Episode #14: Foraging Fun: Nurturing Mind, Heart and Stomach
Have you ever heard of the hobby foraging? Well, me either until I interviewed Dorien Morin-van Dam about her hobby that she stumbled upon after moving to Vermont.
Listen in as she tells us why she loves foraging, how she got started, what's needed, and where to go to get started with this fascinating hobby.
Mentioned In This Episode
Where you can find Dorien: Website
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Transcript:
00:00:00 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
Dorien, we are super interested in hearing all about your hobby. Please tell us a little bit more about you and how you got started in foraging.
00:00:13 Dorien
Awesome. So I got started in foraging because I moved to Vermont about three years ago, right before the pandemic happened. And as it is, when you, you know, move to a new place, you want to go and explore it. But the first few months when we moved to Vermont, we were busy renovating the home that we had purchased and then right around the spring of 2020 when we were ready to go explore our new state.
00:00:42 Dorien
A new home state of Vermont. I'm the world shut down. So that's the beginning of it. So then this spring when everything kind of opened back up, my son who one of our children lives with us, was interested and has always been interested in mushrooms. And we went to the farmers market and he found a local person who was called the Green Mountain fungi and he was selling mushroom.
00:01:12 Dorien
Potions, tinctures, coffee, mushroom coffee and started talking to us about mushrooms and we said well how would we learn more about mushrooms? And he turned around and said for me I give workshops so that's kind of how we get started and it was super interesting for us to go to the first workshop. I actually had intended to drop my son off. It was a 3 hour workshop and he had just the previous week.
00:01:43 Dorien
Fallen rock climbing and dislocated his elbow so he couldn't drive. So I was like, well, I'll drive you. And then once I was there I decided to stay. And we learned about mushrooms for about an hour and a half. And then we went out into the forest and went foraging. And what sold me on it was that learn about mushrooms went on a walk, which I love hiking. Then found mushrooms, which we then could take home and eat. So it's kind of like all the things that I like to do eating, hiking and puzzling. And that's kind of how we get started.
00:02:13 Dorien
And it was really awesome.
00:02:16 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
What do you love so much about foraging? Why is it so much fun?
00:02:21 Dorien
So when you go foraging, it's not just about finding that prize at the end, it's about learning about nature. Mushrooms, fungi grow in specific areas during specific times, under specific or near specific trees. So in order to find.
00:02:43 Dorien
Surprise. You have to know where to go. You have to know when to go. So you have to look at weather and weather patterns. You have to check the type of force that you go foraging in and then what kind of trees are there. And then you have to have incredibly good eyes. And my son has an incredibly good nose. We can be in the forest and he can say I smell mushrooms, which is pretty amazing and fun. And so we'll go looking and so.
00:03:14 Dorien
The first kind of finds we had were not quite accidental, but sort of accidental. We walked somewhere and we saw a mushroom that we thought maybe we would know because we were looking for specific mushrooms. We found the ones that we were looking for. We took them home, we cooked them, we ate them, and that was just amazing. So we looked up more about them and learned more. And what happens with mushrooms if you instead of pulling them out of the ground or pulling them off of?
00:03:44 Dorien
Tray if you cut them off then they can regrow. So what had happened to us we had found a a batch of chicken of the woods mushroom and we got there right at this at the right time because sometimes you come and and and the mushrooms already eaten by animals or by bugs or has shriveled up and is dry. But this was a perfect batch. So we went back we looked at the weather, we looked at the wind we had cut off.
00:04:14 Dorien
About 2/3 of the batch of mushrooms, but left some because then what happens is the spores, you know go and and it might multiply somewhere else. So we went back about three weeks later and found another whole flush as it's called, of mushrooms nearby of the same mushroom. And so that's really exciting to know to be able to go back and look for continuous flushes. So our teacher, our mentor, told us and taught us to never take all of the mushrooms.
00:04:44 Dorien
When you find a flush to leave some and then also to cut them off, if they grow, if they're mycelium and they grow out of the ground to cut them. So that way the mycelium regrows and new mushrooms grow. So that's really fun. You get to, it's like a puzzle we we look at whether we look at weather patterns, we look at forest, like I said, trees, and then go out and see if we can find the bounty.
00:05:11 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
Three, let me ask you this, I'm curious.
00:05:15 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
About the equipment that we would need for foraging, where can we find this equipment and is it expensive?
00:05:23 Dorien
When we go foraging, we have usually a backpack with us and we also carry a basket. When you take mushrooms from the forest, you want them to be able to breathe when they're fresh, you do not want to put them in plastic and seal them. So a breathable basket or an open bag or a net would be good.
00:05:45 Dorien
We always carry knives because like I said, you can't pull the mushrooms up by the roots. You really want to cut them and leave some so they can multiply again after you leave. And they can, they can be another flesh of mushrooms. So a knife, a basket, a backpack, a headlamp. And then one of the things that we two things that we want to get this winter is we really specially now that it's fall, we realize that we need a pair of binoculars. Sometimes you spot something.
