I am learning that procrastination when it comes to #wildcrafting does not pay. You have to be ready to do the work 100% when the plants are ready. They wait for no one.
I ended up missing #Monsterdon tonight so I could process this beautiful red clover, getting the bulk of it into the dehydrator with just enough left to start a pint of tincture.
It took hours to pick and process, but wow, I am so frikken happy right now!
Good red clover is almost impossible to find commercially. If it is handled correctly, meaning it's not brown and gross when you get it, you will pay premium prices for it.
So I've been intently staring at fields and verges lately when I get to go out into the wild, trying to find places I could forage red clover without someone pointing a shotgun at me. It's almost the end of the season; it will all be going to seed by next week.
Today I hit the jackpot. I went to work out at a clients farm, and it turns out they have a front pasture that is just full of the stuff. They say it's awful when the horses eat it, because they just drool and drool, so they invited me to take as much as I could.
I couldn't take as much as I wanted because it was quite late in the day by the time I was done seeing my clients, and I didn't have any of my usual foraging supplies with me (d'oh! Lesson learned!), but the amount I got was absolutely perfect for the two things I wanted to do this week -- dry some and tincture some fresh.
I need to go back out there within the next two days to see if I can gather another round. It's a precious herbal resource, even though it's just an ordinary field weed to most folks.
The more I have these synchronicities with finding the plants when I need them, the more I feel that this slow, years-long adjustment that I'm making in my career path is the right one. I still want to be able to help people when I'm 80-something, and I want to help others to get to know the plants around them and take better care of themselves.
Also, I had a frikken bald eagle soar over my car when I was driving down to work today, so yay, nature!
Spent the day foraging for Fall Chanterelles in the forest. Wildcrafting is such a satisfying pastime, and we’ll cook up our almost three pound bounty tonight and freeze most of them for later. They’ll last all winter. Best #mushrooms ever imo. Better than Shiitake or Matsusakis. #Chanterelles are the filet mignon steak of edible fungi, meaty, aromatic and delicious. #WildCrafting#Foraging#ForestBounty#SouthernOregon#Oregon#Fall
It's wild carrot season, also known as Queen Anne's Lace, or bird's nest. It's one of the most mis-identified plants I see here on the internet, which is dangerous because the lookalikes range from bad-rash to deadly-if-ingested. Supposedly how Socrates died, if you believe the tall tale.
See that little dark purpley central flower? It's supposed to make it look like a bug is already feasting on it, and it's the surest way to make an ID. Now, not every single wild carrot flower has this little doot, but if I'm planning on harvesting, I only take the ones that do, just so I can be absolutely certain I have the correct plant.
Yum. Found some Morels under our Madrone trees. It’s that time of year. Normally we head to the nearby Cascades for wildcrafting and foraging. It’s great when some of our favorite shrooms pop up on our own property. #mushrooms#morels#oregon#wildcrafting#foraging