♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Aaron Steil: Welcome to Gardening with Steil.

Mushrooms are getting a lot of attention these days as a health-promoting super food.

They are both good for us and good for the planet by absorbing pollution and fighting off viruses.

You could describe them as nature's recycling system.

In Iowa, spring temperatures and wet conditions bring out the coveted Morel mushroom.

And for many, that means the hunt is on.

But beware!

These mushrooms can be tricky to identify and difficult to find.

Cindy Haynes takes us on a mushroom hunting and safety lesson with fungi experts Lina Rodriguez Salamanca and Leonor Leandro.

♪♪ Cindy Haynes: Thank you, Lina, for showing us around and taking us mushroom hunting today.

We've got a gorgeous day to do it.

And I'm a novice hunter so I appreciate your help in doing this today.

Fungi are your life.

You've been doing this for a while.

Tell me, how long have you been mushroom hunting?

Lina Rodriguez Salamanca: Well, I love fungi and mushrooms in general.

I am a microbiologist by training and I used to hunt in the tropics where I'm from.

And actually I learned to hunt for morels here in Iowa with Mark Vitosh.

Cindy: Oh, he's a good guy to learn stuff from because he spends a lot of time in the woods.

That's true.

So before we begin, before we get into the woods you've brought us a lot of things to kind of consider to have on your treks in the woods when you're mushroom hunting.

Can you explain what you have here and where it goes because you have certain stuff that goes in the basket and certain stuff that goes in a fanny pack.

Lina: That's right.

So, first, take care of yourself.

Remember to pack some repellent with you.

Ticks are always around.

So make sure to use them on your ankles and reapply as needed.

Sunscreen is also a good idea, protect yourself from the UV light, it's very important.

Inevitably you will get your hands dirty so it's always good to have something to clean your hands with, so there you go.

If it rains or if it's too sunny at some point a good poncho and a hat will be great.

This one is one that Mark taught me.

It's a little brush.

So it turns out that as you walk in the woods you may be tracking things that you don't want to track, like invasive species and plants.

So every time you're going to enter make sure that you're brushing your shoes.

And then when you're out of the woods brush them again.

Cindy: See, I would have thought that was for the mushroom itself.

But it's to clean your shoes.

Lina: That's a great point.

For the mushroom itself, we have something a different.

Cindy: A little softer.

Lina: More delicate, that's right.

So we do have that for the mushroom, the little brush.

And then we'll put this one here.

Now, when you use the brush you want to make sure that you're cleaning it.

So I normally carry some alcohol swabs or a little bit of ethanol with you and I'll carry those in there.

This also works great if you happen to cut yourself, you can clean yourself.

Cindy: First-aid kit all ready to go.

Lina: That's right.

Now, when you're going to be looking at mushrooms and if you don't know what you're looking at you're maybe taking some photos.

A ruler is a great tool because it will give you the idea what is the size and whomever you're consulting with will absolutely love to have that perspective of what you're looking at.

Cindy: So if you need a mushroom identified, if you take a picture with a ruler then it makes it easier for you to identify.

Lina: That's right, excellent.

And then a camera, a good camera, lots of point and shoot that do a very good job but also phones these days.

Cindy: Yeah, mine is pretty good.

Lina: They do great and you can save your spots in there, takes lots of photos and video.

Phones are great for that.

I also carry resources in my phone.

So I have this little booklet, know your plants, your trees, mushrooms definitely are associated with certain plants and trees.

So things like this are great.

And there is also a website that I often use in my phone from the university, from ISU that is an interactive guide to identify trees.

So I love that one but I have a copy of this one so I carry it too.

And then I also have a booklet on mushroom identification here.

Cindy: Right, that's a great resource too.

Lina: Yes.

Let's see.

What else?

If you're getting into identifying more you're going to need to be looking at the very fine details of the mushrooms.

And so there's plenty of -- Cindy: Magnifiers.

Lina: Hand lenses.

So for every need you can find one.

