant.

National Geographic says:

Blue whales are baleen whales, which means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen, attached to their upper jaws. The giant animals feed by first gulping an enormous mouthful of water, expanding the pleated skin on their throat and belly to take it in. Then the whale's massive tongue forces the water out through the thin, overlapping baleen plates. Thousands of krill are left behind—and then swallowed.

Shelley Gill in Alaska

Did mother Shelley Gill say No to Kye, that no one could swim with such a creature? You might be sucked into that cavernous mouth like the little krill!

No. They traveled thousands of miles down the coast from Alaska to Baja, Mexico. They took a little boat quietly out on the Pacific, to a spot where blue whales range within one hundred yards of shore (the same place where 29,000 were hunted and killed in one winter season in 1932). But every time the boat approached, the blue whale would pull farther away. Finally the boatman said, “I think you’re just gonna have to jump out of the boat and into the water.”

They did. The boat left them in their snorkel gear treading water, and the blue whale slowly glided up to them. Blue mama nudged and hovered. Kye reached out and touched the skin near the whale's eye that's the size of her soccer ball. They gazed at each other, eyes to eye. "Time stops. This moment belongs to Big Blue and me. I twirl like a manta ray in her surge, dancing in the depths of her deep, blue sea." They played and swam a surreal ballet, a human girl and her mom with the largest animal that has ever lived, because the girl wanted to. That's the book Shelly Gill wrote about it at the top of the post: Big Blue.

Photograph by Flip Nicklin, National Geographic

 detail of Anne Barrow's illustration of Kye swimming with a blue whale

image found here

photo found here

image found here

photo found here

I imagine that yes is the only living thing. 

~ e. e. cummings

Watch and listen to Sir David Attenborough talk about this magnificent creature, the blue whale, and find out how long she can stay under water without coming up for air.

Then fill your ears and heart with some fresh Yes from Richie Havens, who still knocks me out forty-one years after Woodstock with "Freedom" (my second favorite word), his improvisation on the Negro Spiritual "Motherless Child."

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Mind, Body & Spirit

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Friday we went to our son Peter's CD release party for his band April to Fall. 

Brian, left center, and my son Peter, right, are April to Fall;

Jeff and Jen contributed considerable vocal talent

to the new album "Straight Line to Your Heart"

Click this link to go to their site where you can listen to clips of the tracks on the album. Their sound is similar to Morrissey, with pleasing strong vocals and acoustic guitar, though in other venues they rock it out when Peter plays his electric guitar. I am not here to sell you anything, but you can figure out at the site how to buy the album on iTunes. I don't know yet how they are selling the CD. At the gallery at the site see photos of Peter and Brian I shot in my studio that Don and Peter converted from a chicken coop. At times I have felt that this studio - l'atelier - where I don't really create anything, except deep sleeping breaths in my hammock chair, is the center of the universe, my kilometer zero, so I'm happy this special place is featured at the center of the CD cover, below. The party was in Rochester, Michigan, which has a homey 100-year-old downtown. (Downtown Rochester photo found here.)

Brian and Peter inside the CD cover -- a photo I took in l'atelier

Besides the big celebratory joy of one of Peter's musical ventures, I was geeked to finally tour and eat in the first-and-only certified organic restaurant in Michigan, Mind, Body & Spirits. The upstairs dining room was the venue for the party. Mike, the owner, is also the one who started the record label (Lazy Day Records) releasing its premier album, April to Fall's "Straight Line to Your Heart". Mike has his entrepreneurial hands in several companies, all of them organic in one way or another.

That's Mike in the middle, with Dennis, my niece Amy's husband, to his left;

I don't know who the gentleman looking at the woman with the camera is - nice smile!

Last October, Mind, Body & Spirits was awarded the Certified Organic Restaurant status (the first and only one in Michigan). Mind, Body & Spirits is one of just thirteen restaurants in the U.S. that not only serves organic and locally grown food, but is also where each and every aspect of the physical building and furnishing is eco-conscious.

I ate certified organic rib-eye steak, though I eat beef only a few times a year;
the finger-length potatoes and Bernaise sauce were YUM;
(I didn't eat it all, there was plenty for lunch the next day)

From their web site:

Mind Body & Spirits was built to inspire and help people…

Mind..

