Foraging for Mushrooms and Other Wild Edible Plants Ft Orion of Forage Colorado

Announcer: 0:01

Welcome to the Backyard Bounty Podcast from HeritageAcresMarket.com, where we talk about all things backyard poultry, beekeeping, gardening, sustainable living, and more. And now here's your host, Nicole.

Nicole: 0:17

Good morning, everybody. And thank you for joining me for another episode of Backyard Bounty. I'm your host, Nicole, and today we are talking with Orion with Forage, Colorado, and we're going to talk about introduction to foraging and sustainable and learn about what kind of things that we can forage for and how to forage safely. So, Orion, thank you so much for joining me today.

Orion: 0:40

Yeah, glad to be on. Thanks for having me.

Nicole: 0:42

Absolutely. So living in Colorado is kind of how I stumbled upon your website. Every fall, I like to go to the mountains and go foraging for some various mushrooms, but something I've only been doing for a few years. So I found your information, and it's been incredibly helpful. You've got so much information on there. But you know, I guess I'm, I'm kind of curious, how did you acquire so much information on forging, and what's your background on that?

Orion: 1:14

Yeah, so, you know, like you mentioned, getting out in the fall for mushrooms is kind of how I got started as well. I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. So very similar habitats, but just south. And when I was about 10, a family friend offered to take my dad and me and my brother out mushroom hunting. You know, I've always been an outdoorsy person, and same with my dad. And so we jumped at the chance to do that. And that sort of hooked us into it. And then that mushroom hunting became, you know, an annual, a few times a year, we would go do that trip. So that's kind of what got me started. And then I moved to Fort Collins to attend CSU. And I studied natural resource management, sort of brought in the trees and you know, natural resources and that sort of aspect into, you know, my education. And I kind of lost track of the mushrooming for a little while in college. And then we were on a camping trip, myself and some buddies and I happened upon some mushrooms that I recognized, and that sort of reignited my interest in that. And since then, it's just become, you know, like a passion that I just seek to learn as much as I can about and teach anyone who's interested about so I'm all mostly self taught. I do have some, some good friends that know more about, you know, some things than I do. And so we ask each other questions and like, "Oh, hey, I found this plant. Do you know what it is? I found this mushroom. Do you know what that is?" And, you know, I'm always kind of seeking to learn more, because there's always more to learn. So having that drive is kind of what keeps me going and keeps me learning more things, and what drives this sort of interest in foraging. And then, you know, the, the teaching part of it, I started in 2015, I started my website "Forage Colorado", and it was really in an effort to just sort of create a place where I could find like minded individuals, and you know, a community around foraging, and eventually, it sort of morphed into more of an educational resource, where I provide information, you know, I write articles and post little things on my Facebook page, or Instagram and offer classes when I have time to do so. Which is been fairly limited recently, with everything going on this year, and my day job. So yeah, that's sort of the background in it.

Nicole: 3:35

I don't think that a lot of people... well, I don't know this, I guess. But I would assume that most people kind of, don't really put two and two together of let's go outside and go look for food. You know, even though I've been an outdoorsy person as well, my whole life, I've done a lot of hunting and fishing and everything, you know, it's normal to think of going out and harvesting an animal or something, but going out and looking for plants or mushrooms, I think is a little bit less common.

Orion: 4:04

I would agree with that. At least in you know, in some areas, it's sort of like things specific, you know, so there's a lot of people who go out for a few species of fall mushrooms are you know, in other states, people go out for morels or ramps, which is a wild onion species. You know, there's little things that people know about and do. But the more broad, like, just, you know, knowing what's edible around us is less common, but there is a lot of growing interest in it. So that's kind of cool to see.

Nicole: 4:32

Yeah, so I mean, the mushrooms are kind of the obvious one we we talked about that a little bit, but what other just kind of types of things in general can people forage for?

Orion: 4:44

Yeah, so you know, like most things, there's some seasonality to it. In the spring, there's a lot of greens that can be forage, there's some roots and then throughout the summer, you know mushrooms and various greens and then berries and later in the summer and fall in between greens kind of die off later in the spring or early summer, their plants, you know, start to flower and then the greens can get bitter or, or tough. So there's some seasonality to it. But you know, there's loads and loads of stuff that's edible out there that is probably growing with your gardens or, you know, in your yard or around you, you know, every day that people walk by and just don't think twice about it, but it's pretty likely that it's edible.

