Morel mushrooms the word!!

 Well, due to the rain I have been limited on what I can accomplish here on the farm.  So some of my time has been devoted to my extreme mushroom cravings!  I spent many evening the last week and a half trekking through my woods looking for these little fellas and have been finding them from time to time.  

Sunday my daughter and I headed down to Guernsey county to visit a long time friend of mine from my days in the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir.  His name is Richard and he is a fellow mushroomer and has some pretty good spots to find them.  We spent the entire day in the woods and found just shy of 300.  

 Lisa did a great job and is actually very good at finding mushrooms for only being four years old.  She helped all day long and even stayed awake long enough to make it to McDonald's in the next town over for supper before going to sleep for the ride home!

 Most everything we found in the morning and early afternoon were smaller ones.  However, as you can see above, we got into some larger ones at the end of the day.  The largest we found was about six inches tall and three inches in diameter.  I shared some with my parents and gave some of the nicest ones to my grandpa.  He is no longer able to go out to find them himself and he used to pick them every year.  He was quite happy!

Below you can see them cut in half, washed, and drying off to be put in fridge till we can eat them.  They do not store long so we only have a few day before they will start going soft.  For long term storage they can be frozen or dried but are always best fresh!

 Yesterday, while my wife was preparing dinner, my kids and I went out in yard to pick up sticks and stuff and see what all was blooming.  This is the coral burst crab apple on the corner of the house.  It is starting to open up today. 

 This is the kids fighting over who is gonna get what mushrooms!  They didn't last very long, good thing I had more to cook!

 One last pic of a group I found.  Usually you find one per spot.  Sometimes if you are lucky there are two from one spot.  This was my first time to find three large ones from one sprout point!

As for the barn.  Progress is slow.  I am hoping for some nice weather to get out and get some more work done and get some good updated pics.

Will keep you posted.

Updates:
Steers go to butcher shop on June 23.  I will be contacting those getting beef this summer soon.  Next steer should be ready around January and then one more near June of next year.

I had to push back the butcher date for the four pigs that were to be done in June.  They are not going to make weight by that date so I got a later date of August 9th.  This will allow them to finish out to the correct weight.

Also, I am currently taking orders for Fall/winter pork.  The piglets will be getting weaned off in a month and I will only be keeping what we have sold to fatten out.  Everything else will be sold as feeders at that time.  I am expecting them to be ready between December and January.  If you or someone you know would like to reserve a pig please contact me soon so can mark one down for you.  I am asking that you put a $25 deposit to hold the reservation as I have buyers for any pigs I do not need for freezer meat sales.  I will take this off the bill upon delivery of the meat when they are ready.  I currently have five of the twenty three sold.  Once they are gone the next batch will not be ready till next summer so get them now or you will have to beg someone for some of their bacon! 

You can contact me directly at  (ken.r.merrick@gmail.com).  I will give you my phone number at that time so you can contact me that way. 

Lastly, we will be having baby calve born starting at the end of June and ending in September.  We will be having a total of seven babies this year!!  I can't wait!

Have a great day!! 

Kenny