09.24.09

Hickory Chicken – Hen of the Woods – Weshie

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:41 pm by Administrator

September 24th 2009,
All this rain (15 inches in three weeks) and cold temperatures
(52 degrees in the mornings and 72 at noon) have made the Hen of the woods mushroom come out a month early! Every year about the first hard rain in October, there is a big mushroom hunt up and down the Illinois river where we live. This year, we were kind of wondering if this early cool weather would change things in the mushroom cycle. and as we soon found out by going a short ways into the woods at Dry Creek Farm, IT DID !!! My youngest Son; Joshua, who is going to be eleven in two weeks was soon yelling, “Dad! Dad! Come here!” Josh had found two huge Hen of the Woods Mushrooms within 100 feet of our house. We live right in the edge of the woods, where deer, squirrels, turkey, and rabbits, really play havoc with our gardens, but on the other hand, it sure is peaceful to walk out the back door and right into nature. Our Dry Creek is running clear and pristine this morning. It is fed from a huge spring about a half mile from here and has washed away our foot bridge again. I had to salvage the remains of the sawmill 2x12s to cross the creek to see where Josh was. The Hen of the Woods he had found were about ten pounds each. They are a mushroom delicacy that grows in the Fall of the year. They are ruffled like the feathers of a mad hen with baby chicks. The Cherokee call them Weshi, some people call them Hickory Chicken, Some call them Hen of the Woods. This mushroom is very large and grows on dead and rotten hard woods like oak and hickory. These two were growing on the floor of the woods in the long rotted remains of many oak and hickory trees that have washed up into drifts along the Dry Creek. Chert and flint rock are more common than dirt in this area, but the mushrooms are about twice the size of football helmets! If you are a mushroom enthusiast, don’t wait until October this year, because Hen of the Woods is here a month early! For some good pictures go to Mushroom Hunters Club. com
Fall is definitely Here, see you at the Tahlequah Farmer’s Market Fall Fest – October 3rd

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