Living in a Recent Wildfire Harvesting Morel Mushrooms

(2022 Morels The Movie)
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Follow along with us while we harvest wild morel mushrooms together in the Canadian wilderness. Bush living, good food and friends and of course great wild harvesting. If you want a more in depth look at the season, check out our 2022 morels playlist where you can find 22 individual episodes.
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00:00 Introduction
4:36 Day 1 to 7 building camp
11:35 Day 8 to 10 giant puffballs
18:38 Day 11 to 13 scouting the burn
26:45 Day 14 to 16 harvesting and drying
38:35 Day 17 to 18 building a woodstove dryer
44:12 Day 19 to 22 huge mushroom harvest
59:47 Day 23 to 26 finding more ground
1:17:04 Day 27 to 28 fishing, cooking & picking
1:22:32 Day 29 to 32 camp life
1:29:46 Day 33 biggest morel of the season
1:32:10 Day 34 to 38 fire morel time!
1:47:12 Day 39 exploring deadman ranch
1:50:19 Day 40 packing up camp
1:52:12 Season grand total recap
1:53:31 Day 41 saying goodbye

[@treehuggingbuddhist]

beautifully filmed and produced…why aren’t there more people viewing mushrooming? 🐿🌲🍄

[@proy2241]

This is becoming a nice routine. End my workweek by sitting down with a couple beers and watching this well made morel mushroom series. Then it will be time to go out into our beautiful wilderness and pick some of these beauties for ourselves ❤ .👍❤

[@northernwildharvest]

Awesome, we will be out there soon as well! Not sure if you'll be around to watch next week since you might be out searching for morels yourself, but we have a short series coming on rainforest pine mushroom harvesting - one of our personal favorite mushroom hunts.

[@proy2241]

@@northernwildharvest we have may 19-31 off for vacation.I’ve already started searching here in Grande Cache but nothing yet.I’ll be watching next week for sure thanks and much success to you .👍

[@gregorykucera4235]

Great video, Last year was my best year in 50 years I found 1000 in Tennessee and Indiana but nothing like you guys find .Thanks for such a great video

[@randym8963]

May the morels find you in force. Hope you have an awesome year.

[@northernwildharvest]

Let us know in the comments what parts of our season overview you enjoyed and would like to see more of in the future. Timestamp of season overview/recap with grand total is near the end of the video for returning viewers that requested it.

[@lynnmcinnes9810]

I know now why morels are expensive. its a lot of hard work. i admire you guys.

[@IdahoHillbilly]

Damn! I have been hunting mushrooms my whole life and years ago commercially BUT YOU BOYS are SERIOUS!

[@dannsherstone1037]

Really well done editing! You show case hard work and why these mushroom are pricy! I could never deal with the insects!

[@clintdyson5765]

I'm just in awe!! I would be in heaven. Couldn't imagine. I wouldn't be able to sleep!! Very cool guys thanks for sharing.

[@northernwildharvest]

Carrying the packframe tires us out but when we close our eyes…morels!! Glad you enjoyed 😅

[@eriks9576]

Hell yea love your content! Please don't stop! Greetings from Portland Oregon USA

[@northernwildharvest]

Soon we’ll be in the bush for a looong while but we’ll do our best to pre-upload quite a few videos for when we’re gone!

[@johnt7776]

Amazing movie. This is so much work documenting your adventure. It really shows in the quality.

[@elliottoutdoors4977]

The most morel mushrooms I’ve ever seen picked would be fun

[@bryanluff8040]

Awesome show.

[@bonnerdebbie]

Well done, I loved it. I imagine you are getting ready for the 2023 season. I look forward to more harvesting videos from you. Thank you!

[@northernwildharvest]

Glad you enjoyed. Next week you will see us harvesting in the rainforest :)

[@lyndseygilmour6706]

Love the sound of the guitar threw this😁

[@northernwildharvest]

Thanks Lyndsey

[@pachiratiny]

This is just amazing! Great work NHW.