Nicole: 5:28

And so what kinds of things would that be that you mentioned, like in our own yards?

Orion: 5:32

Yeah, so the one that probably everyone thinks about or mentions, you know, even people that have very little forging information, they've heard this, that dandelions are edible. And that's true. Dandelions are such a ubiquitous plant that I think anyone could recognize them even if they have very little experience in foraging or even gardening just because it's such a common plant. And the edibility is also true that the entire plant is edible, the roots, the greens, the flowers, even the seed heads are edible, but they're not, you know, there wouldn't be my first recommendation. And then the other thing about them is, like, you know, say a lettuce that you'd grow, once it bolts, it's going to be bitter. The same goes for dandelion, you want to get them when you know the greens are tender and young. Before they flower, they're still bitter. Some people enjoy that bitterness and will eat them raw. I actually prefer cooking a lot of my wild greens because it develops the flavors a little more and gives you more kind of ability to use them in different ways. Early on in our history, 50 to 100 years ago, potted greens were a really common thing that people ate, which is either boiled or you know cooked in a little bit of fat. And as a way to to get their vegetables and eat greens, and it sort of has fallen out of favor in more recent years. But it's a really good way to eat a lot of wild greens. One because some of them can have strong flavors that are reduced by this cooking. And to like I mentioned, it's it's kind of a fun way to change than just eating a salad. So dandelions are something that I mentioned as something that everyone is familiar with. There's tons more than that grow in yards and gardens that people probably just discard as weeds. For instance, purslane is a common one. That's a great, great edible plants. lambsquarters is another one pigweed or amaranth is the same name. That's a really great edible plants. These are all like, farmers are gardeners worst nightmares, because they just can take over, but they're actually all really, really good edible plants. And I would be willing to bet that many of your listeners have them in their yards or gardens.

Nicole: 7:35

Oh, yes, I can tell you, I've pulled handfuls of the purslane and the pigweed out of my gardens.

Orion: 7:42

And they're really great, purslane and especially, that's one of the highest amounts of omega 3s in any plant, maybe the highest.

Nicole: 7:49

That's I did not know that you wouldn't think that in a plant. That's interesting. So what are some of your favorites?

Orion: 7:57

I have so many and I'm always learning more, you know, there's an endless amount of, it seems seems like an endless amount of stuff to learn. You have your local region of plants. And you know, if you ever managed to learn all of those, then you step outside of your region. And there's a whole new population of plants to learn or mushrooms to learn. So it's sort of the tough question to answer. I'm a big fan of the mustard family because I think it's a really interesting plant to forage. There's thousands of different species in it, and they're all edible to some degree. And once you learn some of their traits, they're actually pretty easy to identify. And a lot of them, you know, are super common. And the cool thing about the mustard family is, you know, many people wouldn't think this but many, many of the plants we eat, you know from either our gardens or grocery stores are in the mustard family. So for instance, kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, all those sorts of brassica (brassicaceae) plants, or cruciferous plants are the mustard family. And there's a ton of wild ones as well. And the cool thing about them is, you know, some are great, just raw, others need to be cooked, like I mentioned, you can harvest the seeds of some in the fall and make your own, you know, mustard sauce, or use it for, you know, if you're fermenting, or if you're doing quick pickles. I like to use wild mustard seeds and that sort of thing. And it's sort of, you know, like I mentioned, once you learn them, you can be anywhere and be like, oh, there's a mustard. Oh, there's a mustard and it's just based off of their, their flowering pattern really, they have these little four petaled flowers. And then if you look close, they have six statements, four are tall and two are short. And that's like universal for the mustard family.

Nicole: 9:50

So when when we're first getting into foraging and stuff, I imagine it's hard to say you know with too much specificity because your expertise is in Colorado, and we might have listeners elsewhere. But what are some resources or some ways to be able to safely identify, I mean, especially mushrooms, I'd say that that one is probably where this topic comes up quite frequently? But you know, if somebody wants to go out and look for whatever, what are some of the best ways to be able to positively ID what they're looking for, and make sure that what they're finding is, in fact, edible and safe?

