Foraging Philosophy Archives

Why Skiing is Kind of Like Foraging.

Skiing in Stowe Vermont — Photo of me by Aaron Rhode

Skiing and Foraging, Two of my Favorite Things

If you have been following my Instagram since it launched late this summer, you may be getting tired of all my skiing related posts. I totally understand this as it initially was fully dedicated to foraging -so let me first apologize for this derailment. But in my defense, there really is no foraging to be done here in Stowe, Vermont in the middle of our long, cold winters. Everything is dead, and covered and snow.

I thought for a while about what I would do with my Vermont Forager Instagram account. Show old photos of my fruits of the forest? Or perhaps some throwbacks to some of my more recent travels around the globe? Well, I am, and will continue to do this, but the reality is that in the winter, I ski… like every day, I ski.

So rather than shamefully hide this great passion that consumes my day to day life in the wintertime, I figured I would showcase it instead. Then I started to realize, skiing is kind of like foraging in some ways. I mean, it is completely different, but really, it is sort of similar. Hear me out!

Skiing at Stowe — Photo of me by Eddie Spang

Skiing and Foraging – Two peas from the same pod?

So how are skiing and foraging in Stowe Vermont possibly alike? Well let’s make a little list:

They both take place outdoors for an extended period of time: Both of these activities are best enjoyed with a sizable chunk of time spent outdoors. There are many times when I am skiing when the weather is not great. Meaning there is no fresh powder in sight, and the sun has not been seen in weeks. Really what this means is that I spend most of my time on skis just wandering about the mountain, letting my curiosity our our natural world get the best of me. And this leads me to the next thing on our list.
They both encourage exploration: Really, I can’t think of two better activities to get you into the exploration mindset. While this is always true for foraging, skiing is only about exploration about half the time. But during those times when you are exploring while skiing, you are really exploring. On the top of a freezing cold mountain covered in 10 feet of snow, the inner explorer in you is sure to come alive!
They both put you into the FLOW Zone: If you don’t know what the flow zone is, it’s that feeling of complete immersion into whatever activity you are doing. In skiing, you are almost always in this state, as it is often dangerous to let your mind wander. And with foraging if you are really ever going to find anything worthwhile, you really do have to stay focused on the task at hand.
The Joy of Discovery: In both foraging and skiing, you are often searching for something. In foraging you are searching for a wild and delicious edible to take home and cook up. In skiing you are searching for the fresh powder, or the perfect line to take. Both of these activities have the power to unlock the natural joy inherent in the act of discovery!

Skiing and Foraging – Not so Different After All!

Well I hope I have convinced you somewhat that skiing is actually pretty similar to foraging in a lot of ways. I know I have convinced myself, which is important so that I can continue to feature skiing on my Instatgram! Haven’t seen the Insta for Stowe Forager yet? Check it out here!

Ski Vermont — Photo of me by Eddie Spang

What is Lichen? (Why I’m Liking Lichen)

What is lichen? Great question, I’m glad you asked – for lichen is a bit of a strange thing.

What is Lichen?

First of all, let’s identify what lichen looks like. It’s that strange crust-like substance that forms on rocks and trees in the forest. You see it all the time, but it hardly gets any recognition. It is almost always a bluish greenish or orange – yellow color.

Lichen is very slow growing, and yet it covers 6% of the Earth’s surface! There are nearly 200,000 species of lichen and they are found just about everywhere. From the frigid arctic tundra to the hot dry deserts, and everywhere in between. Scientists believe that lichens may be some of the oldest living things on the planet and have dated one to 8,600 years old, making it the Earth’s oldest living thing!

OK, but what IS Lichen?!?

Right, so now that we have talked about lichen, and we can all agree we do know what it is. As in if I took you out into the woods here in the Green Mountains of Vermont and asked you to find me some lichen, you probably would eventually find the lichen. I don’t think you would confuse it with a plant or a mushroom.

But what IS lichen?!? OK, at this point you may be wondering why I keep asking that even tho it would seem we have already identified what lichen is. Have we though? Is lichen a plant? No. Is lichen a fungus? Nope. Is lichen a bacteria? Nuh-uh. Well, actually, it is all of the above and none of the above.

