Triarchy

Gross is in the eye of the beholder. Most people think if you dont buy something in a grocery store, it is gross. I think that is misguided and I feel the exact opposite, Id rather hunt/grow/forage/gather my own...but to each their own. Never had tree gum, but we have bees and honeycomb makes a really nice gum substitute. My jaw gets tired before the honeycomb breaks down :-)

Im in Wisconsin as well. For what its worth, Ive found only two small hens this year. Last year I had stopped at around 10 big ones as my wife was getting a bit vocal about all the cleaning. Another mushroom I had great success with last year and almost no luck with this year is B. edulis. On the other hand, morels, hericiums, and chanterelles have been spectacular this year as compared to last year. Im too new to this to be able to see repeatable patterns.

Long time lurker, love the site. Long story warning... Found a giant hen on my drive home tonight, passed the spot for 15 years and never bothered to notice. But today it stuck out like it had strobe lights on it, even going 55. Ran thru a water and mud filled ditch, mosquito swarm in full effect, and got it. Ran back to the truck, put the hen in, only to be unable to find my keys. Cant remember if I took them or left them in the truck. Pretty sure I took them. Old age is killing my memory, wtf too young for that. Starting to rain. Mosquitoes grateful Im still outside my truck. I know I need to backtrack to find them, Im sure I must have dropped them. So naturally I look a few more times thru the truck, but come up empty. Finally backtrack to the tree and look on the ground and by some miracle, there they lie. Grab em, run thru ditch, back in truck, get home and clean that bad boy up. Its in perfect condition! Clothes not so much, good thing my wife likes hens. Figured I should register, sorry for the long story. Sadly, a pretty normal day at least once a week for me, minus the mushroom find, heh.