Orion: 10:28

There's a handful of ways to go about it. Having someone you know, like me or someone local to wherever your listeners are, that has experienced in it, I rarely would call myself an expert in anything, because there's always so much more to learn. But I have other people say that I'm an expert. So I guess, you know, if the consensus says says that you're an expert, your local expert would be the one to go to, you know, if you can find one. That's sort of your, one of your best bets, because, you know, they've already gone through the process of learning everything, and they can give you these little little things you wouldn't think about for identifying, you know, whether it's mushrooms or plants. If that's not possible, then books and the internet are your best friends. I always recommend for plants, Samuel Thayer's, books, they are good for all of North America. And they're the best plant foraging books, in my opinion. He's based in Wisconsin, and he has three books in the fourth coming out. And they just the way that they present the information is it makes it really easy to learn. He has fun stories and some suggestions about like how to use things. They're just, in my opinion, the best plant based book, so I highly recommend Samuel Thayer's books, if anyone's looking to get plant foraging books. And then mushrooms, it's a little more challenging, because there's, there's a lot of reasons why one, it's regionally there's a lot of differences, too. They're a very novel field of study, we really don't know very much about mycology and mushrooms, so and we're learning more, you know, daily. So if you're really interested in mushrooms, joining your local mycology or mycological, society would be a really good bet. Typically, there's, there's one in major cities, at least, in Colorado, we have several, the big one in Denver, and then Pikes Peak, there's one in Fort Collins near me, that's pretty new, I believe there's one on the west slope, maybe in the four corners area, but you know, your local mycological society would be a really good bet for learning mushrooms. And then if that's not an option, getting online, if you're on Facebook, there's typically going to be a mushroom group within your area that can help you out. And I spend a lot of time helping people identify mushrooms on Facebook, because it's also a great way for me to enhance my knowledge and learn new things. So those are kind of, you know, what I recommend as far as resources, and then techniques for learning, I sort of have a method that I've developed, that helps me learn new plants or mushrooms to me, typically, what I suggest is picking something either that you see regularly while you're out and taking lots of pictures of it, maybe bringing some home and trying to identify it. That way, you know, sort of working back from something you see regularly, or the opposite. If you get one of these books, or you're online, pick something that you know is edible from the books, and then try to find that in your local area. And with either method, you'll want to be 100% certain that you have a positive ID on what you're trying to identify before you consume it. And this isn't to create fear. It's just sort of a cautionary thing. Because there are some deadly species out there that if you eat them, you can die. So you know, I don't want people just going out and putting plants and mushrooms in their mouths.

Nicole: 13:48

No big deal.

Orion: 13:49

Yeah, yeah. So there are there are a few things out there to be aware of, but you don't need to be scared of them. As long as you don't eat it, it won't affect you. You can touch them and look at them and study them. But don't eat anything until you're 100% sure.

Nicole: 14:03

Yeah, I thought that was one interesting thing about mushrooms. You know, I think so many people think that if you even touch one of the bad mushrooms that you're just gonna keel over dead in the forest. But, you know, in a lot of cases, I mean, you shouldn't eat them, especially raw. But I think that there's misinformation on the toxicity level. Again, not that you should eat them in general, but like you said, you can touch them and things.