Our 100+ year old building, which was renovated using many of the latest and century old technologies to operate as sustainable as possible, continues to provide a public classroom to progress our children and adults through its education.

Body..

Being a certified Organic restaurant, we only use the purest ingredients for our menu, and as our customers consume our seasonally inspired dishes it will help their bodies on its natural path to wellness without compromising the flavor or your pocket book!

Spirits..

I truly believe that when a person consumes food made with a “conscience” or love, your inner spirit begins to burn stronger….and I will toast to that with a nice glass of organic wine!

My inner spirit was flying around the room as I took pictures. Snapping photos really is a good way to sneak around and nose in and get closer to people you want to get closer to. They don't mind you doing that if you have a camera, at least that's what I've found. I just ate up their smiles.

Everything in the restaurant is made of recycled and/or sustainable materials, from reused and reconstituted brick, to bamboo and cork floors. Every piece of furniture is made from sustainable structural materials and fibers.

 Jeff, Lindsey and Andrea chatting
on furniture made from recycled and sustainable materials

The heating and cooling system is geo-thermal, which means plumbing goes 10 feet deep (3 meters) and water circulates through the earth with its core temperature of 55°F (12.8°C), naturally cooling the building in summer and heating it in winter. There are solar panels on the green roof. Mike would like to get off the electrical grid eventually, with a wind turbine and solar panels providing all the power they need on site.

The roof terrace is covered with tiles made from recycled tires. Vegetables are grown in pots, used for the menu and also for decoration, though the nasturtiums, peppers and tomatoes below are a bit summer-weary now that September is almost done. The tables and chairs on the terrace are manufactured from recycled plastic milk bottles.

 Roof terrace tiles made from recycled tires;
I think maybe a few glasses of wine have dribbled on these tiles

My niece Amy (Ginnie's daughter), next to terrace furniture

made from recycled plastic milk cartons

Potted terrace plants of vegetables, now a little summer-worn

My favorite part of the building is the greenhouse. To go to the restrooms, you have to walk through this space, which is brilliant, since part of Mike's vision is to educate not only the children of Michigan about renewable practices, but also adults. The "wall of water" consists of tubes full of standing water that absorb heat from the sun through the greenhouse windows, then radiate it to keep the greenhouse warm. The solid cement brick wall to the right in this photo absorbs the sun's heat in the winter months when the sun shines lower through the windows. I'd like to go back during the day, for lunch and a daylight tour.

 Wall of water lining the greenhouse

Don stands by the wall of water, which absorbs heat 

from sunlight through the greenhouse windows
for heat in long cold Michigan winters

Herbs and other plants for the restaurant are grown here in the greenhouse.

Amy is standing by the rain water receptacle;
rainwater is used to water the plants.

The quick composter takes 200 pounds of food garbage a day (vegetable and animal matter except bones), then dehydrates it. The water removed is used to water the plants throughout the restaurant, and the dried matter is composted further, since it is still too "hot" to be used by farmers. Restaurant staff set it out every Saturday morning for residents and farmers in the community to help themselves, and compost it for their own use. Have you ever seen a restaurant without a dumpster out back? Mind Body & Spirits has no dumpster. They recycle everything. The restaurant Director of Operations, Ed, along with his dad, take the leftover cooking oil from the restaurant and make bio-diesel for his 1970s Mercedes Benz, which smells like French Fries while he drives.

Quick composter-dehydrater

Dehydrated and composted food ready to take out back 

to the receptacle for pick-up by local residents and farmers

Among the savory food, the groove-inducing music of the band, Peter's musical accomplishment, family from Atlanta and friends from around Michigan, all wrapped in cozy intimacy, and the eco-consciousness of the restaurant, I was energized and stimulated in mind, body and spirit all the way until midnight! Me!

But will I be able to stay up all night for the Willow Ball? Two late nights in one week. Maybe Willow has a sofa, like this one I had my feet up on . . .

