Mushrooms

We are now firmly in wild mushroom season. If you’d asked me two months ago if I’d reach the point within a two month period, that I could confidently eat 10 wild mushroom varieties then I’d not have believed you. I’m hugely aware of the risk of getting it wrong, and, unlike in other regards, when it comes the possibility of dying from eating a mushroom, I’m not interested in spinning the wheel + hoping for the best. However, I’ve surprised myself. Applying my ‘achiever’ personality, along with my inherent desire to study + learn, I’ve made the effort to get out into the woods at least once a week, pick + bring home many specimens, and thoroughly research them with my new books + lots of YouTube videos. To my delight the children are as hooked as I am. Caleb, aged 12, has always had a near perfect memory for any information he hears or reads, so that, accompanied with his enthusiasm, has resulted in him teaching me at times, and certainly giving me more confidence in deciding whether to eat something or not, as his carefully researched opinion is an evenly matched second to mine.

Have all of them been tasty? No. But some have been delicious! And this evening we have turkey tail + birch polypore dehydrating, ready to blend to a powder tomorrow for teas, stocks, or to sprinkle onto porridge; both are highly medicinal, with strong immune supportive properties - I normally buy my powdered mushrooms, so to save money here is exciting.

We have been so inspired by our foraging adventures that Caleb + I have been discussing training together to be able to lead live foraging walks. Watch this space. Foraging retreats may be in store next year from us.

For now I’ll keep exploring. The peak mushroom season has 3 weeks or so left. I’m going to try + visit some woodlands in different areas of the country in that time, as climate + the types of terrain, often specifically the types of trees, the mushrooms are growing around makes a huge difference to the types you’ll find. Some trees don’t live in symbiosis with any mushroom even. Much to learn. Having fun as I do it.

If you don’t already you can follow along my daily adventures on Instagram, which is linked below.

This week’s Podcast Wake Up

This week I am guided towards: Numb

To follow along with my thoughts + feelings, and life adventures, you can find me on Instagram here or you can join my newsletter here. I would love to hear from you if this is something you also choose to explore - the bigger the community around me the better!