Orion: 14:28

Yeah, so mycophobia is what people call that. And that's just, you know, fear of mushrooms. It's really prevalent in North America. It's been getting better the last few years, but for whatever reason, we have this sort of fear of them. I don't know if it's because of, you know, something that the media did and that's just stuck around throughout the years or whatever. But, you know, in Europe and places it's, it's like a cultural, like pass through the generations that the whole family goes out and picks mushrooms and eats mushrooms and we, you know, don't have that here. So there's definitely a mycophobia that's present. And to a point, it's good to be cautious. But, you know, like I said, as long as you don't eat them, they're not going to hurt you. They're not, you know, waiting out there just to jump in your mouth and kill you. And really, nationwide, we probably only have five or six deadlys, like actual deadly species, there are plenty others that will make you sick for, you know, 24 to 48 hours. And if you have a really bad reaction, or, you know, if you have some underlying conditions could potentially be fatal, but only five or six that are truly, you know, they're gonna kill you. And there's only, I believe there's only one species of mushroom in the entire world that we know about that is toxic to touch. And they're really rare and they're more in like Asia and Australia. And it's called like Fire Coral or something, it's it's a pretty rare species. And we definitely don't have any dangerous to touch mushrooms in North America. So feel free to pick and take home and study, it's actually really important to harvest a mushroom that you want to learn about, because you need to see the traits on the underside of the mushroom, you know, whether it has gills or pores or tubes, on the underside of the tap, how the gills travel down the stem, what it's growing from, it's important to sometimes to cut them open and see if they stain and how they smell, all of these things are crucial to get getting positive ideas sometimes, and if you're going to be posting pictures or sending pictures to someone to help you taking really good pictures, and having really good notes is going to increase your chances of success exponentially.

Nicole: 16:37

Those are really good tips. So they know that there's a lot of rules, some written and some just kind of cultural when it comes to, you know, being good sportsmen or sustainable fishermen or, or what have you. But what are some of the rules for I would say sustainability and harvesting? You know, I, I see some debates occasionally online where somebody goes and cuts all of the mushrooms and takes them all home, and that tends to get some people worked up. So what are some of the rules that we can harvest sustainably and not deplete the resources?

Orion: 17:15

Yeah, that's, that's a great question. So for mushrooms, there is a bit of a heated debate about harvesting all versus leaving some and then additionally cutting versus pulling. And in the end, it doesn't matter. There's been several studies that have shown that the mushrooms aren't affected, whether you cut or pull and whether you take all of them or half of them. The reason is, the mushroom is the fruit of the fungal body. So mushrooms fruit from mycelium, which is an underground network of fungal mass that travels and whether they're mycorrhizal and associated with trees or plants, or maybe they're saphrotic and they're decomposing wood or, you know, leaves, the main body of the fungus is in the ground, so you're not going to harm it by removing the fruit. It's just like, you know, it's it's very similar to picking an apple or, you know, some other fruit from a tree or a plant. There are some differences, but it's similar enough that that can be used as a metaphor. And as far as how much to take that sort of personal preference. The studies show that it doesn't matter. If you take all of them, that's, you know, it's totally fine. But, you know, if you feel better, ethically or morally about leaving a certain percentage or leaving the young ones, go for it, you know, that's that's a good practice. And in the end, it's it's kind of all what we're comfortable with ourselves that is going to be best for us. So I typically will just take the best specimens. So you know, the the ones that are in prime eating condition, and I'll leave the older ones or the younger ones that won't make good food. And I think that works for me pretty well. mushrooms. As they're maturing, they really spores, you know, thousands, millions of spores, and those spores are kind of like the seed so they can fruit from the mycelium or the spores can start new mycelium colonies which then can produce more mushrooms so picking them and disturbing them is actually beneficial to the fungi. And then as far as plants go, there's a little more nuance to plants. There's a few different things to think about. So one if you're harvesting foliage, you know leaves or flowers. You want to leave enough for the plant to sustain itself you know enough leaves to so that it can continue to photosynthesize, and then flowers eventually do become fruit or seeds. So you'll want to leave a certain amount of those to continue growing the population when it comes to roots and berries. Like I mentioned, berries are fruits so you can harvest as many as you want pretty sustainably and roots. That's the one that will kill the plants of all of these. You know if If you take the entire top of a plant, it will likely still have enough energy to come back. And do okay that year. But if you dig up the root that's removing it from the population. So unless it's a non native, invasive or noxious weed, I typically won't do much with the roots. We do have some edible native species with large edible roots that are exciting and cool to learn about. But I typically won't harvest those just, you know, because of that principle. But for like, the weeds, the invasives, we have some that are fun with edible roots that I'll definitely harvest and make use of. So yeah, I kind of all of that to say that it kind of depends on which one you're going to harvest. And then you know, your own personal feelings about it.

Nicole: 20:42

Sure. So I'm hesitant to focus too much on very specifically Colorado, just because again, we have listeners everywhere, but what what are some kind of key tips or expert advice, if you will, for people that are wanting to get started some kind of suggestions to get them started in the right direction?

