Botanical Property Surveys are one of the most fulfilling parts of my job: seeing landowners and stewards gain a whole new perspective on their land. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "Wow, I walk past that plant every day and never knew it was edible/medicinal! Knowing what they can and, just as importantly, shouldn't eat, is a true moment of enlightenment.

I always tell folks, "Make it a party! Invite your friends, family, neigbors, whoever you want." My botanical property surveys include at least two hours of a private plant walk on your land, learning what's edible, medicinal, and poisonous. Some people bring small flags to label the plants or a map of the property to help jog their memory after the walk. Then I send you a spreadsheet after the walk, including all of this information, plus notes on the edible and medicinal aspects we discuss and more. (Find out more info and schedule here.)

​On the property survey pictured above, in North Carolina, the host invited his neigbors and had a barbeque afterwards. Near the end of our walk on the late summer mountainside, I started talking about hen of the woods mushroom and how delicious it is. As nature magic often happens, within minutes we were walking on an old, abandoned logging road next to a giant red oak tree when it was impossible not to notice the cluster of hen of the woods growing right in the middle of the road! They love to grow on red oaks and were growing on the roots under the road. We had a delightful lunch of barbecued mushrooms!

"Magical Mountain is truly an appropriate name for Tracey and Peter's Farm! I was amazed at how agilely they scaled the mountainside. They wanted to find a way to live on their land full time and were thinking of creating a native nursery. They wanted to know what plants were already growing that they could propagate. They're pretty knowledgeable and already knew a lot about the plants that are there. But, there were some surprises...like this big witch hazel grove! We found some edibles they didn't know about and some rare medicinals, along with identifying some dryad's saddle mushrooms they had been wondering about. They were excited to know what they were and cook them up for dinner! I love dryad's saddle because a dryad is a tree nymph. It's so fun to imagine them riding on the mushrooms!

"Abby is amazing!!! She surpassed all my exceptions for my land survey! We can now use our property to its full potential since Abby has identified our edible and medicinal plants! She is an expert and was able to answer all of our questions thoroulghy. I would recommend this for every house hold and also makes a great fathers day gift!" - Rachel E.
Rachel and her husband got a survey for themselves and one for their parents in Kentucky, too.

On another property survey in North Carolina, for two next-door neighbors, we were in a lush, biodiverse forest by a flowing stream. The owner said she had just bought some pawpaw trees to plant and thought that area seemed like the perfect place. A feeling of nostalgia came over me as I'm originally from Ohio and have sweet memories of foraging midwestern pawpaws . I told them I'd never seen pawpaws growing wild in this region. More magic! Her neighbor looked down at a big-leaved plant and asked what it was. I racked my brain in disbelief, thinking it must be a magnolia. I rolled the leaf in my hand and sniffed, a pawpaw! There was a whole patch of them right where they wanted to plant some! Later we found lobster mushrooms and much more. 

This lovely child wanted to learn more about plants from a real-life "sage". That was quite a title to live up to! They really enjoyed learning about how they could eat sassafras leaves directly from the tree like the animals, and it would actually help the tree to heal faster. Thanks to her teacher for recommending me! I have high hopes for her herbal future. 

"Spending time with Abby is a gift. She is of-the-Earth. She helped us get to know a property that was new to us. Our survey piqed our senses and helped us to plan how we would move forward with loving on the land. So thankful for Abby bringing people and nature closer together." - Virginia R.

Ready to learn what food and medicine is growing on your land? Get all the details and schedule here. 

My good, old (in time, not age) friend, Doug Crouch and I catch up on the world of permaculture and his new incarnation of it, along with all things pawpaw in this episode of Wander, Forage, & Wildcraft. Doug's the owner of TreeYo Permaculture and has been managing his family's land at Treasure Lake in Petersburg, Kentucky for pawpaws and spicebush for 17 years now! He'll tell us all about what he's learned over those years about propagating and nurturing spicebush for the best yield. If you don't know what a pawpaw is (the largest native North American fruit) or want to grow some of your own, or are just curious, then this is the show for you! 
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​Doug's Bio: Trained as both a Permaculture Designer and Fish and Wildlife Manager, Doug has extensive knowledge surrounding landscape planning and food production systems. This regenerative design and implementation work spans the globe ranging in contexts and climates, including tropical agro-forestry, Mediterranean organic gardening, and temperate suburban edible landscaping. To facilitate this work he founded TreeYo Permaculture, thus building off his other formal training in small business management. Incorporating this knowledge and experience into sustainability educational programming has now become Doug’s main focus as he continues his ecological design and holistic development primarily at Treasure Lake in Northern Kentucky and its bioregion. 

