Be On The Lookout For This Elusive & Bizarre Edible Mushroom

Greetings,

Over the next few months, a strange wild mushroom will manifest from the trunks of oaks and other deciduous trees. At first glance, this fungus resembles a scarlet-colored spaceship. Upon closer inspection, however, and especially upon internal inspection, this mushroom literally looks like raw meat.

The Beefsteak Polypore is a mushroom unlike any other. In some parts of Europe, this species is considered rare. Here in North America, summer and autumn sightings of the Beefsteak Polypore aren’t infrequent, though they’re not incredibly common either. The underside of this mushroom is comprised of tiny tubes that aren’t connected to one another, and the mushroom’s taste is mildly acidic… almost reminiscent of a tangy portobello mushroom.

Needless to say, the Beefsteak Polypore is one mushroom worth adding to your must-see list of 2020.

To learn more about this fascinating fungus, you can view the following video for the next few days. This video is one of over 70 exclusive videos featured in Foraging Wild Mushrooms — a four-season online course designed to help you confidently and successfully forage wild mushrooms.

Registration for Foraging Wild Mushrooms is open until Monday, May 25th at midnight. After May 25th, registration will be closed.

If you’ve ever considered harvesting wild mushrooms but didn’t know where to start, or where to go, or how to discern between edible and poisonous species, Foraging Wild Mushrooms will equip you with the skills necessary to ensure that your harvests are safe and successful.

To get a sneak peek into the kinds of content found within the course, please enjoy this video.

A portion of all proceeds derived from course sales will be donated to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy — a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to protect and restore exceptional places and forests for the benefit of present and future generations.

Thanks for reading and watching, and thanks for your continued support.

-Adam Haritan

Foraging Wild Mushrooms — Online Course Is Open For Enrollment

Greetings,

I’m very excited to announce that Foraging Wild Mushrooms is open for enrollment for the next 7 days.

This 4-season online course is designed to help you safely, successfully, and confidently forage wild mushrooms from the forest, from the field, and even from your own backyard.

Whether you’re interested in foraging for food, for medicine, for study, or just for fun, Foraging Wild Mushrooms covers the most important lessons to get you started.

In addition to over 70 step-by-step exclusive and instructional videos included within the course, you’ll also receive:

Supplemental handouts covering mushroom anatomy, terminology, and biology that you can download and print for easy viewing.
A 42-page guide to medicinal mushrooms that summarizes the latest research on the most popular medicinal fungi and features over 75 peer-reviewed references.
Immediate and lifetime access to all materials.

Additionally, I’m equally excited to let you know that a portion of all proceeds derived from course sales will be donated to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy — a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to protect and restore exceptional places and forests for the benefit of present and future generations.

Since 1932, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has protected more than a quarter-million acres of natural places. To express gratitude, and to ensure that these and many more wild places exist for generations to come, I find it imperative to support organizations that in turn directly support the land.

Therefore, a portion of all proceeds derived from this enrollment period will be donated to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy for use in land conservation.

Please note that enrollment for Foraging Wild Mushrooms is open for one week only — from today until Monday, May 25th at midnight. After that, enrollment will be closed.

To learn more about the course, check out this video which gives an overview of what you can expect.

I hope to see you in there!
—Adam Haritan

6 Scientifically Validated Reasons To Eat Mushrooms

Greetings,

The spring mushroom season is well underway for many of us, and although morels have called it quits in more than a few parts of the country, plenty of additional edible mushrooms will faithfully appear over the next several months.

In anticipation of the late spring/early summer mushroom season, I’m excited to announce that registration for my online course will open on Monday, May 18th.

Foraging Wild Mushrooms is a four-season course designed to help you confidently and successfully forage wild mushrooms. This course is presented entirely online and it features over 70 exclusive videos that cover all the essentials for beginner-level mushroom hunters, including mushroom ecology; mushroom biology; common edible mushrooms; medicinal mushrooms; poisonous mushrooms; cooking techniques; medicine-making; and more.

Registration for Foraging Wild Mushrooms will be open for one week only, from midnight on May 18th to Monday, May 25th. After May 25th, registration will be closed.

Upon registration, you can watch the videos at your own pace and you will have access to the course forever.

If you are interested in signing up for Foraging Wild Mushrooms, mark your calendar for Monday, May 18th and visit this link. All additional information — including course outline and tuition — will be posted on Monday.

In the meantime, please enjoy the following video featuring 6 scientifically validated reasons to eat mushrooms. This video is one of the lessons included in Foraging Wild Mushrooms, and while all content within the course is available only to registered students, I thought I’d share this video with you because of the pertinent information contained within it.

Thanks for reading and watching, and I hope to see you on May 18th!

-Adam Haritan

Are You A Forager? New Forager Course — Good Witches Homestead

As herbalists, we have a lot of passions, and foraging is top of the list! With spring in full swing and summer inching closer, we are enjoying our foraging forays and plan for even more time in the fields and forests as the green world bursts into a riot of growth! To make the most […]

via Are You A Forager? New Forager Course — Good Witches Homestead

Sorrel – Herb of the Month — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Originally posted on The Herb Society of America Blog: By Maryann Readal Sorrel (Rumex acetosa), a tart, lemony herb, is used today primarily in cooking. However, you may have to grow your own sorrel or visit a farmer’s market or specialty store in early spring if you want to make any recipe with it. Chopped…

via Sorrel – Herb of the Month — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Wild Foragers, Violets, Spring Enchantments

Good Witches Homestead

Violet has been on our minds this spring as we see her pretty little flowers blooming here in southeastern Utah. Violets are one of the earliest wild plants to appear in the season, and we are reminded of her beauty as well as her long history of culinary and herbal use that may have us deciding to seize spring for all that it is!

