Morel season. The most-asked, least-answered question in my inbox is "where," and the honest reply is "near dying elms, after a warm rain, when the soil hits 50°F." Let's get specific anyway.

What I'm reading

• The dying-elm strategy, explained — morels love the root zones of recently-dead American elms and old apple orchards. Once you internalize this you stop hunting ground and start hunting trees.
• Soil temperature maps for Illinois — the WARM network publishes real soil temps. When the 4-inch reading hits 50°F around Chicago, go.
• Garlic mustard pesto — because you should be pulling fistfuls of it on the same walk.

A map

I made a (deliberately vague) map of the Cook County preserves with the right elm-and-floodplain habitat: the morel-habitat map. It points at habitat, not patches. The rest is your boots.

Field note

Found exactly four morels and one perfect garlic mustard haul. Four morels is a great day. Anyone who tells you they fill grocery bags is lying or in Michigan.

— Jenna