Foraging Family Traditions

Traditions are the threads that tie families together down through the generations, and foraging traditions go back centuries. Mushroom gathering, huckleberry picking, fishing, and elk hunting are just a few in my family, and I make an effort to carry them on for my kids. The hunting and fishing part I hope to take up one day when my life is a little less busy, but mushrooms and huckleberries are well ingrained in my kids childhood memories. It’s not just about family time together or about teaching children skills to find certain foods and how to prepare them, it’s a whole experience that makes up the tradition. 

Corey’s parents were out visiting last week from the Midwest, and we
finally got an opportunity to get out on our first chanterelle hunt of
the year. He grew up hunting morels with his dad, so it was nice to get
out in the woods and carry on the tradition. My son has become quite the mushroom hunter after all these years of going out on mushroom expeditions, and he enjoyed showing Corey’s dad where to find them and being a part of this outing with the men of the family.

Although the rains came late and the mushrooms aren’t abundant this year, we did find a good amount of nice, big ones and have been enjoying cream of chanterelle soup and mushroom pasta! Most of all, we enjoyed carrying on a foraging family tradition. May the thread continue on.