Former Iowan in Maine seeks morels, is willing to trade lobster

Tom Walsh said he used to live on an Iowa acreage with 20 acres of hardwood timber. In the spring, when conditions were right, those woods yielded morel mushrooms.

Now, the former Johnson County bureau chief for the Gazette lives in Maine, where he writes for the Bangor Daily News. Beautiful place, Maine, but something is missing.

"Where I live now is heaven," Walsh said. "But we don't have morels."

Recently, he saw a friend's photo of an enormous tray of our curiously elusive and delicious mushrooms. That was it. He can't take it anymore.

So he's open to negotiating a simple trade. For a pound of morel mushrooms, he'll trade you two pounds of Maine lobster. He called me, hoping I'd put the word out. Apparently, I'm a sucker for displaced Iowans with mushroom cravings.

Iowa mushroom hunters are having mixed success, or so I've heard. And lobster prices remain low*. Let the hard bargaining begin.

If you're interested, you can contact Walsh by email at iowadruid@aol.com

* Walsh emailed me to say that although lobster prices in Maine are low, relatively speaking, the cost of overnight shipping live lobster is very high. In fact, the shipping will likely cost more than the lobster. But he says, for morels, it will be worth it.