[@woopwopp5283]

amazing job on narration philllly this was awsome

[@SuperMan-yg5dz]

Thank you for your videos. Little story you might like: Im Greek, some years ago I was visiting my father's village in the mountains of Taygetos in Greece, a devastating fire had gone through it the year or 2 before, first in recent history. This group of people were seen gathering things but no one knew what they were doing. So one day I pulled over and asked them. Turns out they were Bulgarians, employees of an Italian who was paying the to gather these odd looking mushrooms. Greeks do not know or eat Morels. The Italian apparently had a network of these illegal gatherers collecting it thrm and then he would freeze them and take them out of the country, probably illegally. I since then took an interest in morels and your videos are very educational to me. Who knows maybe one day I will call you over in Greece for market research..😆

[@northernwildharvest]

Thank you for sharing. Wild mushrooms can sometimes be a wild west, fly by night kind of industry in some places. We have always tried to be a more professional and respectful with how we operate but we have definitely know our share of interesting characters who have tried their hands at picking. Morels are very delicious mushrooms, we absolutely love them in just about any meal.

[@SuperMan-yg5dz]

Thanks for the reply...I would love to see you including some of your Morel recipes on the camp fire.

[@northernwildharvest]

@@SuperMan-yg5dz will do lots more of that this season! Also just recorded a video at home showing how we rehydrate them and cooked them 3 different ways.

[@greybearoutdoors6144]

Great movie Phil! I learned a ton of information I never knew. I was shocked to find out there are so many species. I now am on a quest for "greenies". Thanks for your excellent work. Your vids are very entertaining!

[@northernwildharvest]

Thanks for watching. Sometimes the greens just don't flush at all in some burns, but when the conditions are right, they can be the most abundant of all species.

[@bartomiejkmita5118]

I love it! I wish I could go with you for that harvesting. I never found morchella coinica before. There was a plenty of Morchella gigas and Verpa bohemica this year. But morels are not very common here and hard to find. Calvatia gigantica on the other hand is very common and easy to find. Season for morels are going to the end in Poland where I live.

[@ADKflyguy]

Fantastic.

[@cindymorris221]

Hi Randy it’s me Dixie ❤ amazing content xxx

[@randym8963]

Hiya Dixie, thx for taking the time to comment.

[@dwmaddawgs]

Looks like the most work ever done for harvesting morel mushrooms!

[@lynnmcinnes9810]

You guys sure eat well and healthy. Great film the way it was put together. Do you guys have to carry a weapon for safety against bears. I know you dont show it.

[@erictodd3585]

My son and I love your mushroom videos, great job! I was wondering if you have any tips on keeping Morels from sporing when dehydrating them?

[@northernwildharvest]

Hi Eric, glad you and your son have been enjoying them. We will have a video dedicated to drying morels in the future. Try to not put wet, over mature mushrooms in with the fresher mushrooms. When you start drying, the more airflow the better. Ideally you want dry air that is only slightly warm at first. Too much heat too early will stimulate them to spore. Once the spore tubes are sealed, using slightly warm, dry, high cfm airflow, then you can start adding more heat. Hope this helps! Cheers

[@ericwhitehead5281]

well done biys, well done

[@northernwildharvest]

Thanks Eric. It was friendly ground last year. It’s not always so easy, as you know.

[@untamedfeast]

@Northern Wild Harvest indeed Did you sell all your dried? They look great, your drying system was working for you I see, looks interesting

[@northernwildharvest]

Most of last years are sold. Have a few lbs left for personal. It’s a “fit in the back of a pickup” style drying system, works for a small crew. Very cheap to run which is a bonus.