Orion: 21:01

Sure. Also, some of those weedy plants I mentioned, those are like everywhere, the first lanes and the lamb's quarters and the pigweed. So if you aren't in Colorado, don't fret, you definitely have those. So feel free to look those plants up. And, you know, see if you have them in your garden or your yard, as far as getting started picking up one of those books I mentioned, is, can be a really good way to kind of kickstart an interest to read the book, you know, you'll pick out a few plants that you're like, Oh, I maybe have seen that before or heard of that. And then seeing it and reading about it will sort of stick it into your mind. And then later on down the road, whether it's that afternoon or that, you know, weeks later, you might run into it and be like, "Hey, I think I remember that plant", and then go back and get my book and you know that I can compare and just sort of having the drive to learn it and the interest to learn it will lead to gaining knowledge and interest in it. So it's sort of like a sort of like a self driving machine, I guess, once you get into it, but put a little bit of effort for it to sort of snowball into more, and you're like, "Oh, what's this? What's that? Can I eat this?" at least in my experience, once you get into it sort of just you want to keep learning more and more and more.

Nicole: 22:07

So just get out there and just get started?

Orion: 22:10

Yeah, yeah, I mean, it can be as simple as you know, if you're working in your garden, and you're weeding, and you pull a weed, and you're just like, I'm gonna learn what this weed is. Or maybe you already know, maybe you already know that you have person in your garden you didn't know was edible. Do some research on purslane, it does have a common look alike that some people can confuse it with that is mildly toxic, called prostrate spurge. So you'll want to learn that so that you don't confuse them, they're pretty simple to tell apart, but start learning about the plants that are around you. And eventually, you'll get to the point where you feel comfortable enough to eat them. And then you'll start adding more on top of that knowledge. And it's sort of grow from there, it's a pretty fulfilling hobby to have, or a passion to have. Because, you know, there's, there's a lot of more recently, I guess, a lot of worry about where food comes from and food availability and supply chain stuff. And having this you know, the knowledge of where to get, or how to get wild foods is kind of a, like a, I don't know, it's sort of a comfortable feeling. You know, that, oh, if the apocalypse came, well, maybe I'd survive a little bit longer than everyone. That sort of feeling but it's also it also kind of creates this connection to, you know, your ancestral and instinctual just behaviors that the hunter gatherers way before agriculture would do the people that would that were nomadic and would go out and hunt for their food and gather their food. And that's how they fed themselves and survived. So there's definitely a connection as you start getting more into this, but at least I feel and I imagine that many people probably associated with in some way.

Nicole: 23:49

Yeah, I agree. I really enjoy self sufficiency. You know, and, and even though I live in a suburban neighborhood, and I only have a handful of chickens and things like that, I really enjoy just learning new things and being able to go out in the woods and go, Oh, I know that and I could eat this and you know, but just that that self sufficiency, I think is is very fulfilling.

Orion: 24:12

Yeah, I agree. It's hard to describe it's sort of this like, it's fulfilling but it's, there's more to it, there's like a connection with with nature and with the land that you gain from, you know, being able to harvest food off of it and create meals for your friends and family and yourself. And I'm a big hunter and fisherman as well. And so, you know, we rarely will buy meat, I typically provide all of our meat from from hunting or fishing and adding in the foraging aspect to that is it's fulfilling, It feels good to make a meal with a majority of ingredients that you acquired, you know, whether from growing or or foraging or hunting or fishing is a different connection to to the food when you do it that way.

Nicole: 24:55

And I would, you know pretty well assume that it's some of the most nutritious In healthiest food that you're going to eat?

Orion: 25:02

Absolutely. Yeah, like I said, I mean, purslane, is really high omegas. There's, you know, stinging nettles is another edible plant that has lots of protein and iron. They just have, they're packed with nutrition nutrients, and they haven't been, you know, grown from the same seed source for years and years, they're not a monoculture that you know, have bland taste and are just grown to produce as much as they can. It's, it's wild. And it It shows that in its flavor, and its its nutritional content.

