During the month of September, I deeply enjoy the routine of drying fruit. Every couple of days, the dehydrator gets re-filled with slices of Asian pears, plums, apples, grapes and any other fruit on hand. The aromas of the fruit as it dries are delightful, and it's fun watching jars fill up with delicious snacks for the coming winter months. With the last of the fruit picked off my trees before ...
Wildcrafting
My New Favorite Chicken!
I am happy to report that the mushroom hunting is good in the new neighborhood. There are a couple of fungi out there that I always hear about other people finding, and how they were delectable and amazing, and I have seemed to never find them. Everything I ever heard about Chicken of the Woods sounded fabulous to me, including reports of a meaty texture and lemon chicken-esque flavor, not to ...
Lobster Surprise! (And we’re not talking Maine)
Okay, this is going to be some shameless mushroom bragging, but the excitement over finding my biggest mushroom ever has not subsided throughout the past week. It was one colossal lobster mushroom. And finding it on my first mushroom hunt of the season is feeling like a fortuitous omen indeed. People at the trail head offered me money for it when I got back to the car, and I refused, ...
Mushrooms of the McKenzie
Sometimes, the best things in life are the surprises that come along when we aren't even looking for them. On an evening stroll this past Sunday, I found quite the surprise out along the McKenzie River Trail! I was just strolling along enjoying the woods and the river flowing by, when I spotted some orange peeking out from the carpet of moss. This seemed really early for mushrooms, but we ...
Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Wildcrafting Nettles
Spring is a good time to be out foraging for wild greens, and my very favorite, most choice of these is the stinging nettle, hands down. The flavor, the nutrients, the vibrant green color, and even the element of bravery involved in picking put this at the top of my list. There are just so many different things you can DO with nettles, I think I could have a supply on hand always and never grow ...
First Nettles
The air has had the feeling of shifted seasons and new growth in it this past week, which often means that the nettles are up. On Friday afternoon, after adding the remainder of last year's dried nettles to a batch of my handcrafted chocolate, I headed for one of my favorite local parks with my partner so that he could go for a run while I went on a nettle hunt. I took my time moseying over to my ...
Surrounded by Nuts
Living in this part of the Willamette Valley, one gets accustomed to being surrounded by nuts. Now, I am not simply referring to all the colorful characters who reside in Eugene, but to the acres of hazelnut orchards covering the landscape in their patchwork of long, straight rows. I had the good fortune a couple of years ago to connect with a local farmer who invited me to come out and glean the ...
A Kaleidoscope of Kelp
While I was up on the Olympic Peninsula visiting family, I took my son for a walk on my favorite beach near the mouth of Sequim Bay. I used to go on excursions there with my parents when I was growing up, and have always made a point to stop by and walk along the shore collecting stones and shells when I go back to visit. To me, returning to visit the outdoor places we love, is right up there ...
Rich in Friends and Fungi
This Saturday found me out on another mushroom hunt with my daughter and some long-time mushroom hunting friends. After a coffee cake brunch, we headed for the hills with our baskets, bags and a whole passel of girls. Although the area we went appeared to be recently picked, I found some of my best Chanterelle finds in some out of the way spots where nobody had looked. For some reason, this part ...
For the Love of Mushrooms
The rain has come to stay, and with it comes one of my favorite wild foods, mushrooms. I took my kids out on Saturday for our first mushroom hunt of the season, and was delighted to find the familiar bright orange caps of chanterelles poking their way up through the moss and duff. Many were just emerging, and this good news tells me the season is just getting rolling. Now, one of my ...