NO Adventure

It’s been raining a good deal recently and it has crossed my mind that a mushroom hunt might make a good NOadventure(it sure did). First off, I am a big fan of fresh mushrooms. I often look at all the weird ones that grow in my neighborhood after a storm and wish I had more knowledge about their edibility. Fancy mushrooms cost a king’s ransom at Whole Foods, so I usually get my exotics at HONG KONG MARKET. A cool fall/winter activity might be getting a bunch of fancy mushrooms and crusty bread and making a fondue. Sounds tasty.

There are all types of edible mushrooms in the wilds of south Louisiana. I don’t know if you will find any morels…

…but there are definitely chanterelles(I hear they taste like chicken when pan-fried) on the northshore(and cubensis mushrooms just about everywhere). [UPDATE: I found chanterelle mushrooms in my fucking backyard after a 3-day rain.]

Our mushroom hunt began in “the Parrish.” Check out the beautiful Oak Alley.

We had to pass through the 9th ward to get there though.

We parked in a neighborhood and found an ATV trail into the woods.

There was plenty of wildlife on the way like crab spiders…

… some rabbits, a fox that was too fast for my camera, and these gigantic grasshoppers.

They were extremely docile so I grabbed and befriended  them. Enough about animals, we were hiking ahead in search of mushrooms. Let’s cross this cattle-guard!

There were bones everywhere!

Then we found some cows resting in the shade.

Sometimes mushroom hunting is a lonely job.

The grass was really high, so the conditions were less than ideal. All we harvested was one lousy mushroom. We should’ve come early in the morning instead of so late in the afternoon!

On the way back to the city we stopped at a taco truck and met some kids from NY2NO. They come down here every year from New York to rebuild houses.

I gave them some NOadventure stickers.

Even this guy got one(he also one First Prize for “best jobless weirdo to hang out around a bunch of kids at a taco truck all day.”