Back in the car, I started a drive to a much different part of the park but noticed a tall yellow mushroom under a row of spruces. I stopped at the next lot, loaded up the pack and returned on the off chance that this had been a Porcini.
Read more "The Peak of the Season"I found that I liked Chicken of the Woods but I found that I liked Hen of the Woods (the drab giant prize at the end of my hike) even better.
Read more "Hens in the Woods"Through it all though, I’ve become much less fearful of these fruits of the forest floor (or decaying logs, or trees…) That’s what knowledge is good for – conquering fear and inspiring more curiosity.
Read more "Maturing With Mushrooms"When I talk to novices about getting into the woods, I ordinarily downplay the role of gear in preparedness, persuading instead that the emphasis should be placed on mental and physical preparedness.
Read more "Deep Woods"I ate many types of animals early in the trip. Soon my animal crackers ran out though and I realized that I’d need to go foraging for things like mushrooms
Read more "Wild and Wonderful Blog Post"The following is given as a starting guide for the recreational forager, not for hard-core woodland survival.
Read more "Just the Basics: Foraging"And maybe it’s also all about learning to appreciate the things that aren’t morels – aren’t the most glamorous, desirable, well-publicized organisms out there, the stuff that’s often walked right past, crushed into the ground below our heels as we keep up a good pace to the morel patch, checking again today for first signs of disturbance in the thin leaf litter.
Read more "Before the Morels"During the months of coronavirus lockdown, I’ve been eating more from the wild. I haven’t been working as much, there have been shortages of things I want to eat and I simply won’t wear the mandatory mask to the grocery store. Things haven’t been dire though and I certainly haven’t gone hungry. I just did […]
Read more "Wealth is Good for Us and Our Environment"Brook trout water remains a simple pleasure, as do the trout themselves. I could walk the mountain runs of the Alleghenies for days on end with no rod and remain content. Looking and knowing that the magical little fish are there is enough. I’ve been away too long. Too much pavement, too much […]
Read more "Simple Pleasures"Alexander seemed shocked to see me when I bumbled into his camp, high in the western Allegheny ridges. And he should have been shocked – I was the first human he’d seen since December. I slowly raised my hand in a universally understood greeting salute and Alexander tentatively returned the gesture, still unsure whether to […]
Read more "Reishi and the Noble Savage"
the dying fish 