Nicole: 25:32

And when you mentioned the nettles, it, it reminded me, I remember seeing recently on your Instagram that you made metal ice cream. I mean, you would think that foraging, I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is like maybe being able to make some like jams and jellies or things like that from berries, but you know, it doesn't have to be salads all the time, there's certainly some creative ways to use these things. And no ice cream, I mean, I it's not something I ever would have thought of. So I thought that was really, really neat.

Orion: 26:02

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, that was sort of an idea I had because I loved green tea ice cream and matcha ice cream in the ground metals, the metal powder has a very similar flavor profile. So I just sort of thought it would be a fun thing to try. But the idea of taking something you forage and making it into food more than just jams or eating, you know, the occasional berries or plants that you're finding is, it's a disconnect that a lot of foragers, I think, have trouble breaking through the going from picking a bunch of plants or berries and then turning them into food. And even me too, it took a while to sort of break into some more creative things, you know, aside from just like having a salad or making jam, that part can take a little bit of research or just experimentation, but it's pretty fun. And once you kind of get through that sort of "Oh, this is just like, it's another thing that I can add to my cooking" or, you know, my normal routine of making food and making food from the forage ingredients, you know, instead of treating them as a different thing, like, "Oh, I have my store bought stuff. And then I have this forage stuff". It's just all food in the end. And so creating those meals from that stuff is is something that took me a little while to break through. And I think you know, from other people talking to their foragers, it's definitely kind of a sticking place for some people. But it's sort of fun, you know, that experimentation and using wild ingredients where you would use story about things, it's, it's a fun way to cook. And it's another way of fulfilling this sort of connection to the land and the wild ingredients that you're getting. It's a challenge sometimes, but it's fun, sometimes.

Nicole: 27:42

The most challenging things are the most fun.

Orion: 27:44

Yeah, I mean, you know, they're not all going to turn out all of your experiments. You know, if you go out right now and make a dandelion salad, you probably won't be super happy with it unless you like bitter things. But, you know, it takes that experience to really learn these ingredients working.

Nicole: 27:59

Do you have recipes on your website? I thought that you did.

Orion: 28:02

I don't have any recipes on my website, I have some that I occasionally post on my Instagram.

Nicole: 28:07

Is there anything else that you wanted to mention or any other suggestions or questions that you'd like me to ask?

Orion: 28:14

I would say if people in Colorado or otherwise have questions about foraging, feel free to reach out. I'm super responsive to email or a contact page on my website, which is "foragecolorado.com". Also, Instagram has been kind of my main social platform this year. I've been trying to post one thing a day and I only stopped to go archery elk hunting for a week. So definitely jump on my Instagram and send me a message if you have questions, or if you need identification help. I really like doing that stuff. So you know, when people send mushrooms and plants like, Hey, what's this site? I enjoy trying to, if I don't know, trying to solve the problem with them. And if I do know, letting them know.

Nicole: 28:57

And I know you're also pretty active on the "Forage Colorado" Facebook group as well.

Orion: 29:01

Yeah, that's the page for forage Colorado specifically. And then I also recently started more of a community group called "Rocky Mountain Foragers". If people are interested in that, that's more of a place to discuss things then, you know, my page where it's not really set up as a group.

Nicole: 29:18

Wonderful. And then of course, we'll put the links to all of those in the description so that people can access you directly there.

Orion: 29:26

Great!

Nicole: 29:26

Well, Ryan, I really appreciate it. I think this was some really great information and I know that I will definitely be joining the Rocky Mountain Forage Facebook page. I thought I was everywhere that you were but I found a place I was missing.

Orion: 29:41

Yeah, I just created it a couple months ago, there was some drive. People were like, you know, posting foraging, non mushroom foraging stuff in the mushroom group. So "I'm just gonna create a group for general foraging", and that's got like 500 or something. Growing slowly, I haven't pushed it.

Nicole: 29:59

Well, hopefully some of the people listening here will join and then you'll have more than 500.

Orion: 30:04

Yeah, join up and ask lots of questions.

Nicole: 30:07

Wonderful. Well, Orion I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for talking to us about foraging.

Orion: 30:12

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Nicole: 30:13

And for those of you listening, thank you so much for joining us for another episode, and we will see you again next week!

Announcer: 30:20

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