September Foraging Events: Group Walks, Tastings and Our Monthly Wild Food Picnic
The first half of August has been an absolute bolete bonanza! Kings, Summer Ceps, Porcini, Bicolors, Bouillons and Painted Boletes (just to name a few) are covering forest floors. Like wild fruits and nuts, mushrooms will also have ‘mast’ years, ranging from 3 – 8 year patterns. The last bolete bounty was in the summer and fall of 2021.
A change to cooler nighttime temperatures have also encouraged numerous fall mushrooms to begin fruiting earlier than normal. Beefsteaks, which typically appear at the end of August, have been harvested at each of my public mushroom forages over the past two weeks.
That means Maitake/Hen of the Woods, Cauliflower Mushrooms and Lion’s Mane/Hericium are not far behind.
Everyone that has come out to an event has left with their bags full of tasty treasures! Last week at the monthly forage and wild food picnic, guests enjoyed a wide variety of specially prepared hyper-seasonal dishes – from Bolete mushroom toast, pickled Chicken of the Woods and Elderflower jelly atop brie cheese to sea bean and purslane salad, pork loin dusted in sumac and ramp salt, Nocino and wild blueberry shrub drinks – the only thing better than the food was the company!
Due to the incredible surge of fungi, I have added two additional dates at the end of August to capitalize on this season’s harvest – August 29 in Haverhill, MA and August 30 in Newton. September’s forages will continue to feature mushrooms in addition to ripening fruits like wild cherries, crab apples and autumn olives, along with nuts like hickory, hazelnut and black walnut.
Speaking of nuts, my amazingly talented friend Andrea Whitcher-Johnstone, who first joined me 3 years ago on a forage, has put together a fantastic and informative e-zine about her favorite wild food – the acorn. Check it out here. She will be out gathering acorns in September and October. If you are interested in joining her, you can find her contact info in the zine.
September Public Events:
September 5 – Norwell, MA Mushroom Foraging Walk: Edible, Medicinal and Poisonous Fungi
September 6 – Needham, MA Mushroom Foraging Walk: Edible, Medicinal and Poisonous Fungi
September 12 – Waltham, MA Mushroom Foraging Walk & Wild Food Picnic: Edible, Medicinal and Poisonous Fungi
September 26 – Newton, MA Foraging Walk: Fungi, Wild Fruits & Nuts
Recent Foraging Class Highlights
The first Giant Puffball of the season, adorable tiny dogs perched on Reishi and so many smiles…what more could a forager want?!
