It's a wild thing

Celebrating New Year's Eve with family and a snack of one of the crunchier and most satisfying pickles I've made so far - unripened crabapples - picked while still green in July. They are too astringent for much of a snack when raw, but work perfectly well when preserved in pretty much any pickle recipe. To be honest, in this case I simply used brine from my favorite Macedonian pickle brand, Mama's. If you do the same, they need to be kept in the fridge and will keep for months.

Picking directly rom the tree keeps the fruit free from pathogens and parasites that could be lingering in the soil and grass. If you do pick windfall, they must be thoroughly washed before using.

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Me with my' buddy, Chicken of the Woods, hanging out in the forest today. Well there are two in the picture, if you can see them under the leaves - and there were even more - - all just a bit too past their prime too harvest. •
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Sea buckthorn can be found growing in unexpected places, far, far from any sea. They do love sandy soil and once they get growing, there's no stopping them. They wear their thorns with pride; big, long spears that catch and tear at skin and coats, god forbid one pokes in your eye (but hawthorn would be worse). The leaves drop off in the cold weather and the branches seem on fire with these day-glow orange-yellow berries, so tart and tangy on the tongue. The challange, after the thorns, is this: how to get the berries off the branches? They burst open at the slightest touch, squirting acidic juice in every direction, plus, longer-than-my-fingers thorns make them really hard to reach. There is an easier way: wait for sub-zero temperatures, and with secateurs and thick gloves, trim off a few side branches from each bush (usually where there is one sea buckthorn there are plenty others). The trimming will encourage new growth if it's done correctly. Now the berries can be removed for freezing, dehydrating or preserving.
Sea buckthorn is one of those power foods touted in health food stores and for good reason - its packed with antioxidants and dense with nutrients. Keep your eyes open - with the berries out now it's easy to find. I spotted this batch in wasteland while driving past. •
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-forageandharvest

It's a wild thing updated their website address.

My beautiful new posties designed by my talented and lovely neighbor, . Ain't they pretty?
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Do you think this Coral Hedgehog, is just happy to see me? What a fungi! 😂😂
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I can't enter a woods without my nostrils flaring to catch a whiff of mushroom-y scent. I've got my regular eyes, and then in the woods I've got my "mushroom eyes", a whole sensory experience going on. I think my pupils must go big, like a cat's. Colors become brighter, and textures, more pronounced. The outline of leaves, twigs and - yes! - mushrooms, become sharper. Time is out the window and my heart beats faster. This is living. •
Here are tiny baby oysters - perhaps I'll return to search them out when they reach a decent size, perhaps before the frost or animals get to them.
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When I lived in Amsterdam I used to bike my kids to peuterklassen daily through Beatrice Park. One autumn, a gorgeous puffball appeared, but it was in an area frequented by dog-walkers snd therefore dog p**p, so I left it alone. This was a blessing, it turns out, because then I was able to observe how, day-by-day, that puffball grew.
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What I noticed was that it was nibbled on frequently by forest creatures, I could see the bites taken out - and yet - it kept growing! The squirrels took just a little here and there, rather than taking the whole thing at once - as I would have well before it reached it's full size. So the squirrels taught me an important lesson... a little at a time can mean more overall. Show some restraint. You actually can have your puffball and eat it, too! •
There is no puffball in the fruits of today's Hallowee'n walk (some of which i already posted about separately). But tucked in there are some beautiful chicken-of-the-woods which I found right by my house. Thinking of the Squirrel and the Puffball experience, I left some on the tree to continue growing with the hopes of returning in a while for a second harvest. •
Unfortunately, my basket of golden crabapples tipped over and down a ravine while I was reaching high for the elm mushroom... but I did find some interesting tasty pears that are round like apples.
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Hallowe'en marks the near-end of fruit and of many tasty mushrooms, as the plants go inside for meditation to prepare for their re-birth.
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I had been walking for a little while without finding anything, until a voice came into my head, saying, "Stop searching, and start receiving." I had to smile, shrug my shoulders and agree that I was focusing on my expectation rather than the beauty around me. Within a couple of moments, I found these gigantic elm mushrooms above my head, on an ash tree. Compare the size of the monster one to my finger in the picture!
Must have a white spore print. Hypsizygus ulmarius is not an oyster mushroom but is sometimes called elm oyster. To help tell the difference, common oyster gills are decurrent (come down to the stem. Chanterelles are also decurrent - whereas elm oysters are not decurrent, the gills stop above the stem). The Latin name Hypsi means "high" and zygus means a "yoke" Hypsizygus may then be referring to the fact this mushroom is often found high in the tree (although I have found plenty closer to the ground as well). Ulm means elm" indicating one of the common substrates for this fungus - with Dutch Elm disease decimating the elm population, you are likely to find this on ash or Aspen.
Elm mushroom is awesome for its medicinal qualities and is high in protein and B-complex vitamins. •
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Catkins from the alder tree. When they're this young, they actually taste decent, not incredibly bitter as they are when I harvest them in the winter or really spring.. Alder catkins have always been considered a survival food because of its at ability and high protein content, as well in Southern Ontario anyway, you can find them plentiful along pretty much any creek or lakeside. Like so much of the wild food I find, I simply eat these out of hand, having my lunch as I'm forest-walking. •
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Only takes a few to get filled up!
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Divestment in oil and natural gas and other unsustainable ventures is one way to have an impact. And there are others. Each person does have an impact, should we make the effort.