[@untamedfeast]

@Northern Wild Harvest looked interesting, forced air and propane heat maybe, maybe you have a wood stove. I have a bit of experience, ahem, drying morels and seeing you load thoes drawers made me cringe, but then your product came out gorgeous. Whatever you doing, if all your dried looked like that, your onto something

[@northernwildharvest]

Working off 35 years of Randy’s morel drying experience. I know what you mean about the drawers but yep you’ve seen the product - took a bit of experimenting to figure that one out! The drawers can have screens inserted to divide up the volume when the morels are mature and prone to sporing. No propane these days - either woodstove or when using bigger dryers a frostfighter is nice and dry.

[@nicktroendle7692]

Amazing as a commercial forager in the Midwest. This is a dream for most of us. Thanks for sharing.

[@northernwildharvest]

Glad you enjoyed it. Best of luck with your foraging in the Midwest! Hope you fill many baskets. Stay safe out there!

[@BCGhostTownsandTravels]

So glad I watched this ! Well done guys 😊

[@northernwildharvest]

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed 🙂

[@lisabrauninger8748]

Just finished watching the movie. 2:29 Well done, but I do have questions: Why do u waste the stems? Why don't you have gore-tex boots?! Is the price per pound for wet or dried morels? No ladies working? Can dried morels be hydrated back to "like fresh"? How do chefs use dried morels? Do u have to be careful handling the morels due to toxins? Can u damage fresh morels by rough handling? I am definitely a fan & went out today hunting for 1st time. No luck, but I've learned a lot while watching your movie. Hope to see more of you & your crew! Cheers.

[@northernwildharvest]

I'll do my best to answer what I can. 1. We were partially selling fresh that season, buyers often only want 1/4" or less stems commercially when drying morels (various reasons) 2. My boots are nubuck leather, it out performs goretex in many ways, it's what many forest fire fighters use as well as conservation officers (gortex gets destroyed by the burns, I've tried) 3. Field prices in Canada are not accurate to the true value, but in most cases we were talking fresh price,. You can see dried on our shopify store. Fresh prices often reach $60USD per lb fresh in the states. It takes 10lbs fresh to 1lb dried on average in the industry. Buyers here offer a very small fraction of that 4. Happened to not have ladies on our team that season, have many times in the past (no prejedice) 5. Morels are improved by drying, improved flavour and texture and they rehydrate better than any other mushroom. 6. Many morels are used in high end cuisine in france, switzerland etc in a variety of dishes, but they are also great straight up pan fried in garlic and butter 7. With true morels (Morchella spp.) there's no risk of toxins when working with them, they must be cooked before eating and it's probably a good idea to wear a mask when handling large amounts of dried because of spore, which is just fine particulate matter. 8. Handling of fresh morels varies depending on how they are growing, that season they were not brittle. My camera mic is attached to my bucket which makes it sound dramatic. once dried they are very durable. Thanks!

[@glendavanstroe7708]

❤❤😊

[@jamesblevins535]

Need to drop a pin on that spot where you found those what about 3 or 4 days probably be some big ones there

[@merrittman]

Yeah but how is the air flowing through the hose to the dryer? I'm guessing there's a fan at the of the dryer pushing air upwards which is creating some suction through the hose? Either way it's a good setup

[@Matsutake_Girl]

Are you hiring this year ? I’d love to come pick haha

[@lonnievanover6524]

I’m interested in your drying set up for my self any way you could do a video on that??

[@northernwildharvest]

Our drying setup changes around a lot depending on the scale (sometimes we do large commercial drying operations.) There’s a video on our channel showing a similar setup to what we used in this video. It was posted last spring

[@tyfreeze6600]

Why do you cut off so much of the stem?! Completely edible and tastes just like the rest of it! 😮

[@northernwildharvest]

1/4” or less stem is often the commercial standard on burns, when the mushrooms are being dehydrated.

[@samaustin6255]

What was average price per pound this year? AMAZING BTW❤

[@northernwildharvest]

The field buyers price that season, where we live, went down to $6/lb Canadian at the same time as it was $40/lb in the USA. That’s one of the reasons we dry so many. Also thank you for the nice comment

[@paullewer9406]

What advice can you give me on backpack frames/baskets? Down here in Idaho we get some fires and when the getting is good...

