Pickers shrouded by mystery, secrets By SHEELAH GULLION MUSHROOM PICKERS are a mysterious and secretive lot. Answering to no one, many are reluctant to talk to anyone outside their own circle for fear of spreading either a bad word or even a good one. “We were told by several people not to trust anyone,’’ said Kevin Johnson, 21. ‘A lot of people, if they’re nice to you, it’s be- cause they want something from you.’” But Johnson and his friend, Brent McNeil from Ontario, are willing enough to speak to reporters — something most mushroom pickers won’t do. People are avoiding ‘“‘mostly income taxes,” said McNeil. ‘But some people could be [wary because] more and more people are coming out every year.”” McNeil and Johnson are examples of this. Johnson began picking mushrooms just this year — in fact they met this season — but MeNeil hasn’t been home in four years. ‘I think my parents are over it," he said _ of their reaction to his transient lifestyle, “It’s kind of one of those nomadic oc- cupations,’’ admitted another picker who is from Australia. Earlicr this year, McNeil was picking morels in the Yukon, and having thrown in the towel for pine mushrooms too, he’s now headed to the Okanagan now for the grape picking season. ‘‘At least there you can be sure to make money,’’ he said. That’s not to say the stereotypical mushroom picker is a greedy capitalist, though. Far from it, “We're not making any money,’’ said the Australian. ‘“What we bave is lefl over from the treeplanting season.’? Most agree that often there’s absolutely no money to be made from picking, “I spent more money bombing around looking for mushrooms’ than I did picking them, said Dean Brown, who has given up pick- ing for another job. Brown came up with From front Life of a picker ‘Either way, the pickers have no recourse but to shop around for the best price and hope for the best. “We were told by several people not to trust anyone,” McNeil said. “A lot of people, if they’re nice to you, they want something from you,”’ Johnson said. Theories about pricing and availability of the mushrooms varies widely, though. “One theory is that they’re getting overpicked,”’ said McNeil. ‘‘But a lot of people believe that weather patterns change after the full moon,”? Brown had other sources that he relied on. “The elders say when the leaves tum yellow, the sca- son is over,”’ he said. Regardless of when buyers are gone for good this year, there is still the threat of big brother taking a bite out of profits in the coming years. “Why don’t they just stay out of it?’’ asked one picker, The future of the mushroom industry will still be in question, even without government regulation. The only way to ensure future crops is to halt log- ging in areas where the mushrooms are found. Because pine mushrooms prefer the soil amongst tees that are up to 150 years old, the pickers are caught in a “Catch 22’ situation. They want to keep their best picking locations a secret, but they risk losing them to the forest industry if they do, While buyers and pickers are packing up and leaving town, some stay and insist the season’s not over yet. As another unidentified picker put it, “I’m still here, right? So I’ve got to remain positive.’ Sheelah Gullion is a Van- couver journalisin student, She spent last week at The Terrace Standard as past of a provincial program con- nected to the Asia Pacific Economic Co-opertion con- ference being held next ‘ month in Vancouver, HELPING THE WORLD WRITE NOW SelF-sufficiency lnrough jteracy in the developing warld For information, call 1-800-661-2631 “his girlfriend, and four others two months The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 8, 1997 - AS ago. ‘We were in Kamloops and there was this big gung bo story about the mushrooms in Terrace,’” he said. But when the group got picking, they found things were quite different. Brown gave up picking three weeks ago and was about to retum to soulhemn B.C. when he got a job here, He admits the one thing he misses about the backbreaking work of picking “We were told by several people not to trust anyone,” said Kevin Johnson, 21. “A lot of people, if they’re nice to you, it's because they want something from you.” MUSHRA mushrooms is being outdoors. And that seems to be the other overriding quality OOM PICKERS Brent McNeil and Kevin Johnson say there are good things and bad things about the outdoor occupation. Kiti K’Shan Primary School 30th Anniversary On Thursday, October 16, 1997 at f-8pm all adults who formerly attend- ed Kiti K'Shan School as students, staff |]- or teachers since 1967 are invited to our Dessert Night in celebration of our 30th Anniversary. School tours provided. | Bring any memorabilia, pictures etc. that you would like to share. FFE CT: 7 VE 45458 Lazelle Ave ITNMESS RENOVATION SPECIAL I Year Membership LESS THAN among the mushroom picking crowd, “Today we sat down and had lunch literally in the middle of nowhere,’’ said a young Woman who picks for a few days each year with her parents. “Td like to do it again next year,’” said McNeil. *‘When we found mushrooms, it was just great. **We used to have a bear that came down the road to the camp about 6 o’clock every day, Another time some Jehovah’s Wit- nesses came. They came in suits and ties to the zoo. It was a weird time,’’ he said. 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