#mushroompottery

I began foraging for mushrooms around the same time I started making pottery. My first 2 seasons, I didn’t find much of anything, because it turns out it takes practice to become good at foraging - and it’s also all dependent on the weather. Not only do you have to know where to look, but also when to look.

When you mushroom hunt (or look for mushroom treasures, as my 4 year old niece would say), people more often than not ask if you’ve found morel mushrooms.

Morel mushrooms are magical for many people. They have an incredibly short season, are hard to find, and are actually delicious. I don’t particularly enjoy eating mushrooms and I’m a big fan! They’re a good mushroom for beginner foragers because there are very few look-alikes, and they are easily differentiated from inedible look-alike species.

One morning in April 2023, I got a text from my sibling, which is still probably my favorite text of all time -

“This is not a drill. Dozens of fruiting bodies. Morels everywhere. Come to dad’s.”

I live an hour and a half from my parents’ house but I didn’t care, I got in the car immediately.

It was so magical. I had never found them before, and we found 30 of them! I’m hooked on trying to find them every year now, the morel dopamine is better than drugs.

I started making a lot of morel mushroom pottery since then. It brings back good memories, and I like to think I am manifesting my next successful hunt for mushroom treasures.

here are some of my favorite morel makes.