[@northernwildharvest]

I’ll have a video coming in the future going into full detail on how i personally do packframe setup. I suggest a tatonka lastenkraxe packframe, or a similar designed model with food grade 5kg plastic baskets with holes, if you can find them. Bungee cords help absorb some of the impact on the baskets/mushrooms during long hikes out. Good luck out there!

[@paullewer9406]

@@northernwildharvest Thank you so much! Where do you source your food grade plastic baskets? I have thoroughly enjoyed your documentary. Almost done :)

[@northernwildharvest]

@@paullewer9406 Thanks Paul, glad you enjoyed it! It's tough to record while out harvesting but I'm slowly getting used to it. The food grade baskets are often quite difficult to get - they are often brought in by the container full which costs a lot. We may have some available in the future if there's a demand.

[@actionnowoutdooradventures7937]

1 great summer.... Do they come up in burns 2 or 3 years after a fire?

[@northernwildharvest]

Generally speaking they don’t flush in anywhere near the volume as the first year following the fire. You can still find some but most of the time it’s a lot more worth it to chase the more recent burns.

[@jaredandcompany]

do you need to clean them before you dry?

[@northernwildharvest]

Morels are difficult to clean when they are fresh. Our dryers have very high airflow which removes a good amount of any debris but they also get fully washed when rehydrating them.

[@gonzomcanarchy4744]

I would come apprentice and work for y'all for free for a season

[@Matsutake_Girl]

Also, does it matter elevation for morels ? Would they grow the same places as pine mushrooms?

[@northernwildharvest]

We mostly harvest on previous year wildfires for morels. They usually start in low elevations and work up to higher elevations as the season goes on. The flush often lines up with the ground temps.

[@Matsutake_Girl]

@@northernwildharvest okay. Thanks for the tip. I’m just wondering because my pine patch had a fire last year. I’m curious if it would also have morels.

[@northernwildharvest]

@@Matsutake_Girl Ah sorry to hear that. It's definitely possible that it could have morels, they often grow with pine trees. Less common with fir and hemlock but I'd take a look around the pine trees where the ground is wet.

[@randym8963]

​@Matsutake_Girl Most pine mushroom patches are in 75 plus years old trees so that bodes well for morels. If your patch is where I think it is then yes it should produce. We have already found morels mid to north island so timing will be soon. When you see dandelions flowering it's time.... good luck

[@Matsutake_Girl]

@@randym8963 omg thank you so much!!! 🩷 I’m going to look this weekend! ☺️

[@MuffinKat-ve2qe]

Do y'all dream of morels?

[@northernwildharvest]

After a good harvest we see them when we first close our eyes at the end of the day

[@robertmunker7884]

Nice! You always keep. Me fresh! And I hit the dislike button by mistake...lol been drinking.

[@jaredandcompany]

Do you guys ever run across other hunters? Do you try to play it cool whilst you have 100 lbs of morels on your back lmao. What’s the strategy if that happens?

[@northernwildharvest]

Haha! Yes it happens, sometimes in the most unexpected of places. We have even had people follow our vehicle and footsteps many times because they see how much we bring in. The interactions vary depending on the person you meet. Personally I try to give a good size buffer between myself and other harvesters, which is considered good etiquette but for people who don't follow that or just don't care...well then we just start picking faster! What is the most bothersome is when people harvest morels that are too small, which we have left to grow.

[@jaredandcompany]

@@northernwildharvest very interesting! Thanks for the response! Having my best yr ever this year in Ohio...around 500 yellows/half frees. Videos must have been good luck for me ;)

[@northernwildharvest]

@@jaredandcompany Congrats! that's awesome

[@vcarriere]

I hope this is all for personal consumption.