Foghorn: Garlic Mustard Pull Follow-up

Liz Padalino led an intrepid group of six for a little over an hour's worth of garlic mustard pulling this morning in the misty rain on Elberta Dunes Park (still in the hands of the Conservancy for a little bit longer). She said it was one of her most successful pulls, even though we didn't even fill one garbage bag. Looks like the Conservancy has been doing a very good job of eradicating the mustard in the Dunes Park, leaving just a few small patches here and there of mature plants, the ones with those nasty white four-petaled flowers. "Even just what we've done here today will help prevent the spread of the plant over these 58 acres. But note that there were millions of tiny little first year plants. They'll be up for pulling next year," said Padalino. On our first trip along the trail, on the way up, we were so busy looking for GM that we completely missed some other things that have popped up. Not on the way back, though! Two members of the group, most notably Connie Manke, came away with a treasure trove of huge white morels (or are those gray? this writer is a newbie). The wisdom of the group said there'll be more tomorrow if the sun comes out. At this writing, quarter to 7, the sun is out. And I know one person who'll be back on that hill tomorrow.—Emily Votruba