And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use.  And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried:  "Look at this Godawful mess."  ~Art Buchwald, 1970

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House of Straw

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Almost six years since moving to the farm in November 2003 we had driven by an RV sitting on a pretty plot of land on Meridian Road that had a sign reading "Green & White Acres." (This would be a reference to the TV show "Green Acres," which entertained my father-in-law to no end.) We passed it every day - winter, spring, summer and fall - going to work "in town" - about a 30-minute ride. I could see that people lived in the RV, and I admired their houselessness in some ambiguous environmentally conscious part of my brain. They had a little rectangular garden bed of tomatoes next to the road, and even a clothesline near the RV. Suddenly last summer a house started going up on that land, and then there were straw bales piled up for the insulation. How exciting!

The first little pig built his house out of straw because it was the easiest thing to do.

While chicory appeared like blue stars along the green firmament of farm fields, the straw house grew. The owners must be building it themselves. It doesn't look easy to me, and it certainly isn't quick. That "Green & White Acres" sign makes me think the owners work at my university or are alums, because MSUs colors are green and white. Our school tries to be green in more than just school spirit, with a good recycling program, and energy conserving incentives, but a lot could still be improved. Sadly, Monsanto develops seeds at my agricultural university, including genetically modified ones, like insect-resistant potatoes. (Here and here are brief articles listing some pros and cons of Genetically Modified Organisms - GMOs.)

One night the big bad wolf, who dearly loved to eat fat little piggies, came along and saw the first little pig in his house of straw. He said "Let me in, Let me in, little pig or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!"

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin", said the little pig.

But of course the wolf did blow the house in and ate the first little pig.

I took the pictures above one year ago. Here is the straw house this week, still not done, but the straw has been covered with stucco. I waited until the blue chicory bloomed again to take new photos. One of the color blue's characteristics in color therapy is that it is calming. It certainly does soothe me on my drive coming and going. Another trait of blue is that it promotes growth. Who knew? Slowly, slowly, country blue chicory is helping a little green house grow.

House of Straw 

It's a blue star bi-way,

a green house bouquet,

hay rolls, straw bales,

wolves fly, pigs prevail.

 ~ me

When the Big Bad Wolf comes to huff and puff and blow this house down, the owners can relax, because the bales make good load bearing walls and are extra sturdy - besides being three [little pig] times more efficient than conventionally built houses, for insulating against the cold and heat. Who needs expensive bricks? And will the owners of Green & White Acres be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!

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red·carpet·green·dress

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Jake Sully: [as he pleads for Eywa's help in attacking the Sky People] See the world where we come from: there's no green there. They've killed their mother, and they're going to do the same thing here.

While her husband James Cameron promotes understanding other cultures and saving the planet before it's too late in the mesmerizing "Avatar," Suzy Amis Cameron is advocating for global connections and ecology too. At MUSE Elementary School in Topanga, California that she founded with her sister Rebecca, kids get hands-on learning (following the Italian Reggio model, which respects children most of all) about many essential things - including respecting the earth. They do regular beach clean-up, raise and eat organic food, use non-toxic cleaning products, and in other ways model a sustainable lifestyle.

When "Avatar" was nominated for many awards including Best Picture, Suzy came up with a contest idea based on this theme: "Caring for the planet is always in fashion." Why not give designers a chance to design her dress for the red carpet at the Academy Awards and bring attention to the idea of designing a beautiful garment in a way that is kind to the earth, and be a fund raiser for kids to go to her school who wouldn't otherwise afford it? So she put the challenge out there to designers around the world for a dress created from organic or recycled materials, or raised in sustainable ways. Here is her video pitch. You might recognize her as a former Ford model and actress (in movies such as "Fandango" with Kevin Costner; postscript: thanks, Susie, for commenting that Suzy met Cameron on the set of "Titanic" in which she played Rose's granddaughter).

I wouldn't have known about this dress design contest if I hadn't noticed it when I opened my university's home page at work Thursday. It was there because the winner is Apparel & Textile Design senior Jillian Granz at Michigan State! This is from the press release:

When submitting her design, Granz recommended the dress be made from peace silk, which allows silk worms to complete their life cycle, rather than be boiled, as is the case with traditional silk. Granz also recommended a no-waste pattern, in which every part of the pattern is utilized and put into the final garment rather than being discarded.