Violet, being rich in vitamin C, indeed has our attention for a supportive immune boost!

We love to harvest the fresh leaves and flowers to incorporate into springtime salads, juices, and refreshing smoothies. Violet, of course, also makes a really lovely tea, vinegar, or syrup, not only for the vitamin C content but also for soothing respiratory symptoms.

Violet has a cooling and moistening energy, and its demulcent and expectorant properties are soothing to a sore throat, dry cough, and other respiratory irritation.

The recipe for…

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Looking to forage mushrooms this year? Here’s a good resource to get started!

Greetings,

If your experiences were anything like mine, then you received very little education on the subject of mycology in school.

Even during university-level biology classes, I distinctly remember the blatant omission of anything mushroom-related.

As luck would have it, I took this as an indication that perhaps there were ulterior motives involved — a kind of educational negligence by design. Feeling a bit snubbed, and to fill the void, I did what any mushroom-illiterate person might do.

I joined a mushroom club. I bought a few field guides. And I met some people who seemed to know what they were doing.

Over the years, I continued the educational process and have spent countless hours learning from professional mycologists, ecologists, mushroom enthusiasts, obscure books, scientific articles, outdated keys, and of course… the mushrooms themselves. Through this process, I’ve developed a deep passion for the fungal kingdom that continuously fuels my work.

Perhaps because I feel that no school curriculum in the 21st century should withhold training on place-based skills, I’ve made it part of my work to increase the availability and accessibility of this information.

A recent manifestation of this work is an introductory video that I created on the topic of mushroom collection and identification. In the following video, I cover information that will assist you in the process of safely, confidently, and successfully foraging wild mushrooms.

You can watch the brand new video here.

Have you ever seen anything that looks like this? If you have apple and eastern red-cedar trees nearby, perhaps you also live within the vicinity of this incredibly bizarre fungus. Check out this recent Instagram post to learn more!

Click to view post

I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Wizard’s Corner Podcast. In this interview, we discuss wild food nutrition, slime molds, the value of place-based skills, the ins and outs of the Learn Your Land YouTube channel, and much more. You can listen to the interview through any of the following channels:

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your continued support!

-Adam Haritan

The Flavours of Viriditas: My 30 Day Diary of Glorious Green Eating — Gather Victoria

O most honored Greening Force, You who roots in the Sun; You who lights up, in shining serenity, within a wheel that earthly excellence fails to comprehend. You are enfolded in the weaving of divine mysteries. You redden like the dawn and you burn: flame of the Sun. – Hildegard von Bingen, Causae et Curae…

via The Flavours of Viriditas: My 30 Day Diary of Glorious Green Eating — Gather Victoria

Ramps

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Paris Wolfe

When Jeremy Umansky was at culinary school in 2006, a professor took him foraging in the Hudson Valley. They were looking for fiddlehead ferns, morel mushrooms, and ramps. Umansky –a James Beard award semi-finalist, and owner of Larder Deli in Cleveland – was converted. He has been harvesting that harbinger of spring, ramps, ever since.

For those who haven’t yet heard, Foraged.Ramps 14 the ramp – also called a wild leek — is a species of wild onion (Allium tricoccum) that is native to North America. The bulbs resemble a scallion, but the leaves are wide and flat. They cover Appalachian forest floors before trees fully leaf out. The flavor is a mix of garlic and onion. And, if you eat too many raw, you will sweat that aroma.

Ramps are high in vitamins A and C, and in lore, they are considered a blood cleanser and part of…

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In Praise Of Wood Frogs

Greetings,

In my neck of the woods, signs of spring abound — from the blooming of Snow Trillium and Sharp-Lobed Hepatica, to the reappearance of the Eastern Phoebe and warmer days.

Among the indications that winter has predictably expired and tipped its hat to another growing season is the emergence of the wood frog.

The wood frog is one of nature’s most resilient and adaptable creatures, occupying a range that — at the species level — spans thousands of miles of varied habitats. Perhaps most interesting of all is that this hardy frog has the amazing ability to freeze solid when temperatures plummet… and survive the experience!

The wood frog has been patronizing the local pools lately, allowing itself to be observed and filmed by anyone with any interest in these sorts of things.

As it turns out, I do have a deep interest in these sorts of things, and I recently visited a nearby floodplain to document and film the seasonal manners of this libidinous amphibian.

If you are interested in learning more about the wood frog — and also about vernal pools, cryoprotectants, and holistic approaches to conservation — check out the brand new video!

Have you ever seen something that looks like this? Though it resembles a pinecone, this structure is not produced by any conifer tree. Instead, this pyramidal growth is produced in response to an insect that feeds on a particular flowering shrub. Check out this recent Instagram post to learn more!

Click to view post

Thanks for reading and watching… and as always, thank you for your support!

-Adam Haritan