So I carry one, a couple and one with illumination.

Cindy: Way to be a scientist.

I like it.

Lina: Absolutely.

And then last thing, I think this little knife here, it's nice to harvest mushrooms above the soil level so that you're not carrying any soil debris with them.

So I'll put that there.

And take notes.

Where did you collect it?

What was the date?

You can kind of make your own diary on what you hunted, what you saw.

Cindy: That's good for next year when you decide whether or not that's a good spot or not.

Lina: That's right.

And the last thing I think for personal care, if you get hungry carry some food with you, some good snacks.

And if you end up hunting for a variety of mushrooms the best way to pack them is in parchment paper or paper bags.

Cindy: I was wondering why you had parchment paper.

So paper, not plastic.

Lina: Right.

Plastic, the humidity in the plastic will be problematic and then the mushrooms will start decaying.

Cindy: Okay.

♪♪ Cindy: I'll get the basket if you've got that.

Let's go hunt some mushrooms!

Lina: Sounds good.

♪♪ Cindy: Got it?

Lina: Yes.

Cindy: We're ready!

♪♪ ♪♪ Lina: I only know the Jack-in-the-pulpit because of the rust that comes -- Cindy: It's a wonderful wildflower, Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Leonor: Hey guys!

I found some!

Come here!

Lina: Yay!

Cindy: All right!

More than Jacks!

♪♪ Leonor: Look what I found.

A nice little patch over here.

Cindy: Thank you so much for scouting it out early for us.

Oh yeah.

Nice!

Cindy: Wait, I don't see any.

Okay, so they're kind of dark and the same color.

They're well camouflaged in the leaves.

There it is!

Do you see these two little guys over here.

Those are tiny!

I found this one a little while ago.

Oh it's beautiful, absolutely.

That's a good size for sure.

Oh there's another.

Do you see those?

Look at those!

Those two over there.

Very cool.

Cindy: Very nice.

So are there -- these look a little different than one another.

So what is what?

Leonor: Well, these are Morcillas -- and they are the Morel that is more seasonally confused with a false Morel because the cap is not completely attached to the stalk.

So when we cut them open I'll show you the difference.

Cindy: And that's different than that one?

Yes.

That is an Americana, the more common one that people love to eat.

Cindy: Nice.

Yes, that looks more like it.

So this particular site they were here, it's seems a little wet, a little damper, we're kind of in a lower spot.

What else do we look for when we want to find a good Morel hunting site?

Leonor: Definitely the wetter areas are going to be best, so low areas.

When you're at a river here, the creek, so when you have these moister areas, more shaded so the moisture doesn't get evaporated as quickly.

So those are good.

And then often times if you are around the base of trees like Elms or Ashes, Hickory.

And sometimes they are live trees and they're around the base of those trees.

Or sometimes they are just feeding on dead organic matter.

So stumps, freshly cut and then just other downed logs.

So you just kind of have to train your eye to look for those.

And you may need to move the leaves around a little bit because they're hiding, they're popping up from under all this leaf material.

So sometimes you really have to -- I thought there was another one somewhere in here.

They will surprise you.

Cindy: They are perfectly camouflaged.

Very well camouflaged.

In the leaves, I agree.

Cindy: Can we grow our own mushrooms?

Well, it's complicated.

You could, but this -- Cindy: It would be easier, wouldn't it?

It would.

So there are a lot of mushrooms that we can very easily cultivate indoors.

You just get a little kit and they will go quickly and grow.

But these guys will go into this resting stage so it's hard to lure them out of that resting stage.

And so they won't fruit in a way that you can predict when the fruiting body is ready.

Cindy: Right, so that's why Morels are so expensive because they have probably been harvested, not grown.

Leonor: They're hard to find and also the conditions that make them fruit are not really well understood.

They're kind of a mystery.

So that makes it even more exciting to hunt for them because you feel very lucky when you do find them.

I think that makes them tastier.

Yes, it's part of the experience.

Cindy: So, we need to harvest these and then we need to find some more.