She designed it in her special topics class: Innovative Approaches in Apparel Design, and submitted her entry along with 15 other classmates. Here is Jillian Granz on the phone when Suzy Amis Cameron called her with the news. They'll fly Jillian out for fittings with Suzy and the dressmaker, Academy Award-winning costume designer Deborah Scott (designed for "Avatar" but wasn't nominated for an Oscar this time), and then for a pre-Oscar party March 3 (the Academy Awards are March 7) where they'll unveil the dress. Imagine having your design career launched while you're still an undergraduate, wow. She must feel like the Queen of the World!

Michigan State University is an agricultural school and prides itself on being "green" with a great recycling program. Even our school colors are Green & White, and the name for its Reduce, Reuse, Recycle program is Be Spartan Green. Unfortunately MSU is also infamous for its tight relationship with Monsanto, developing genetically modified (GM) seeds for that company, which makes many of us angry. I hope our Green & White school will evolve into being more famous for sustainable practices, like this green fashion statement. After the reveal March 3, I'll try to remember to post a photo of Jillian's dress. I wonder what color it is?

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homey clean

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Finally, after years of intending to make a home cleaner from natural stuff, I did it. None of the recipes had allured enough to push me past lethargy until Design Sponge shared this one (I've posted my version below). Read here some of the disturbing reasons you should consider it too, such as the fact that 17,000 petrochemicals have been approved for home use, but only 30% of those have been tested for impact on humans, and that the average American home has 10 gallons of harmful chemicals hiding in cabinets and drawers.

There are many things to like about this recipe, but the best for me is adding my favorite scents with essential oils.

Homemade All-Purpose Spray

Ingredients (I bought them all at a health food store, except the empty spray bottle, which I got at Bed, Bath and Beyond):

• 1 empty 32 oz. spray bottle
• 3/4 c. Distilled White Vinegar
• 1 c. Hydrogen Peroxide
• 1 1/2 tsp. Castile Soap*
• 30 drops Tea Tree Oil
• 30-45 drops Essential Oil of choice - I used 15 rosemary drops and 15 spearmint, then I added 15 drops of lavender to rise above the smell of the vinegar (other choices include lemongrass, lemon verbena, clove, cinnamon, anise, sage, grapefruit, lemon, and lime)
  

Mixing:

• Place all ingredients into the spray bottle using a funnel or measuring cup with a spout.
• Add water until contents reach top of bottle.
• Shake vigorously and clean with pleasure!

I can still smell the tea tree oil on my fingers (I had to be sure it was coming out of the dropper). Tea tree oil is also known as melaleuca oil, something that was in Australian soldiers' first aid kids in WWI for its natural antiseptic properties.

With an initial investment of over $30 in the various bottles of stuff, I thought this homemade cleaner might be more costly than a ready bottle of GreenWorks natural all purpose cleaner, but I was willing to pay extra. When Don and I calculated the cost (by the way, apparently there are 600 "drops" in one fluid ounce), we discovered it was only $2.13 total for 32 ounces. (Compare: GreenWorks $3.39/32 oz.)

Squeaky, streakless. I've just increased my chances of becoming a clean freak.




*Castile soap alone is a profound discovery for its simplicity and pure, gentle cleaning qualities.

HOME

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Trying to stay informed and sane at the same time seems impossible. Just when I'd spent five days following the Iran protests (even started a Twitter account to do that), I watched a movie about how close our planet is to being utterly depleted. By us. At the Group of 8, China and India refuse to commit to a plan to reduce carbon emissions and lower the global temperature by two degrees. Remember who else refused to participate not too long ago? Oh yeah, there are other problems in the world too (stretching my neck side to side, right shoulder, then left). I don't mean to be harping on this being overwhelmed thing. It is what it is: a devastating, overwhelming planet.

Peter in Paris had told me it was to be June 5 - World Environment Day - when Yann Arthus-Bertrand (of the NGO GoodPlanet) would release his film HOME that had taken 18 months to shoot in 54 countries entirely from a helicopter and is completely copyright free and not-for-profit. I could have watched it then on my computer, or on TV, but I waited for it on my Netflix queue.




In the first few minutes the photography was gorgeous, but the pace felt plodding and the mystical Gaya music a tedious cliche. I started folding laundry, telling myself to stick with it, it was my duty. Then Glenn Close's voice and Arthus-Bertrand's saturated images slowed me down seductively, horrifyingly.




