Chanterelles leaping into Donna Morris's basket
Many friends of Bethel Heights know that Terry, our winemaker some 23 years, has Parkinson’s disease. One of the unexpected treasures Terry and I have experienced as a result of his Parkinson’s is meeting a group of terrific people who support the research program looking for the cure at Oregon Health Sciences University. For three years a small group of us have organized a wine auction under the auspices of the OHSU Foundation, with all proceeds going to the research program.
This year, one of the top auction items was a mushroom hunt in the Mt. Hood wilderness area. The item was so popular that two groups are going these waning days of October. The first hunt happened this Wednesday, followed on Thursday with a fabulous dinner featuring mushrooms, of course, at the Joel Palmer House in Dayton. Jack Czarnecki, owner of the restaurant and an avid mushroom hunter, went with us on our day in the woods. We didn’t actually see how many mushrooms he got, but we suspect enough to feed the full house restaurant crowd on Thursday.
Dinner at Joel Palmer house in Dayton. Luckily, no one got lost in the woods!
Jack Czarnecki, owner of the Joel Palmer house, and our host for dinner.
Master mind of the mushroom hunt was organizer Barney Hyde and his wife Melody who took great care of our band of nine, feeding us a great lunch in the woods, providing whistles and walkie talkies for some of us, like me, who turn around three times and wonder where the car is.
It was a day of climbing over logs, mistaking a leaf for a chanterelle here and there, and calling Barney over to examine several “little brown mushrooms” – ie., not edible. But the chanterelles were there, like golden treasures, filling our baskets. Yesterday the Bethel Heights’ crush crew had chanterelle and smoked salmon lasagna accompanied by a bottle of Pinot as we celebrated the first day of grapes coming in, ripe for the crush. The basic recipe is from The Green’s vegetarian cookbook, but I added lox and mozarella for volume and extra protein. It worked very well.
Barney and Melody Hyde, leaders of the pack.
Left to right: Bill Sweat & Donna Morris, Winderlea Winery; Davind & Jeanne Beck, Crawford-Beck Vineyard.
One last thought. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has a new policy statement on sustainability in our food chain, addressed to the President Elect. It appeared in The Times yesterday. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html
I hope it’s taken seriously and he’s given a cabinet post. Pollan’s work on sustainability, which includes reducing our carbon footprint with one way being to eat local reminds of my day in the woods. We carpooled, and our gas was the only carbon involved, with a few walkie talkie batteries tossed in. The rest is nature at its best…..harvesting a bounty that requires nothing from us except physical exertion and patience. Really a great day.
Cheers!
Marilyn Webb
Bethel Heights Vineyard 