Why you should try foraging mushrooms.
For the last 5 years each Autumn we go foraging for mushrooms as a family and sometimes with friends if we can fit in a few trips.
As soon as you arrive in the pine forest you feel like you're entering into another world where the exact time and location feels fuzzy and I find this is magical, it's a like how I'd imagine fairy land to be.
We enter the forest and walk with our baskets and knives in hand, hunting intensely at first, hoping to be the first to find a cluster of pine mushrooms. After a while your pace eases to match the slowness of the forest and you wander through the pines scanning the floor covered in pine needles only to look up and realise you've just walked several hundred metres and have lost site of one another.
A treasure hunt is loved by all isn't it? Well searching for edible mushrooms is my idea of dream treasure hunt.
Once you undercover and harvest your first mushroom you feel buoyed to continue. Often they are found in clusters and you try to notice if there are certain conditions they like... sometimes you think you're onto something and then your new theory gets knocked down when you find the mushrooms growing somewhere you didn't expect. They all still grow under the pines, but sometimes they are in rocky dry areas more than other spots and other times they like damper areas under logs.
I often get asked, aren't you scared you'll get poisoned and in the beginning, I was absolute terrified. First up I'd recommend going along with someone experienced which is what we did and after that we just made sure we stuck to the two mushrooms we knew. When you really slow down and observe each part of the mushroom and compare to a photo you will see the differences. So even this process is gift, slowing down and observing, how often do many of us do that?
Once many baskets are full and your obsession for the treasure is mildly sated you know it's time to head home and consulate you bounty.
Why even bother when you can buy mushrooms from the shops?.. well it's not just about getting free food, it's about
Connection with your family, community and nature.
Sowing down and observing the wonder of nature and something greater than yourself.
It brings resilience to your life by understanding how to read the seasons and collect, preserve your own food.
Just for the sake of beauty and pleasure. Get a rug, lay down and look up at the pines swaying, smell the earth, just 'be' for a few moments.
Where do you start if you want to learn how to find the right mushrooms?
I'd recommend someone like Diego or if you don’t live hear him, message and ask if he knows someone in your local area, or contact your local food coop.
Walk through the forest and hear the pines make the sound of the ocean and soak up the beauty of nature.
Happy foraging!
Honey xx
