Category: Foraging Philosophy

Whenever I am feeling down, confused, or directionless, there is one thing that I can always do to cheer up.  Go walk in the woods.  For me, there is nothing else quite like it.  Living in Stowe Vermont, I do feel blessed for all the beauty around me.  The Green Mountain State is majestic, and to not forage this kingdom of wilderness regularly, would surely be a mistake.

A walk in the woods is a sensual experience like no other.  As I have talked about in previous posts, putting yourself into the wilderness taps into your ancestral past.  A past where humans have spent most of their time on this planet – the wild.  For me, nothing is more sensual than this.  The sights, smells, sounds, feels, and delicious tastes of the wild awaken my soul like nothing else can.

If you are reading this and thinking I am exaggerating, or perhaps just crazy, you are wrong.  At least about the first part.  I can prove it to you.  How?  Go walk in the woods!  Walk slowly, and try to fully absorb all of your surroundings.  Become aware of life around you.  The insects, rodents, birds, plants, trees, and mushrooms.  Breathe it in.

The Inherent Joy in the Act of Discovery

See the big picture out here.  How it is all connected.  Then narrow your focus.  Eyes zoning in on a particular patch of forest.  In just one square foot of wilderness, there is enough life and peculiarities to keep you in discovery mode for awhile.  Feel that joy inherent in the act of discovery.

On my most recent walk through the Green Mountains of Vermont, I had no real plan of what I was doing.  I was driving around near Camels Hump State forest, looking for interesting places to pull over.  Once I found a suitable place, I would pick a direction and just walk into the wilderness.

After joyfully wandering around for an hour or so, I finally came across something edible.  Bear’s Head.  A tooth fungus that has the texture of crab meat and looks like something out of a scifi movie.  After taking plenty of cellphone photos and staring at the thing for 10 minutes, I picked one of the two, and returned to the truck.

 

I drove further down the dirt road until some new spot would call my attention.  A nice pull off, with some flat woods stretching out into the distance.  Not too long in I came across the most gorgeous Oyster Mushrooms I have ever seen.   The white mushrooms gripping to the bright green moss covered log, flowing like sails, and covered in fall foliage.

Not all Who Wander Are Lost…

I picked a dozen or so and left the rest to be.  Wandering around a bit more, I made my way back to the truck, stopping to grab 3 honey mushrooms on the way.  I very much like foraging for a few different kinds of mushrooms, and would much rather have a handful of diverse mushrooms to cook up than a whole basket full of one species.

Just before getting into the truck, I spotted a tiny reishi mushroom within a foot of a birch polypore.  I took this as a sign of some sort and decided to take the two of them to make a tiny batch of tea.

Driving down the dirt road back towards Stowe an overwhelming feeling of contentment swept over me.  So much so that I actually had to think about what in the world was making me feel so content.  Was it all these wonderful mushrooms from the forage?  Was it the joy inherent in the act of discovery I had felt?  The sheer beauty of the Green Mountains of Vermont in autumn?

Truth is, I have no idea, and it probably was a combination of these things.  All I know is that a simple walk in the woods has the power to change moods.  With a simple forage as the only goal, a wander through the wilderness, without a trail, seems to be a guaranteed way to reset yourself from the pressures of everyday life.

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!