Foraging for MORELS!

Yesterday, I hung out with my friends and master foragers--AB and Max. This time we searched for wild Morel mushrooms. Morels are members of the Morchella genus of edible wild mushrooms. In Vermont, it includes at least three species: the black morel, the yellow or white morel and the giant or bigfoot morel, which pop up each spring in that order. All three feature an elongated cap that has a distinct, honeycomb-like pattern of pits and ridge, which is supported by a whitish stem that is attached directly to the bottom of the cap and is almost as wide. The caps range in color from burnt-brown to light tan, depending on the species. The easiest way to identify morels is to slice them in half lengthwise. True morels have a hollow, tubular stem and cap, whereas false morels are filled with a pithy, cotton-like material. False morels also have a more rounded and wrinkled cap, without the honeycomb pattern, and the stem extends up inside the cap, which surrounds it like a skirt.

It was a little late in the season but, after a very buggy hike we had some success. We found one small mushroom pretty early on. A few minutes later we spotted five or six very large mushrooms right in front of us. JACKPOT! Once I knew what the mushrooms looked like, I had more success. We scanned the forest floor for about an hour or so before heading back to the car for a beer. Ahh...Vermont. You never cease to amaze me. We finished off the day with a grilled burger made with pickled ramps and brie. Yum.

Cabin, Cabin, Cabin.

It's been a busy week. I took a few new photos of the cabin to share on our blog. Here are my favorites. The leaves still aren't out and it's too early for flowers so, we'll have to update the exterior shots a little later.

http://crookedpathvermont.blogspot.com/

Keep Gas Prices From Bankrupting You This Summer.

Gas prices have gone nowhere but up over the last few years, and it doesn't look like that's going to change this year. With summer road-trips approaching, here are some quick gas-saving tips to remember after hitting the pumps.
Conserve Fuel

-Mind the basics. Go easier on the gas pedal and shun your A/C if you're just driving around town.
-Work with your car, not against it. Clean the junk out of the trunk, let off the accelerator earlier when approaching a stop, speed up be fore hills to make the climb easier, and use the cruise control more.
-Keep those RPMs low. Learn how to skip gears if you've got a stick-shift, avoid engine braking, and reacquaint yourself with Neutral (it's not just for towing).
-Take care of your car. Tire pressure, spark plugs, air filters, oil—they all make a huge difference.
-Pick the right station. If you can save a whole dollar by going to a different station in town, by all means do it. If the difference is just a few cents, you're probably not saving much by driving several miles to the cheaper station.
-Don't drive if it isn't necessary. Public transportation can be a wondrous thing for your wallet, and walking or riding a bike are even better if your destination is nearby.

- Matthew Rogers, lifehacker.com

The Saturn Return Project. Check it.

See what people from our VT community are up to...

American Brianna Graves will travel to six countries worldwide during The Saturn Return Project to interact with a network of peers at six of the world's best advertising communications agencies. Her project launches at TBWA\South Africa on Monday, 9 May 2011, where she will instigate a conversation about the global state of the advertising industry, blogging daily. [video]

Ask Graves, "What effect is new digital media having regionally across the globe? Rather than contribute to the ever-more-crowded blogosphere from the comfort of my home or office in New York, I will travel to the source of the content I'm discussing, interact with my peers in these countries and create a web of conversation that spans around our increasingly interconnected world."

Graves will visit all three of the TBWA\South Africa's agency's offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, starting with Johannesburg.

"The Saturn Return Project is a unique virtual 'blogumentary', a real-time look into what makes creative agencies tick. We were attracted to it because of its visionary attitude towards open source information, collaboration and transparency. At the agency, we salute the game changers, the visionaries, the ones who do things differently," says Sophie Mayer, group marketing director for TBWA\South Africa.

Brianna Graves

The project's social media presence should provide interesting, exciting and complementary content for interested parties. Visitors from more than 21 countries, 17 cities in South Africa, 31 different states across the US and 30 cities across Canada have visited The Saturn Return Project blog.

Spotlighting South Africa's spirit

In addition to the industry content that conversations with these agencies will create, Graves will also work to spotlight the spirit of South Africa through each city that she visits. Lifestyle posts will give her travel and tourism readers a robust picture of the musical, culinary and cultural treasures unique to South Africa, and give regional context to the industry-based commentary. "It has been amazing to connect pre-launch with professionals in South Africa, Canada and London who are supportive and excited to see where the project takes me," Graves said.

Her second destination is Canadian agency, Taxi, another industry heavyweight with offices across Canada, Amsterdam and New York. Also attracting international attention for its work, it was named Strategy Magazine's Agency of the Decade in 2010. Graves will partner with its Toronto office in early summer.

Source: marketing.bizcommunity.com

What's that? You mean you DIDN'T do this over the weekend?