Do Something Wild
Chanterelle mushrooms are a delicious and highly sought-after type of mushroom that you can find growing in the wild. These mushrooms are prized for their distinctive flavor and versatility in the kitchen, which makes them a valuable find for wild mushroom foragers.
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When foraging edible plants and edible mushrooms the first time the vast number of them can be overwhelming. As I have mentioned before, the best way to get started is to pick a select few that you feel comfortable identifying and begin there. As you search for those edible plants and/or mushrooms be sure to photograph other discoveries that you make and try to identify them later using the web and your resources. Similar to what you forage you should start out with one or two good field guides to use for identification. As you forage more you will inevitably pick up more and more resources. Often, I am asked what books and field guides I use when identifying wild[…]
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You must love the outdoors, or at least want to love the outdoors to be a forager. It is sometimes referred to as quiet hunting. You can spend hours in the woods walking miles and come home empty handed. Or, sometimes, you will be in the right place at the right time and stumble on to the motherload. However, if you expect the latter each time you will be frustrated, disappointed, and it will bring an end to your foraging journey. Foraging is about so much more than finding wild edible plants and mushrooms. It is about reconnecting with nature in a way that was always intended. There is simple soothing and even healing benefits to slowly searching through the[…]
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Foraging for wild edible plants brings endless joy: time outdoors, the thrill of discovery, and the satisfaction of finding new, edible species. But when foraging unfamiliar plants, caution is key to ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience. On a recent urban stealth camping trip, I came across a plant that resembled purslane at first glance. Its stem looked familiar, but the leaves seemed off. Intrigued, I photographed the plant from all angles and submitted it to an online plant identification forum. After some back and forth, one user suggested it might be Lythrum portula, also known as water-purslane. Further research confirmed this identification. Lythrum portula, a flowering plant in the loosestrife family, is native to Europe and has spread to[…]
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I love to hike and combining that with wild food foraging and primitive camping makes me one happy outdoors man. Over the past couple week I have been exploring the CREW hiking trail system. Although I hike these often I wanted to dig deeper into the connections these trails have with others. These connections extend the hiking trails significantly while also offering a more diverse hiking experience. On my last outing I spent a couple hours on the Cypress Dome trail which offers six miles of well-marked loop trails. These scenic hiking trails wind through pine flat-woods, oak hammocks, wet prairie, slough, and two beautiful cypress domes. Most trails are flat grass and sand at ground level but seasonally wet[…]
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