The Score: 45 down, 55 to go

Our fridge is full of baggies containing edible odds and ends we need to cook up. Our front porch hosts a few baskets containing edibles we find in the yard. On our trip to Connecticut this weekend, we weeded Thag's mother's ivy specifically to collect the edible weeds growing in it. We stopped the car to collect on the side of the road. We are busy with edibles and are still having trouble keeping up with all this season has to offer.

So...

31. Morel mushrooms--absolutely divine--5

32. Dryad's saddle mushrooms--pungent and chewy--Thag--4, Ooga--1

33. Cattail rhizome flour--labor intensive to process, but sweet and nutty in flavor--5

34. Mint--no description necessary--5

35. Jewel weed--slightly slimy and a bit limp after all the boiling, but mild in flavor--3

36. Sheep sorrel--sour and lemony--easy to use in a variety of recipes--4

37. Wood sorrel--lovely little heart shaped leaves, tastes very similar to sheep sorrel, easy to find--great salad green--4

38. Clover greens--easy to find, hide well in a salad, tough if old--3

39. Milk weed shoots--easy to gather, should be peeled, cook like green beans, get 'em young--4

40. Thistle stalk--use like celery--deep, yet subtle, in flavor--good in sauces--4

41. Black locust flowers--sweet and fragrant, utterly heavenly--5

42. Thistle petiole--use like thistle stalk, but more work intensive--3

43. Burdock petiole--a pain to process, requires two boilings, gentle flavor, easy to incorporate into any veggie dish like a stir fry--3

44. Sumac shoots--we don't think we did these right--supposed to be sweet and juicy--we found them slightly bitter--until further notice, 2

45. Chickweed greens--easy to find, nice lettucy flavor, can be cooked or eaten raw--4

Morels and Dryad's Saddle

We met up with Arena about mid-day on Sunday. It was a tricky day for me as Baby Yub Yub was so excited about being outside she refused to take a nap. So I listened to what I could, misidentified some plants, and chased my cranky daughter. Luckily there are two of us (Single parents, I bow down to you in homage of your great patience!). Thag followed Arena and listened to her wisdom.

It turns out Arena forages for much more than mushrooms. She is a foraging expert, with beautifully illustrated journals documenting her foraging journals and an arsenal of field guides. She is self trained and has eaten many more wild edibles than we have. In addition she has kept careful records of where and when she found things. What a role model!

To begin with, we foraged along a quiet dirt road where Arena had found mushrooms before. We discovered some Dryad's Saddle (also known as Pheasant's Back; scientific name: Polyporus squamosus) growing on the bottom section of a tree trunk. According to Arena and our field guides these mushrooms are easy to identify so we felt more comfortable eating them. Unfortunately they were a bit old and are best (as most things are) when young. Arena said we could cut off the outer edge of the mushroom and it would still be fine to eat; unfortunately they were rather wormy. Still we collected a bunch in a brown paper bag and set off.

Next on our list: the prized morel. Said to be among the best tasting of mushrooms, when we discuss our project with people, we are often asked, "So have you found any morels?" Morels are a funky looking little mushroom, with long caps that are deeply pitted. Arena has lots of morel spots to gather from, though she says you never know where they will show up next, and she often doesn't find them in the same place twice. She says 95 percent of all her morel finds are at the base of old, even dying, ash or apple trees.

And that is where we found them. We collected two different types of morels from three different locations, collecting seven mushrooms altogether. Arena reports that some years are better than others and this year is not fantastic. Still, we wouldn't have found any alone. The mushrooms are so small and so well hidden, we would have stepped on them rather than found them ourselves.

Back at home, I carefully cleaned and sliced our mushrooms. Much of the dryad's saddle was too riddled with worms to eat. We sauteed them in separte pans with butter, onion, and salt.

And the verdict is...The morels were fantastic. An easy 5. This is saying something as I have never been a mushroom fan.

The dryad's saddle presented a conundrum. Never before have Thag and I had such a discrepancy in our ratings. I could not palate them. I found them off putting in their smell and flavor, and their texture much too tough. I couldn't swallow them. Rating: 1. Thag loved them. He ate them up and wanted more. He describes them as smelling sweet like cucumbers. He gave them a 4. So, you'll have to try them for yourself.