Should we mark the spot and let some of these get bigger or harvest some of them or should we -- We can take the bigger ones.

Cindy: Okay, we've got one.

There was a third one, oh there's another one.

So when harvesting just always remember to go a little bit above the soil.

You can pinch or use a knife, just be very careful.

Now, with Morels I always make sure that the stalk here is hollow, that's really important.

And if you happen to get any debris on it that is where your little brush will come in handy.

See how hollow that is?

Yeah, that is nice and hollow.

That is one of the distinguishing features of the Morel is that there is no cottony fibrous material inside the stalk.

Always, if it's not hollow do not swallow it.

It always has to be hollow in the stem.

So you see, this guy is completely hollow there and so this attachment is halfway in the cap, very important.

So it has that attachment right there.

If you compare with the other little guy.

Where did it go?

Oh, that one is over here.

So if you compare with the other ones, this one is just attached at the base of the cap.

This is more of a normal Morel.

Yellow, gray Morels is the Morcilla.

Americana are the tasty ones that everyone is looking for.

So should we hunt some more?

Let's go hunt for some more.

♪♪ Two or three is not enough!

♪♪ Cindy: I just want to find a Morel.

One of the Americana ones.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ As soon as we get more rain they'll probably -- So here's another mushroom.

Oh, something important too is as you are moving plants around, be very aware of any poisonous ones.

Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, all of those things.

Right.

Yeah.

Cindy: We're in the Wild Ginger now so it's okay.

Oh, I don't know what this one is off the top of my head.

Cindy: So, if you don't know what it is, you don't eat it.

No, definitely do not eat it.

Cindy: So that is the one thing I know about mushrooms.

That is the most important one.

Yes, definitely always seek, you need to seek expert help.

And just knowing even the big categories is not enough, you really need to get the species because sometimes different species within the same group, the same genus may vary in how toxic they are.

Cindy: Right, so you're looking on your phone on the mushroom guide.

Lina: Yes, we have a little booklet that is called Safe Mushroom Foraging.

And so in here I'm just looking in the calendar and what will be popping up right now.

So I'm thinking it may be Spirulina, maybe.

I'm going to follow up and go find it in the photo and read what -- Cindy: And so it doesn't look like a typical Morel at all.

And I spotted it because it was a totally different color than everything else.

And it has got a very interesting underside to the cap.

Leonor: Yes, so this is, there's two big groups of what we call mushrooms in general terms.

One is what we call the Basidiomycetes and so these kind of mushrooms that have gills, they have a cap, a stalk and they have these little gills, these are in the Basidiomycetes.

The Morel is actually a completely different group and they are the Ascomycetes.

And so there's not a lot of edible Ascomycetes, but Morels and Truffles, which are very famous, two of the best, are in the Ascomycetes.

And it is in the way they produce their spores in little sacs in the Morels and Ascomycetes in little club shaped cells outside of that cell.

So there's many other things, the Bracket fungi, the Jelly fungi, Puffballs, they are all in the Basidiomycetes, the big group, because of the way they produce their spores.

Morel are kind of unique.

Cindy: That's true.

But just because it's in the Basidiomycetes doesn't necessarily mean it's all edible.

Leonor: No, no, no.

There's a lot of poisonous mushrooms.

You really have to know.

And it's a lot harder often times to identify correctly something in this group than in the Morels because Morels have that hollow stalk and have this pitted cap that really helps us distinguish them.

You still have to be careful.

There's some look-a-likes that we're going to have to look carefully.

Cindy: Okay, so we found more mushrooms, but not more Morels.

So should we continue hunting for Morels?

Sure!

You want a full basket.

I do!

♪♪ Cindy: That was so much fun.

I'm glad we found a few.

Lina: Yes.

There's a couple of things I would like to show you though.

Cindy: Okay.

(nature sounds) Lina: Especially if you're a beginner hunter.

Cindy: I am.

Lina: There's a couple of things that you really want to be aware of.

