Hey Stacey,
That's one of the nicest things about mushroom hunting, getting out in the woods with your kids and teaching them to recognize shrooms & trees and having other wildlife encounters. And it's treasure hunt! I live in St Louis City and, among their peers, my kids are the rare ones who have held snakes, lizards and frogs, who have been fishing, who can recognize morels, chanterelles, reishi, elms and ash trees, and so on, and so on! Last year my eight year old (he was seven) had a closed encounter with a yellow and black garter snake. It hissed and struck at him, but he knew well enough that it was harmless, so he watched it with curiousity until it raced away. Now, for a seven year old boy, that's pretty cool! My daughter (no stranger to snakes herself--she held a little ring neck snake we found one day) and I were right there with him. These are good times!
Get out there and have fun!