You see, this is getting weird right? Lichen is what’s known as a composite organism. This mean it is not just one organism or species, and is made up of two or more. Lichen is most often made up of a fungus, and a photosynthetic cyanobacteria. The fungus helps protect the bacteria, and the bacteria makes energy for the fungus from the sun – just like a plant. Often, a third or fourth species, such as yeast, will also be present among the lichen – further complicating things.

So then, I think we can easily enough understand what a lichen is. It is an entity that is made up of 2 or more species (at least one fungus, and at least one photosynthetic bacteria) that live together in a mutualistic way. The problem is that you can’t really call a lichen a species, or even an organism for that matter.

Even the scientific community sort of hit a roadblock on how to classify lichen. They DO sort and identify different lichens by calling them different species names, and yet at that same time recognize and caution that they are not actually species. This is just funny to me, and a great example of science failing to control nature.

Why I’m liking Lichen

I’m liking lichen particularly right now because it is stick season (see last post) in Stowe Vermont. As I wrote about in the last post, perhaps stick season’s most distinct characteristic is the greyness of it all.

Yet among all this grey, there remains one vibrant source of color. This strange thing (it is not an organism or species), somehow persists and finds its time to shine. Indeed, I challenge you to find anything brighter than a lichen during the cold Vermont November. And that is why I’m liking lichen right now – it is a light, when all else is dark.

what is lichen in vermont — Lichen on moss

… And Then Came Stick Season

Autumn Is Beautiful But Brief in Stowe Vermont

Autumn is a very short season in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Here in Stowe, it seems to last about 3 weeks. Each week is packed to the brim with activity, and the small mountain town is in a constant state of hustle and bustle. Thousands and thousands of tourists come to Stowe, VT looking for things to do and sights to see.

As much as all the tourists can be annoying to any local, It’s not as though I can’t understand the madness. Autumn in the Green Mountains is an absolutely breathtaking event to witness. The tourists bring money to the local economy and the town buzzes with the collected humanity. And then, all of a sudden, It’s over.

Foliage Autumn Stowe Vermont — Autumn Leaves

And Then There is Stick Season

After about three weeks of decent foliage, with one week being the definitive peak, everything changes. Here in the Green Mountains of Vermont we enter our 5th season: Stick Season. Where does the name come from? You guessed it: when the leaves have all fallen, all that is left are the naked branches. Essentially just waiting for their fate of becoming a stick!

So stick season is defined by the lack of leaves, but also i is defined by what it is not. It is not winter. There is no snow. Well maybe a flurry, or maybe Mount Mansfield or Stowe Mountain Resort will get a good coating here and there and a gaggle of ski bums will hike up to ski down.

It is cold like winter and the temperature no longer feels like fall. Without the snow or leaves, and with the cold temperatures, there is nothing to do. Eventually the tourists get the hint as the restaurants and shops close up for the month before Thanksgiving and the town gets a glimpse of solitude.

What Is There To Do During Stick Season?

Nothing. There really is not much to do, and that is what makes stick season special to me. I find it as a much needed break from the madness. I sometimes call it meditation season because I find it is a great time (if not the only time) of year for me to really focus on mental health, spirituality, and meditation.

I do enjoy going for a walk or hike during stick season (duh, I am the Stowe Forager after all). But I will say that there really is not much to see. Everything is grey, all the time. And I mean everything. All the plants, the trees, the sky, the ground, the water – just everything, grey.

But there is some sort of mystic beauty in all this grey. As Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows once said: grey is my favorite color. There is something incredibly grounding about the color, and so too, about stick season in Stowe, Vermont.

Foraging or Photographing?

I find that on my regular foraging walks, it becomes much harder to find anything edible. Sure there are still some things you can find and eat, maybe some late berries of some sort, or a tuber root. And it can be fun to find these things, as it is quite hard to do, so perhaps more rewarding.

But for me, I just don’t really enjoy foraging for the things I can find during stick season, so it sort of ends up marking the end of my foraging season. I do find that I really enjoy take photos. I feel less pressure to get a good shot, as there is very little actually calling out for attention.

Instead I find myself becoming more creative with my photography. Taking strange photos of strange things, and maybe giving them a fun edit after. And that is stick season in Stowe Vermont. The Green Mountains of Vermont, but in grey.