There's a couple of false Morels.

So those are not in the genus Morcilla and they look very similar to the ones that we were just hunting.

So this is the guy, the Morcilla -- we have it right here.

Remember, hollow stem attaches halfway.

So this is a good one.

Now, when you compare it with this Verpa Conica and Verpa Bohemica, they have a lot of similarities except that the stem is not hollow.

There's a little bit of fuzz on the stem and the attachment of the cap, you can see it on this one here, is at the very top.

Cindy: So it's not all the way like the typical Morel.

Lina: That's right.

Cindy: Hmm.

So you really have to kind of dissect some of these to make sure you know what you're getting.

Lina: Yes.

And if you're not sure, always remember if it's not hollow, don't swallow.

Don't eat anything that you don't know what it is for sure.

Leonor: And the consequence of eating something like a false Morel, these Verpas or there is another Gyromitra genus, could be pretty serious.

You could get really serious gastrointestinal symptoms, you could get into a coma, it can even kill you.

And the other thing that also you should know is that some people don't respond very well to eating mushrooms in general.

So even though they're not poisonous, if you're a first-time eater, if you're eating something for the first time, eat a small amount -- Cindy: Field test it.

Leonor: Yes.

And always cook them.

With Morels, you should always cook Morels before you eat them.

Lina: And do not mix them with alcohol.

Leonor: Yes.

And some Morel species are toxic if ingested with alcohol.

And then of course, always be really careful about selecting a good area to collect the Morels because, for example, if you're collecting them near a farm where there's animals or a contaminated site with pesticides or herbicides or if they're getting old and maybe have been partially eaten, you could be ingesting other things that would be poisonous to you.

Cindy: So food safety issues.

Leonor: Food safety issues, yes.

Cindy: Wow.

Thank you so much, ladies.

Thank you so much for the lesson.

I'm so glad I went Morel hunting with you.

Thanks!

♪♪ Aaron: Walking through the woods, looking for mushrooms, you can almost imagine coming across a magical woodland creature like a fairy.

Inspired by that, we're going to create our own fairy garden.

A fairy garden is any miniature garden that features plants and whimsical decor that is meant to lure fairies and bring good luck to the gardener.

But more broadly speaking, you can define a fairy garden as any miniature garden with some decor in it.

And they can be very simple like this succulent garden with a simple piece of decor like this one here or something a little bit more elaborate like this container here that has decor in it that is specifically made for fairy gardens.

They can be in containers or your very own garden.

You're really only limited by your creativity.

Aaron: Today, we're going to be creating our own fairy garden and I'm going to walk you through the steps to create something like this.

We're going to start by coming up with a theme.

And that theme is really important because it helps define and narrow down what we're looking for.

There are so many things out there that you can potentially do when it relates to fairy gardens that a theme can help kind of hone in.

So we can do things like colors, places, even locations or styles.

So it can be beachy or it can be woodland, it can be pinks and reds or something like that.

Aaron: After we have our theme, I like to start by looking at some of the decor.

There are lots of different options out there for you to use.

You can start with little figurines like these.

They range from all sorts of different things.

A lot of times they have really nature-themed ideas here like frogs and birds and insects and other things like that, including fairies of course.

You also want to include things like rocks and stones, shells and marbles.

You can do twigs and bark, dried pods and seeds and flowers and other things like that.

Any of these things like these acorns and pinecones are all really fun additions to a fairy garden.

Aaron: Most fairy gardens also have some kind of moss whether it is sheet moss or Spanish moss, reindeer moss or things like that.

And you can also create your own art for your little miniature garden.

This little fairy house here was something that was put together with just a little bit of hot glue and some bark and other pieces of wood and moss.

Aaron: Of course, we also need plants for our fairy garden.

And over here I have a variety of plants.

We're looking for things that will do well in the same light, soil and water requirements.

After that, you can use any plant that you want.

I'm creating mine for indoors so I'm going to be using houseplants.

And a lot of places that sell houseplants will sell little miniature plants like this.

