Many area residents are on the hunt for morel mushrooms, including Debbie Thursby-Brock. Or as some call her, “Richmond’s mushroom queen.” Morel mushroom hunting season started in March and goes on through May. Morels are finicky fungal organisms. The underground portion of the fungus only produces mushrooms in some years, based on soil temperature and moisture availability, along with other factors, according to mdc.mo.gov. “I have been mushroom-hunting since I was knee-high to my mother,” said Debbie. “The truth be known, she probably had me strapped on her back while she was mushroom hunting when I was a baby. We used to come out on the river and mushroom hunt – some of the very places I still mushroom hunt. “I have gone as far north as Rulo, Neb. My husband and I used to put our boat in there and we would head north on the river. I’ve gone to Iowa to hunt, as far south as the Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana and Knobs State Forest outside of Louisville, Ky.” Morels…