I left the pile of towels and took a seat. Don too sat down to watch and listen. As we watched we continuously paused the DVD to absorb what had just been said or shown, to lock eyes in stunned disbelief, or to discuss.

Synopsis

In 200,000 years on earth humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly four billion years of evolution. The price to pay is high, but it's too late to be a pessimist: humanity has barely ten years to reverse the trend, become aware of the full extent of its spoilation of the Earth's riches and change its patterns of consumption. By bringing us unique footage from over fifty countries, all seen from the air, by sharing with us his wonder and his concern, with this film Yann Arthus-Bertrand lays the foundation stone for the edifice that, together, we must rebuild.

The photography itself is extraordinary art. Entirely shot from a bird's eye view, some scenes appear artificial, such as the iceberg island in the top photo or the heart below.



Like me, you'll choose to watch this or not. But let me say, I thought it would be "preaching to the choir." I mean, I'm already convinced we have to change our carbon emitting and consumer driven ways. But this film puts visuals on the data, and it's chilling.

The movie HOME isn't just about eating sustainably and locally grown food, but it's one issue I can focus on. I am more convinced than ever to buy every morsel of food locally that I can. One protein source for us that uses land more efficiently than beef or pork (as for chicken, Don raises our own) : Michigan beans. Check out a big list of delicious-sounding recipes from the Michigan Bean Commission (which allows no GMOs, by the way). One of them is below, though I haven't tried it yet.

I was happy to learn from some post-HOME-movie digging that wild caught Pacific salmon is pretty much sustainable. I'm still not in love with having it shipped all the way from Alaska to my door in Michigan, but at least it's riding on a plane with a lot of other goods. I hope.

It's an overwhelming planet we live on. It has abilities to heal itself in ways we haven't discovered yet, almost miraculously with its dazzling Life. I hope it isn't too late for us human beans.

Navy Beans and Eggplant Curry


1 (16-ounce) can navy Beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons oil, divided
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup vegetable stock
2 carrots, sliced
2 cups potatoes, diced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 cups onions, chopped
2 cups cauliflower florets
2 medium zucchini, sliced
2 cups tomatoes, peeled and chopped, reserving liquid
1/4 cup raisins
8 tablespoons plain lowfat yogurt

PREPARATION
Place eggplant cubes in a colander and sprinkle evenly with salt. Set aside for 30 minutes to dry. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add eggplant and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Remove eggplant from pan and set aside. Heat remaining oil in skillet and add curry, cumin, garlic, and pepper. Stir in stock, and cook for 2 minutes. Add carrots, potatoes, green pepper, onions, and cauliflower. Cover and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Return the eggplant to the pan and add beans, zucchini tomatoes, and raisins. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.

Paul Hawken: "You are brilliant, and the Earth is hiring"

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I have been feeling powerless facing this crazy world and its messes. I hardly read the news any more and fear I am falling into the gutters of complacency. I got stressed at work, draining me, but even in my most energetic times I have felt ill equipped to face, let alone help with the world's problems. I've stopped huffing, partly because I'm not paying as close attention as I did during the presidential campaign last year, and partly because I want to send more positive energy out. Yet I've felt conflicted for just going on, posting about beauty, and joy - as long as there is brokenness, greed, ill will, war, violence, environmental destruction, heartbreak, hunger, death, poverty, anxiety and despair anywhere on earth (including inside me).

So when I ran across environmental activist Paul Hawken's May 3rd commencement address at the University of Portland, something in me melted. He said:

Let's begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

I invite you - I implore you - to read the whole speech. It doesn't take long. I want you to feel the same hope I feel. The problems of the world are being solved by little people like you and me, one by one and in small groups - not in big governments or corporations.

Also if you have time, watch and listen to Paul Hawken's 6 minute video addressing Bioneers 2006 about the unnamed movement on this gorgeous planet of those who are taking it upon themselves to work for social and environmental justice: at Blessed Unrest, or at YouTube below.

The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world."

"One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver's description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

We are connected. We are one. If anyone hurts, I hurt.

