Hank, I live in Dakota County and i’ve been hearing everywhere What a great year for Chanterelles it is, yet I have yet to find any. Any tips? I’m pretty new to foraging.
Well, the season is winding down, but they're still out there. Look for oak woodlands. In those oaks, look for forest grass. Forest grass + oaks + a little moss is a great place to focus your efforts.
Way to preach the truth, Hank! So funny how these bounties and droughts form synergies from year to year. I've planted a deer plot seed mix in the same stoney hillside patch for a couple of years and the "only" thing it attracts is bear and turkey! Frustrated at first that I wasn't seeing deer, now I'm thankful to be witness to whatever wildlife makes its way in.
For me this rang very true. Whereas when I was younger I found it frustrating when reality didn’t conform to my idea of it, now I find it enjoyable. Rolling with the punches.
Bend, go with the flow - that's the mantra for dealing with my garden this year. After our usual mid-June frost (3 days of lows in the 20's), we then had weeks and weeks of 90-100. I had poor to zero germination, had to resow chard and kale 3 times. Then first frost (light, but still...) on the 19th and 20th - a week earlier than last year. 🤬 I was able to harvest beautiful garlic and snow peas, I have a plan to nurse the Italian squash and potatoes through to harvest. The cabbage is beautiful, and starting to be kraut-ready. But, no tomatoes, no beans, no basil (I planted 4 kinds...). Culinary herbs never got out of their winter "stockade" but are doing well, too. So... I'm bending, not breaking, and harvesting chard, which I now have in abundance.
When living in downtown Portland Maine, I found a huge blackberry patch right on the Fore River . It supplied me for 6 or 8 years. I shared it with a neighbor who was in disbelief!
I go through this every year, when I check out my spots to forage for blueberries, blackberries, chokecherries, black currants, black elderberries, and chokeberries (Aronia). A lot of this fruit goes into making wine, but we freeze some for eating also. This year (here in the U.P.), the blackberry crop was epic (I probably picked 25+ lbs!), so that is where I spent most of my time. Blueberries were pretty good, elderberries were pretty good, but currants and chokeberries (Aronia) were fair at best. Chokecherries have been a complete bust here the last couple of years, not sure what is going on with them. Anyway, this year it will be blackberry wine.........probably with some other fermented fruits blended in. And we'll have lots of blackberries and blueberries for eating during the winter months. I enjoy foraging for fruit at this time of year. It is what I do, and I would really miss it if I couldn't do it........
Oh, so true! and wonderful, as usual ( but, no pressure. :-) Ebb and flow, as always :-) ) I would think that most folks who forage or have at least spent time growing some of their own food, know about all the variables that can affect their harvest, not to mention just the cycles of nature's production: a mast year following a sparse one. My bitternut and shagbark hickories and red oaks seem to be on a 2-year cycle. But reminding one of staying open to possibilities of everything in life - that's special and often overlooked or forgotten. Thank you.
It's been very dry at the chanterelle spot I discovered last year, so the pickings have been few. However, the cut block marking tape shows that this will be the last year of chanterelles for that spot. It's gutting.
Hank, I live in Dakota County and i’ve been hearing everywhere What a great year for Chanterelles it is, yet I have yet to find any. Any tips? I’m pretty new to foraging.
Well, the season is winding down, but they're still out there. Look for oak woodlands. In those oaks, look for forest grass. Forest grass + oaks + a little moss is a great place to focus your efforts.
Way to preach the truth, Hank! So funny how these bounties and droughts form synergies from year to year. I've planted a deer plot seed mix in the same stoney hillside patch for a couple of years and the "only" thing it attracts is bear and turkey! Frustrated at first that I wasn't seeing deer, now I'm thankful to be witness to whatever wildlife makes its way in.
helpful reminder .. eloquently said
Well done.
For me this rang very true. Whereas when I was younger I found it frustrating when reality didn’t conform to my idea of it, now I find it enjoyable. Rolling with the punches.
Nice piece, Hank.
"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." -William Arthur Ward
Bend, go with the flow - that's the mantra for dealing with my garden this year. After our usual mid-June frost (3 days of lows in the 20's), we then had weeks and weeks of 90-100. I had poor to zero germination, had to resow chard and kale 3 times. Then first frost (light, but still...) on the 19th and 20th - a week earlier than last year. 🤬 I was able to harvest beautiful garlic and snow peas, I have a plan to nurse the Italian squash and potatoes through to harvest. The cabbage is beautiful, and starting to be kraut-ready. But, no tomatoes, no beans, no basil (I planted 4 kinds...). Culinary herbs never got out of their winter "stockade" but are doing well, too. So... I'm bending, not breaking, and harvesting chard, which I now have in abundance.
"had to resow chard and kale 3 times" "I have a plan to nurse the Italian squash and potatoes through to harvest"
Inspirational!
When living in downtown Portland Maine, I found a huge blackberry patch right on the Fore River . It supplied me for 6 or 8 years. I shared it with a neighbor who was in disbelief!
I go through this every year, when I check out my spots to forage for blueberries, blackberries, chokecherries, black currants, black elderberries, and chokeberries (Aronia). A lot of this fruit goes into making wine, but we freeze some for eating also. This year (here in the U.P.), the blackberry crop was epic (I probably picked 25+ lbs!), so that is where I spent most of my time. Blueberries were pretty good, elderberries were pretty good, but currants and chokeberries (Aronia) were fair at best. Chokecherries have been a complete bust here the last couple of years, not sure what is going on with them. Anyway, this year it will be blackberry wine.........probably with some other fermented fruits blended in. And we'll have lots of blackberries and blueberries for eating during the winter months. I enjoy foraging for fruit at this time of year. It is what I do, and I would really miss it if I couldn't do it........
Thank you.
Ease and flow. Always forward. Just what is needed. Thank you.
Thanks Hank. Hope you weathered the storm there, my sisters power is still out. Sounded like a doozy.
All good here in St Paul. Wild storms, though! We might get more tonight.
Oh, so true! and wonderful, as usual ( but, no pressure. :-) Ebb and flow, as always :-) ) I would think that most folks who forage or have at least spent time growing some of their own food, know about all the variables that can affect their harvest, not to mention just the cycles of nature's production: a mast year following a sparse one. My bitternut and shagbark hickories and red oaks seem to be on a 2-year cycle. But reminding one of staying open to possibilities of everything in life - that's special and often overlooked or forgotten. Thank you.
Although the harvest has been disappointing, being out in nature never is!🌲🌼☀️🍻
Yep, as the Bard of Minnesota said, gotta keep on keepin' on.
It's been very dry at the chanterelle spot I discovered last year, so the pickings have been few. However, the cut block marking tape shows that this will be the last year of chanterelles for that spot. It's gutting.