It’s 2023!! Wow typing that year feels futuristic. Fun fact about me, I love to draw, the drawing above is one of mine. Winter leaves more space for me to get more creative indoors and one of my favorite forms of mediation is to sit and create art. Most every drawing contains a mushroom or ten. Over the years I have attempted and grown lions mane, oysters, shiitake and chestnut mushrooms, though I wild forage all the mushrooms I use in my products, growing can be a lot of fun and a rewarding process. Sometime in the near future I would love to have the space to grow on a larger scale, focusing on culinary mushrooms. Here’s some of my past successful grows:
Markets: For the next few months I only have one market on my schedule.
Weaverville winter market: Wednesdays 3-6 @ weaverville community center 60 Lakeshore drive. I’ll be there 1/4 and 1/18.
New product: If you came to the tailgate markets this past year, you may have bought some of my wild mushroom salt. I usually always have an excess of foraged mushrooms throughout the year, which I dehydrate and grind and mix with celtic sea salt. I use this seasoning with all my cooking. This batch I have ready to go has chanterelles, black trumpets, maitake and chicken of the wood. Available now in my shop!
Monthly Special: Ringing in the new year, 2023, with 10% off the entire store!! All tinctures, teabags and dried mushrooms will be ten percent off all month long.
So what to look for in January? Well Chaga tops the list, getting into the high elevations is a must to find my favorite mushroom. Only medicinal on the birch trees, Chaga can be found anywhere on the tree, however typically it grows higher up. Chaga is the king of medicinal mushrooms, with it’s range of amazing benefits. It’s more than important to not harvest small pieces that haven’t matured and also when you do harvest some, leaving a good percentage to regrow is also important. Also keep an eye out for Birch Polypore, another birch dwelling mushroom. Birch Polypore is an often overlooked medicinal powerhouse, great for gut health, immune system and can also make a great addition to a fire! Turkey Tails will continue into the winter months, often frozen which makes harvesting a bit tougher. Winter oysters and velvet foot/Enoki are a few edibles to look out for during winter. The velvet foot typically grows on elm trees and can be a good indicator of where you may want to look for Morels come spring!
Although winter can be cold and seem barren in the forest, it is a wonderful time to simply enjoy time in nature. I’m a man of all seasons and really enjoy being immersed in the forest no matter what time of year it is. I want to wish you all a very merry new year, I hope this year will bring whatever you strive for as well as health and happiness! I’m grateful to you all that support my small business and continue to spread the mycelium network out a little further! Mushlove in 2023…..