You can get involved by exploring your areas of concern and hooking up with a group, via Paul Hawken's site called WiserEarth. You can explore groups and organizations, and areas of focus such as organic farming, peace or poverty alleviation. Or how the arts - writing, visual art, film, music - help address our problems. There is a vast network there at WiserEarth, so it might take some time. I just became a member. You can find out who's working where, raise awareness, and connect with a network.

The Summer Day
x x by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

from New and Selected Poems,
1992 Beacon Press, Boston, MA

mushrooms, mycelium & swine flu

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While trees are popping chartreuse leaves at the end of April, after a couple of rainy days and warm nights, we slide our farm clogs on and head into the two little woods behind us to scour the ground for morel mushrooms.



I have to wear my reading glasses so the dried leaves and mushrooms don't blur into one another. With clear vision, I can see how hideously brain-like they look. To one who detests mushrooms - disgusting! To one who adores them - tantalizing!

Don found these clusters of morels hidden beneath brush Friday;
I had gone over the same spot that morning and missed them.

We have never had the luck of some who fill bags and bags with morels. We know a lady who refuses to eat them but will hunt and pick for hours in her woods to harvest them, then give them away with a smile. The most we've found any given year is around 70. Don found the season's first six last week - the ones in the top photo, the biggest being around 2". Then Friday he found the clusters in the photo above.

The season lasts about two weeks, and there is much lore on where to find them (at the foot of an old apple tree, or around fallen elms among them) and how to pick them and not pick them. The clumps of morels Don found Friday were under the jagged edge of the old fallen apple tree. When we picked them, we broke them off and left the base in the ground so they'll continue to propagate.

You can tell real morels from poisonous imposters by their hollowness.

We soak morels in salty water to float out dirt and bugs, then dip them in milk, dredge in flour, and sauté in a little mixture of oil and butter (oil keeps the butter from burning), tossing on some salt and pepper. They are delicious and rival truffles, which sell for hundreds of dollars a pound. (Part of the problem with truffles is that being so expensive, you only get thrifty bits of them in a dish concocted by a clever chef who spreads them out, otherwise who could afford to eat them? And in such small samples, you don't get to really experience their flavor and texture.)

Did you know there are estimated to be one to two million species of fungi? Only about 150,000 of those form mushrooms. Of those, I don't know how many thousands are edible. And of those, only a fraction are cultivated and sold for consumption.

Like humans, fungi "breathe" oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. In fact animals, including humans of course, are closer to fungi in makeup than to plants, protozoa or bacteria.

Beneath these treasures of the ground is a lacy web of mycelium, the root system of fungi. These webs of fibers lie beneath forests and fields all over the planet, and some of them stretch for miles. The largest known living organism in the world is a fungus called honey mushroom, discovered in Oregon in 2000. It's 2,200 acres, that's 3.5 miles across - about 1,665 football fields, yet only one cell wall thick.

In an interview in The Sun magazine, Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, and at fungi.com, explains from 30 years of research how mycelia are essential to the survival of our planet.

Stamets explains that mycelia quite naturally clean up pollutants in the soil. They also feed plants. And what is truly remarkable - when coupled with plants, they make them more resistant to heat and erosion. Grasses laced with mycelia are heat resistant up to 160 degrees fahrenheit, whereas without the fungus, they would wither above 120 degrees.

Stamets suggests we should couple mycelia with corn and other crops to make them "naturally" drought resistant, which sounds better than genetically modifying crops, but I wonder. If the fungi and plants aren't naturally coupled, are we messing with something that shouldn't be messed with? Maybe Stamets and other scientists have an answer.



I leave you with an exciting 18-minute YouTube video of Paul Stamets' TED talk almost exactly one year ago on May 8, 2008: 6 Ways Mushrooms can save the world. It is extraordinary and well worth your time to hear about the network of mycelia in the earth beneath you, and how these organisms benefit us, could help clean up our planet and even provide eco-fuel. There is a segment about their use against flu viruses, and I am very curious to find anything on the Internet connecting fungi with the current Swine H1N1 flu outbreak, since he mentions this strain specifically in the video. You'll get the feeling from his rapid speech that he is trying to tell as much as he possibly can about his favorite subject in too short a time.