They're great for terrariums and they're great for things like fairy gardens.

Aaron: When I pull all my plants together, not only do I want to make sure that they have the same light, soil and water requirements, but I also want to look at some of the forms and shapes, I want things that are moundy and upright, maybe even trailing.

And I also want to look for things that have different textures and colors.

So I have a nice variety of colors here as well as some fine textured things and some more coarse textured things.

Aaron: Finally, after that, I have to find my right container.

And you can really use any container.

The only requirement is that it has drainage so that the excess water can go out the bottom.

This is a really nice one because it has a nice, broad, wide top and it gives me more room to kind of do my fun things in my fairy garden.

They can be anything from a boot or a broken clay pot to a whiskey barrel to a window box or a large saucer like this one.

Aaron: The potting soil in here is perfect for the plants that I have.

It's just typical potting soil.

If I were doing a succulent one I might use something that is a little more sharply drained.

Whatever works well for the plants that you choose will work well for a fairy garden.

Aaron: I like to start by placing the major items first.

My theme for this is going to be kind of like a rustic woodland fairy garden.

So I'm going to place some of this in and kind of plan out how I want to in general put this in.

So I've got my little fairy house here for my fairy friends to live and I think I'm going to have a small little path here and then plants and some other little rock outcroppings over in this area.

Aaron: So I can start by I kind of want to get an idea of how I want to lay these out.

So I'll just kind of set these all in place.

Here, like this and this.

I kind of like how that looks.

So now I can get all of my plants potted up.

We're just going to pot these up like we would any other dish garden or indoor planter.

Just pulling them out of pots.

If they're really root bound we might break up those roots a little bit.

These are all relatively happy and healthy.

You can find these plants in any garden center.

In many cases there's a lot of really wonderful variety.

It can be a little dangerous actually because there are so many fun things and because they're so small you can often get a lot of really fun things for a really good price.

♪♪ Aaron: So once I have all of these plants potted up I can then add my major decorations, which in this one is going to be my little fairy house here that I built.

I'm going to set that in here.

And then I really like to kind of cover the soil, it gives a really nice finished look.

I like to cover the soil with a little bit of sheet moss.

Sheet moss you can also find in just about any craft store and garden center, especially if they specialize in fairy garden decor and fairy garden materials.

So I can break some of this up and place it in, it really kind of finishes off the way that it looks.

♪♪ Aaron: And then I can add, this is the more fun part, I can add in some of my fun things.

So I'm going to put in a little rock path here for my fairy.

♪♪ Aaron: I have a few little pinecones here I'm going to set up here.

I've got my little Sweetgum seed pod there.

I've got my little owl friend, he's going to sit kind of right over here.

And then this is actually one of my favorite little whimsical decorations.

I'm going to squeeze my little guy in here.

♪♪ Aaron: I'm going to set him over there.

And I have my fairy garden.

Care for this fairy garden is going to look like many of our houseplants because this is made up of houseplants.

If you're using annuals or perennials you would care for them much in the same way.

In a container we're going to water this in because we always water in plants after we plant them and water when dry.

This one needs good indirect light indoors and all the plants here would be really happy with that.

When it comes to fertilizer we're going to use very little fertilizer.

We don't want to encourage a lot of growth with this because it will change the way that our fairy garden looks and we want to kind of keep it miniature and small for as long as possible.

So an all-purpose fertilizer maybe once or twice through the growing season at half strength is probably all we'll need.

In many cases, our potting soil already has a little bit of fertilizer in it so we're really good.

Aaron: The last thing I'll mention is that your fairy garden will change over time and as things get tired or grow or as things start to decay or change you can change it up.

That is part of the fun of a fairy garden.

There's always something that can be tinkered with, changed, added, swapped out.

Have fun with it.

Aaron: As we leave you, enjoy a tour of another whimsical art exhibition.

Ribbit the Exhibit features larger-than-life frogs in a garden setting.

Thanks for joining me on Gardening with Steil!

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