00:06:16 Dorien
They look for white, we look for orange, depending on what mushrooms we're looking for. And a pair of binoculars would help us not have to go into the forest as far. Sometimes it's across the stream and you're like, is that an orange leave or is that an orange mushroom, right? So para binoculars and then a Jewelers loop is going to help you really help identify the mushroom that you find. One of the things that we are taught and we were taught by our mentor is to always.
00:06:47 Dorien
Look at the mushroom from different angles, from the top, down from the side and upside down. You look for gills, you look for skirts, you look for color, you look for texture. So there's different ways you can identify them. And a Jewelers loop lets you look a little bit closer at the gills. So those are kind of the pieces of equipment that you need. A good pair of hiking shoes certainly would be helpful as Sun hat and when you go into the Bush or into the forest, because let me be clear.
00:07:18 Dorien
Those mushrooms aren't going to be appearing on a path. You actually have to get off the path to go look for them. You need a map. You probably want an app on your phone. I use Gaia G AIA is a great map. When you go out into the woods, you turn it on. That way you can backtrack yourself. But a good pair of biking, hiking boots and then some bug spray, which is really good to have, and a sun hat. So those are the things that we take with us. You can.
00:07:48 Dorien
Forage from early spring all the way to the fall in the season in Vermont where we live, and you look for different mushrooms depending on the season.
00:07:58 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
So let me ask this, who can forge really? Is there any limit on age? What about physical capability?
00:08:07 Dorien
One of the really cool things about foraging is that there is no limit on age. I have attended several workshops and one of them had a family with two small children.
00:08:19 Dorien
It had a couple of seniors in the group as well as parents with teenagers. I was there with my son who was in his 20s, and there were single women, men any age, anybody, as long as you can hike a couple of miles. If you can carry a basket on your arm, if you can bend down and cut a mushroom, you can forage and you can go on an easy hike. You can do 1/2 mile hike or a mile hike, or you can go deep into the forest.
00:08:50 Dorien
And go, you know, 8 or 10 miles at a time. We are lucky where we live that all types of forests near us. So we have found four or five different spots. We go look back. If we find a good flush, we mark it actually on the Gaia app and we can you can do that by taking a picture or putting a marker in and say this is what we found. It will date it, it will give you a picture. So we plan next year to go back to the same spots and then extend our search.
00:09:21 Dorien
Around that area, because mushrooms often come back in the same area because they like the same trees, the same environment. So we're hoping that next year is going to be even more bountiful. But yes, the question is, is there a limit on age? Absolutely not. Anybody can look. But with children always of course know that there has to be an adult there and don't eat anything. If you are not 110% sure of the kind of mushroom that you find, don't eat it.
00:09:48 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
You know, a lot of us out here live in fairly populated.
00:09:52 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
Areas do you think this is something that we can do? Where would you suggest we go?
00:09:59 Dorien
Mushrooms can be found in any type of forestry area, so if you live in a fairly populated area you can go to a park. The first workshop that I attended with my son was at the City Park. The mentor, the person who gave the workshop, had permission from the local park and Rec to hold this workshop there he.
00:10:22 Dorien
Was only allowed to show us the mushrooms so we could identify them. We were not allowed to take them and eat them. But it gave us a good sense of what's out there. So yeah, a City Park would have mushrooms. Your backyard. We have a backyard and we have, depending on the weather, mushrooms popping up near a tree or in the grass. You don't have to be in a very rural area. So and then you know the the next part of foraging right now we've forged.
00:10:52 Dorien
Or fungi. But in Vermont you can also forge for something that's called fiddleheads, which tastes sort of like asparagus, but they are ferns and ramps, which are wild leeks and truffles, which are very elusive. But we're going to do some research and maybe get those too. So the foraging is not limited to mushrooms, but it's a fantastic, fun hobby, and you don't have to live in a very rural area. You can look for wild.
00:11:24 Dorien
Um, things. Even dandelions can be forced and can be eaten and made into soup. So if you want to get started on something easy, type in forging into Google and the city where you live and see if there's a community out there or foragers, and you might learn from them what they're looking for. They might not give you the location on where they find their specific specimens, but they might tell you what they have found, and that's what we found to be true.
00:11:55 Dorien
Vermont. Nobody's really giving up their secret spots for their best mushrooms, but there certainly are showing off what they have found, so we know what to look for.
00:12:04 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
Thank you so much for joining us. Can you let the audience know where to find you if they want to connect?
00:12:11 Dorien
In my professional life I'm a social media consultant, so I actually have my own website called more in media.com. My name is pretty uncommon, Doreen Moore and Van Damme. I'm on LinkedIn. I usually don't talk about foraging.
00:12:25 Dorien
But I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn or on Facebook. If you want to learn more on Facebook, same name Doreen Moran Vendam. And if you want to become my friend and ask me questions about foraging, I would love that. So just reach out and let me know. If you have questions about how to get started or how to find a mushroom foraging group near you, I can give you some tips that would be great to connect with you.