argoskier, Author at Stowe Forager

Often when I’m out foraging, I find myself more concerned with enjoying my surroundings than collecting edibles. I often will only take a small amount of something (which is great practice for sustainable foraging btw), and leave the rest behind. As much as I am a foody, and love to cook and eat my fresh foragings, I am also a photographer.

There are some outings, where I end up taking way more photos of edibles (and not edibles) then what I actually collect. Here’s an example: See these awesome honey mushrooms in the photo below? Mmmm, fresh, young and tender honeys. So young tho, that they have not even gotten a chance to spread any of their spores. Is it worth it to harvest these mushrooms for a delicious honey mushroom soup at the cost of their own propagation through the forest? I have no idea.

I don’t know if there is a right answer to that question. It really just depends on you, the individual. In this case, I was perfectly happy taking a photo.

Here is another example of the joy of the forage not coming from the quantity of things taken, but from the experience of foraging in itself. On the same recent walk through the Stowe,VT wilderness, I came upon a log in full bloom. At first glance, I definitely thought I was looking at oyster mushrooms. But the more carefully I scrutinized the fungus, the less certain I became (never a good sign when it comes to poison). I plucked an oyster off the log, and looked it its gills. They looked just like oyster mushroom gills, only they were bright, almost neon, orange (oyster’s have white gills). I decided to take my specimen home and look at the spore print.

I believe it was an oyster, they seem to come in a 1000 different varieties just in the Green Mountains of Vermont alone. This one I found to be absolutely stunning, and think it would be a wonderful treat at the table. And that’s what’s fun about foraging. It is a forage into a moment of time. Be it 10 minutes or 10 hours, a proper foraging only requires one to wander around discovering all the little joys.

Why Forage? Good question, I’m glad you asked. Foraging is the oldest way of life. It represents our deepest ties to our past. Foraging for food is how our ancestors survived, and therefore, is the reason you are here reading this today! Of course there was hunting as well, but most tribes could not have sustained themselves with just hunting alone.

There is also the case of the medicinal plants, who most likely formed symbiotic relationships with early humans over thousands of years of harvesting. It’s easy to be a skeptic, but think of the synergy between the medicinal plant and the human being for a second. Would tribes spread out over thousands of miles continue to harvest the same plant for its medicinal properties if it didn’t work? No, and this is important because of the role it plays for the plant. If the medicinal properties are paramount in the plant being picked, then the plant will evolve to contain even more of whichever chemical the human is seeking. Why? Well, in almost every case of medicinal plants, the human is essentially helping to propagate the plant by spreading its roots or pollen, or whatever other crazy way the plant has selected to reproduce!

So then, foraging is something inherently human, and as such, it undeniably feels good to forage and then consume your findings. You think having a garden is rewarding? Well foraging goes much, much deeper back into human history. So if it feels good, do it right?

Well, then there is the question of sustainability and ethics. People can debate on this issue till they are blue in the face, but for me, the bottom line is this: it’s just not as bad, and will never be as bad as almost every other way you could be getting your food. I suppose if you planted your own organic garden and only ate from that you would be perhaps doing a bit better, but the fact is, not very many of us do that. And let’s not forget that if practiced properly, foraging can be sustainable, and even beneficial to the organism being gathered.

Lastly, there is the reason that our ancestors did it. Because it works! The nutrients and medicines that come unadulterated from our natural world, can be powerful tools for our continued growth both physically and mentally.

Here in the hearth of the Green Mountains of Vermont – Stowe- the foraging is fantastic. The sheer variety and commonness of foragables in the Green Mountains is sure to blow the uninitiated away. When Summer arrives, just an hour walk down any path in Stowe is enough to gather dozens of different edibles!

Author: argoskier

Funky Fungus

Why Forage?