WARNING: Papa Coyote Knows Dangerous Stuff!!

An old friend and one of J's first 4-H'ers gave me a call last weekend and said, "Mr. Bill, there is a class on mushroom identification in Boise that we need to take." Reta and I needed some credits for re-certification 3 years ago so we thought that a class on wild flower identification and their uses (ethnobotany) would be pretty cool. We loved the class and shared the rides back and forth to Boise. Reta and her husband are part owners of 40 acres five miles back in the high country on Boulder Creek. The road to their place is private, so they pretty much have a huge slug of real estate to themselves. Reta went crazy identifying wildflowers and taking pictures. Last August a guest found morel mushrooms in a glen near their cabin. Needless, to say, Reta was excited. Pictures were taken and when the mushroom class came up, she was on it like M on sorghum cookies.

Class was at the Idaho Fish and Game trophy room on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. Not a problem, yeah right. That was the weekend of the State BB tournament and Fruitland was 20-2 with a good chance to win it all (They did!!) Luck was with us. FHS drew the afternoon bracket on Thursday. Game in Meridian on Friday ended at 7:30. Class started at 7:30. We were only 20 minutes late. One of Reta's high school classmates saved our two seats. (He is an interesting story. He is planting 6,000 trees this spring with a plan to grow truffles in Idaho. Like they sell for $120 a pound!!)

Now what did I learn? Oh my. I can make hydrazine. Reta's high school buddy baby sat hydrazine as a colonel in the USAF in the missile program. This is some serious chemical. Hydrazine can kill a person. This mushroom stuff is kind of like a kid playing with his chemistry kit that he got for Christmas at the age of eight.

I know a very edible and safe mushroom, but if it is eaten with alcohol as in a glass of wine with dinner. Bye Bye baby. Nature's ultimate antibuse!

Having taken the class I can't wait to get out looking for mushrooms. I learned to take a spore sample and how to use that sample to start keying out the types of mushrooms I find. I learned a lot of good stuff so as to be able to identify mushrooms. I even joined the Southern Idaho Mycological Association (SIMA). I can't wait for the spring foray and the national mycological (gads, why can't they just use "mushroom"? Now I have to remember how to spell this word) association is coming to Idaho in September for their big national meeting. I got to go. Won't be teaching next year so I will have more time for this kind of adventure.

Okay, the first mushroom pictured will kill a person when alcohol is added to dinner. Reta and I agree that we should not serve that to our friends while at their place at Boulder Creek. We would kill them all!! The second mushroom is just plain deadly.

In the next edition of Papa Coyote's Journey I will disclose how to make hydrazine--a key component in rocket fuel and a deadly poison. Be watching.

Oh, the best thing about this class was that it was free. The instructors hoped for twenty people, thirty-seven signed up and about fifty showed up. We filled that trophy room.

Yeeeeeooooooowwwwwww!!! Spring is springing and Papa Coyote is loving being outdoors. Baseball season starts next Saturday for the high school team. I can't wait.