Don't despair: the climate fight is only over if you think it is | Rebecca Solnit After the panicky IPCC report on climate change, it’s easy for pessimism to set in – but that would be conceding defeat

FantasticFungi_Sizzle_070318 This is "FantasticFungi_Sizzle_070318" by MOVING ART by Louie Schwartzberg on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

The work I do - teaching people how to breathe, mindfulness yoga, feng shui and wild food foraging - is really about energy. Clear energy pathways, awareness, and an authentic connection to oneself and the natural world surrounding us is our birthright. All this to say that as we become clearer, one of the side-effects is enhanced intuition. It could come just from proper breathing or awareness or from spending time in the woods. It can come from deciding to only speak the truth, or from many other practices. This mushroom has been calling to me for a couple of years, and every time i found it I brought some home to dry - not knowing what they were, but knowing on a gut level that they were full of valuable medicine. Finally, I've discovered these guys are one of the edible cancer-fighting resinous polypores - Ischnoderna resinosum, I believe. •
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Honey mushrooms have a white spore print. •
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Honey mushrooms have a white spore print. •
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I have been seeing these jolly mushrooms everywhere this autumn - really everywhere. In mushrooming, it's never safe to totally trust your instincts, even though mine were shouting that it was a good edible, and to take it home with me. Now I wish I had! If I get the chance, I'll go back to where I've seen it and get some to make a spore print just to be sure - and if so - wow!!! More mushrooms!
It's the Elm Mushroom - it really is growing on elms in these pictures, but it also likes aspens and possibly other hardwoods.
Gary Lincoff describes this one as stout with the cap growing off-center from the stem - very jaunty! He also says it's an excellent, oft-overlooked variety and also says, "...Back in the day, it was a species of Pleurotus. Now, it's a Hypsizygus, a genus of mushrooms cultivated in Asia - as both a good edible and a good medicinal mushroom."
Sounds good to me.
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# #80%wild

Aronia berries are rather scarce this year. Was intending to freeze a few litres but will skip it and leave them for the foxes and birds.
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What, no microwave towers? Impossible!
Aaaah.

Biofest at Lowville!- Big day out teaching Halton high-school students about the Otzi Ice Man and the two polypore mushrooms found with his kit - tinderbox and razor-strop plus a few others like Chaga, Turkeytail and Chicken-of-the-woods (also called Sulpher Shelf). Mushrooms for bandages, buttons, tea, medicine, insoles, tinder, fire-movers and more! Also discussed some of the many the uses of birch. I wish I took photos... but I never seem to take them when I'm leading a class, alas!
Kudos to Scott who organized the day and thanks for inviting me to share! ☆if you are one of the amazing students I met today, please let me know what the coolest new piece of wisdom you took home from this event today!☆
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...but before I talk about amadou, I really need to tend to this chicken. We already ate a couple of meals from the 20-lbs I found on a huge old oak (when I was actually looking for polypores for my workshop with the high-school students). This batch is getting dried for winter.
Yes - Chicken-of-the-Woods tastes like chicken and even feels like roasted chicken breast. It's delicious. •
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# Laetiporus

Here's the amadou ready for processing. For one of the most reliable fire-starting tinder, boil the amadou in water with birch-ashes for at least an hour (or soak overnight or a couple of days). Then strain and pound the amadou into thinner pieces - being careful not to mash into tiny bits - and dry. Just one spark can get this tinder lit followed by a few blows to get a good ember, add your dry leaves and sticks, and you'll have a fire going in no time. I'll demo a birch fire-cone soon.
For felt, see the video I'll post shortly.
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I'm blowing my mind here... we keep finding more!

Hericium is everywhere right now. This one is similar to the other Hericiums in that it has hair-like, shaggy appendages that hang down - kind of like floppy icicles. I mis-identified this as Lion's Mane but actually it's Hericium abeitis or Coral Hedgehog (Thanks to for pointing that out). It's confusing because there is a lot of conflicting info out there. Even Wikipedia has H. abeitis as growing from conifers while other sources say it's rare. Some people call H. abeitis as Lion's Mane to make it even more confusing. Lion's Mane is supposed to be more compact and ball-shaped.
This specimen was found with many others on a decaying elm. I'm still not sure if I've correctly identified it so please feel free to add info.
One of the few kinds of mushrooms that can be safely eaten raw, as far as I know. All the photos are 'shrooms growing in one colony. Tree was killed by Dutch Elm disease.
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# coralhedgehog 's

Beauty everywhere, with Hydnellum peckii, I believe, in the bottom left and the saucer-like fungus is a brown jelly cup fungus ( it could be Peziza micropus, because of its light colouring but there are many kinds in the Peziza family which are actually a kind of sack fungus. Maybe the mycologists could chime in here to confirm or clarify?). It was found on an elm, in an elm and beech forest, it's prime habitat. With the disaster of Dutch Elm disease in our area, there are lots of fallen trees to create the habitat this guy loves.
The pink ones, if I've identified them correctly, will grow much bigger and begin to exude blood-red drops of liquid - as though bleeding through pores. Fascinating. It's not poisonous but considered inedible. I'll post another pic with drops if I see more.
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We are happy to announce our Fall events at Taste of Colombia - Fair Trade Cafe & El Salon "Events Room" with Gentle Yoga on Tuesday mornings, Yoga Explorations on Thursday mornings, and a Special Forest Breathing workshop on September 9th.