"Swordferns and salmonberries cover my sweetheart's backyard, way up in the mountains, to get there I must travel far, following a turquoise river, through the deep, dark forest green, where the swordferns and salmonberries fill the spaces in between." ~Laura Kemp Every time I pick juicy, ripe salmonberries along a creek, this song by one of my favorite local folk musicians plays ...
Wildcrafting
Edible Weeds Article
My article on edible weeds in the garden is published in Organic Lifestyle Magazine this week. Check it out here: Five Common Weeds to Cultivate for Health and Nutrition ...
A Basket Full of Nettles
It's nettle season, and I have been working on gathering my yearly supply. I currently have a basket sitting in my car, and have been enjoying their very green aroma. Although nettles can be a bit prickly and off-putting, I can't help loving them. They are incredibly rich in nutrients and just plain GOOD for you. From fresh eating, to drying for tea and powdering to add to my Wild Nettle ...
Hunting the Wild Oregon Hedgehog
When Oregonians talk about going out to the woods to hunt for wild hedgehogs, fear not! No cute critters are being harmed on these expeditions. The hedgehog, or sweet tooth mushroom (Hydnum repandum) can be found in our forests from about the time other mushrooms pop up in the fall, and continue growing through mild periods of the winter and into the spring. Their flavor is a little sweeter than a ...
Winter Mushrooms
We went out for a hike to enjoy the sunny winter day, and came back with some fun fungus finds. Not only did we get to appreciate the tranquility of the mossy woods, but thanks to the mild weather, we managed to fill our basket with chanterelles, hedgehog mushrooms, and white matsutakes. It was one of my more diverse mushroom hunting hauls, and in the middle of December to boot! The ...
Mushrooms
Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air. Nobody sees us, Stops us, betrays us; The small grains make room. Soft fists insist on Heaving the needles, The leafy bedding, Even the paving. Our hammers, our rams, Earless and eyeless, Perfectly voiceless, Widen the ...
Devil’s Club
With Halloween around the corner, I thought this plant deserved a post. Devil's club or Devil's walking stick is a plant I grew up knowing, and one you will want to know too if you spend time bushwhacking in the woods. My main association with them from childhood is the pungent smell that filled the creek ravines I played in, and more importantly,"Don't touch!" The spines on the stalks break ...
Eureka!
Eureka! We struck Golden Chanterelles! Last weekend we made it out to our mushroom hunting spot and picked our first basket full of wild mushrooms for the year. I stopped by my Chicken of the Woods log from last fall, and was cheerfully greeted by clusters of the bright orange and yellow fungus that really does live up to it's name. Although the chanterelles were not extremely ...
Hiking Olallie Mountain
In honor of the end of summer, we took a hike up Olallie Mountain on Sunday. Having just been up near Indian Ridge on the other side of the South Fork of the McKenzie, I liked the idea of getting a different perspective and was intrigued by tales of an old lookout tower on the top. We had also managed on Saturday to pick and freeze 10 quarts of huckleberries for the winter and pressed 6 gallons of ...
Huckleberry Heyday
I heard a rumor that the huckleberries were ripe up in these hills, so one evening this past week, my mountain man and I headed up to gather our share of this purple treasure. I thought maybe with the blueberry season being so good, that the huckleberry season would follow suit, and was pleased to find out I was correct! It's a great year for huckleberries. The bushes were loaded down ...