November is here and it may be safe to say it is the gate way to winter. The beginning of this month may be the last chance to gather what’s left in the forest for the fall mushrooms. Some Maitake, Chickens, puffballs, and Lions Mane should be hanging around for a few more weeks. Many people ask me what I do during the winter months, and the answer is that I still forage a good bit, I forage some Chaga, Turkey Tail and Birch Polypore during this time, winter hiking is essential for me as staying in the house is not something I do a lot! It’s also a time for tincture and product making and simply stocking up with inventory. There will some holiday markets happening this month and next which will be listed in this newsletter. It’s been an amazing year for just about every mushroom I encountered with big, abundant flushes, I also got to teach many classes and I foraged enough to keep stocked until the season begins again. I do not teach any classes in the winter months, with the exception of a rare Chaga walk here and there. One good tip for any foragers out there is that through out the year it’s a good idea to dehydrate some of your findings to use later, making wild mushroom soups, chilis or simply adding some sautéed mushrooms to your winter meals is wonderful. I dehydrate all through out the year and look forward to adding morels, chanterelles, hens, milkies, trumpets and others I’ve collected into my winter dishes.
Markets:
Ferment Festival— Sunday November 6th from 11-5 @ Madison county fairgrounds
Enka/Candler Holiday Market—November 12th and 13th 11-6 on Saturday and 11-4 on Sunday @ ABTech 1465 Sandhill rd, Candler, NC
East Asheville Tailgate— 11/4, 11/11 and 11/18, Fridays from 3-6 @ 954 tunnel rd Asheville
Yancey County Tailgate—11/5 from 9-12:30 downtown Burnsville.
Mars Hill Tailgate— 11/19 from 10-1 @college st Mars Hill
Weaverville winter market— All month on Wednesdays from 3-6 at Weaverville community center. 60 Lakeshore drive
New Collaboration:
In new news, I started a collaboration with House of Brandtracts: https://brandstracts.com/ I’m pretty excited to work with these guys! We’ve come together to create two blends of tinctures. The Big Brain Blend-Lions Mane, Cordyceps, Maitake and CBD and The F#@k Cancer Blend– Chaga, Reishi, Turkey Tail and CBD. Combining medicinal mushrooms with CBD seems a natural choice. These tinctures will be hitting the market very soon!
Monthly Special:
The monthly special for November is $10 off Lions Mane tinctures. 1oz will be $20 and 2oz $30. Wild foraged from the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lions Mane offers a range of great benefits including: Cognitive health/boost, improving memory and focus, helps fight depression/anxiety, cancer fighting properties, anti-inflammatory, speeding up nerve damage recovery, reduces heart disease risk, improves stomach health, and immune system boost.
Time is running out on the mushroom hunting for the year for many of us. I will continue to forage through out the winter, mostly hunting Chaga and Turkey Tail. Here in our region there’s still time to go find Honey, Hen, Chicken of the wood, Shrimp of the woods, Puffball, Blewit, Lions Mane and Turkey Tail mushrooms. With the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees, the hunting becomes more challenging, as the mushrooms blend in and hide.
Be on the look out for the Resinous Polypore also! It’s a tasty one…
https://foragerchef.com/resinous-polypore-ischnoderma-resinosum/