Okay, okay, I totally cheated with this weekend’s SoS. I went on a mushroom foraging trip this morning (Sunday) — it was offered through a local kansalaisopisto (adult education center) and I really wanted to use photos for some of my Six instead of waiting until next week. So I waited until today to post. Because mushrooms!
One — I’m Just a Fun Guy
A spread of Finnish forest mushrooms both edible and poisonous being identified and explained by our guide. This was the first time I’d taken an official course, all my previous mushroom foraging was under the guidance of friends or within the small area near my house which I know like the back of my hand. Exploring somewhere new is nicer when you’re there with a group and don’t have to worry as much about getting lost. It’ll definitely take me several more times before I feel confident enough to even think about picking something beyond my typical scope, however.
Two — Shelf Defense
Red-belted bracket fungus (Fomitopsis pinicola), known in Finnish as kantosieni. Inedible because it is hard enough to be a door knocker. It could literally be used as a blunt weapon if one were ever to be mugged in the woods and had the time to break it off the tree and hurl it at one’s attacker’s head. Still kind of cool-looking though.
Three — Horn of Not So Plenty
The black trumpet (Craterellus cornucopioides), mustatorvisieni, is something I’ve wanted to see in person for a decade. I’ve never been able to find them foraging on my own and it turns out they were pretty hard to come by in the forest this year as well. Still, somebody managed to snag a few and I finally got a good look at one. This will apparently not help me find more in any way, because they are every bit as difficult to spot as I’d been led to believe.
Four — The Haul
What did I manage to get, then? My typical haul, because I can spot them fast from a decade of practice. Chanterelles, winter chanterelles, and hedgehog mushrooms, enough to fry up and build a good risotto or pasta with.
Five — The Harvest
Meanwhile, in the garden, autumnal edibles are now being brought in on a regular basis. I went out on Thursday to tip some Annabelle potatoes for the weekend’s side dish of mash and came back with a whole rainbow of tomatoes (‘Gardener’s Delight’, ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘Green Grape’, ‘Quadro’, ‘Brad’s Atomic Grape’, ‘Organza’), yellow squash, and a couple Hokkaido pumpkins.
Six — Fruitful
Possibly the most amusing harvest this week, however, was these hardy kiwis. This is the first time I’ve actually managed to pick them in time. Usually I’m too early or too late, and the only reason I even knew they were ready this year was pure accident. I was showing a reporter (more on that later) around the property and pointed out our giant arctic kiwi (Actinidia kolomikta), only to notice that some of them were actually soft to the touch like berries. We tried some and they tasted exactly like store-bought kiwis, only much sweeter because they’d been left to ripen on the vine. I went back out a couple days later and cleared over 800g of them in one picking. They’re the size of a large blueberry, so seem like a good candidate for pie if my smoothies don’t get them first.
Six on Saturday is hosted by Jim at Garden Ruminations — go see what everyone else is up to.