October Foraging Events: Group Walks, Tastings & Wild Food Picnic
A grin crept onto my face this morning as I laid in bed, still blurry-eyed from sleep. It continued to grow wider as I scrolled down, reminiscent of a jack-o-lantern. Why? RAIN! Glorious rain! This next week is forecasted to be a soggy one, with multiple days of heavy rain. I am crossing fingers and toes, hoping that this time, the radar and predictions are right. Mushrooms love a good downpour or steady drizzle and typically start fruiting 2-4 days after precipitation.
While this summer’s mushrooms were rather sparse, the few days of solid rain in September welcomed some massive hauls and exciting finds. Cauliflower fungi (pictured left), Chicken of the Woods, Maitake/Hen of the Woods, Beefsteak Polypores, Turkey Tails, Lion’s Mane, Honey Mushrooms, Painted Boletes and Giant Puffballs (so MANY puffballs!) were just a few of the varieties harvested during our foraging walks.
In fields, crab apples are begging to be picked and jammed, baked or made into vinegar, Kousa dogwood fruits are ripening and black walnuts are causing mild concussions to unaware passersby. Many spring plants are rejuvenated by fall’s cooler temperatures and begin sprouting again – garlic mustard, wintercress, bittercress, dandelions, field onions and nettles urge our bodies to eat more greens before the looming winter freeze.
The change in seasons also means that it’s the last opportunity of the year to join me at my monthly public forage & tasting or my monthly public forage & wild food picnic. Tastings & picnics will still be available for private forages though!
September’s tasting and picnic featured a myriad of mushroom dishes, as promised. We snacked on pickled chicken & hen of the woods, sampled mushroom jerky, crunched on mushroom toast and feasted on a wild greens salad with sheep sorrel and cress topped with marsh samphire, field onions and edible flowers, wild grape jelly over brie cheese and tenderloin dusted with foraged sumac and served with beefsteak polypore gravy. We also sipped on an assortment of wild sodas, shrub mixes, wild herb-infused gins and last year’s batch of nocino.
October’s menu is currently in the works and is sure to be fantastic for the fungi fanatic!
October Events:
October 11 – Edible, Medicinal & Poisonous Fungi, Fruits, Nuts & Herbs (Medford, MA)
October 18: Foraging Walk & Tasting: Fall Fungi, Herbs, Fruits & Plants (Lynn, MA)
October 19: Foraging Walk: Trees, Fungi, Plants and Herbs (Newton, MA)
October 25: Fall Fungi and Monthly Wild Food Picnic, Plants, Berries and Herbs (Waltham, MA)
October 26: Fall Fungi, Plants, Berries and Herbs (Medford, MA)
Recent Finds
Check out some of this past month’s best finds!