If you're intrigued to learn more, join Doug and me at Planting Abundance, a day long learning adventure at Treasure Lake on May 18th. 

Meet forager, plant folklorist and Appalachian folk herbalist Becky Beyer of Blood and Spicebush School of Old Craft in this episode of Wander, Forage, & Wildcraft. My partner in Sassafras School of Appalachian Plantcraft and dear friend. We'll explore our favorite plants and more, with a heavy emphasis on her favorite plant, Spicebush.
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Becky's Bio: Rebecca (Becky) Beyer is a farmer, forager, herbalist, woodcarver, and witch from Asheville, NC. She holds a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Vermont and has been learning and teaching in the Primitive Skills community for the last 6 years. She teaches foraging professionally at Appalachian State University where she completed her Masters in Appalachian Studies in 2018. Her passions include botanical illustration, the folklore of Appalachian plants and writing her blog: Blood and Spicebush. She is currently stewarding land at the Hawk & Hawthorne, a community of magical people growing food and teaching classes on foraging and esoteric arts in Western North Carolina.

Becky's Spicebush Honey Recipe:

I wanted to give you a little free and helpful preview, so here's my elderberry and cough syrup recipes from the book (because I appreciate you so much). Use the elderberry syrup to keep you healthy the rest of the winter and the cough syrup, just in case you need it. 

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​You may be wondering, "What the heck is 'Lion Pot Pie' and why would I want to eat it?!" 
Well, I'm here to say, "Have no fear, and get your taste buds primed and ready for some scrumptiousness!"

Lion Pot Pie is my cute name for Lion's Mane mushroom pot pie. Lion's mane, also referred to as monkey head mushroom, bearded tooth, satyr's beard, or yamabushitake, is one of several species of the Hericium genus of mushrooms, usually Hericium erinaceus. Both parts of the Latin name mean hedgehog (even though this is not the mushroom usually referred to as a "hedgehog"), and you can hopefully see why from this picture of one I found a couple weeks ago on a tree in South Carolina and a closeup of its spiny appearance. 

*Notes: 
This can be vegan if you choose the coconut oil option and egg substitute (here's a recipe for making your own from flax seeds). If you'd rather have a bottom crust and a top crust, just double the crust recipe. If you only have access to dried lion's mane, rehydrate by soaking in water first. Then, saute for a few minutes in a dry pan, until most of the moisture evaporates. 

Crust:
1 cup gluten free all purpose flour (+ a little extra for rolling out dough)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dried rosemary (or less if you’re not crazy about rosemary, or substitute other similar herbs)
¼ cup cold butter or soft (not melted) coconut oil
1 egg (or egg substitute)
2-3 Tbsp ice water
In medium size mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, and rosemary.
Mash butter or coconut oil with a fork and mix into dry ingredients until crumbly.
Beat the egg in a small bowl and pour 3 Tbsp into the dough.
Add cold water 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing after each Tbsp. Stop when the dough forms a ball.
Put dough in a container and refrigerate while making the filling. You can also do this step a day ahead of time.

Grease 9 inch pie pan (equal size cast iron pan will work, too). Pour in contents of pan and cover with kale.

Pour Stock or bouillon mix into a 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl.
Whisk in flour until smooth. Pour over contents of pan. ​

It's recommended to make medicine from the mushrooms using what's called a double or dual extraction because they have alcohol and water soluble components. This means making a separate alcohol tincture, then a tea decoction (very long simmer), and then combining the two. There's lots of online sources for how to do this. This is my favorite book on the subject. ​

If you're not ready to make your own tincture, you can find my lovingly wildcrafted four mushroom blend here and support my work. 

Chanterelle
(Cantherellus species)

To cook mushrooms, there are a few simple guidelines:

• Don't wash them! 

Unless you absolutely can't help it, just don't do it. Mushrooms (especially lion's mane) are like sponges and can soak up lots of water. If you have to do it, dry saute them in the pan until they dry, before adding butter/oil. Usually just dry brushing them will do it, though.

• Always cook them!

Mushrooms have a constituent in their cell walls called chitin, which also makes up the exoskeleton of insects and crustaceans (arthropods), which most of us can't digest raw. Interestingly enough, some folks from Russia have a special enzyme, called chitinase, that allows them to digest chitin. I'm guessing this is because they evolved eating a lot of mushrooms.

• Cut up any tender parts, saving the hard stalks (or stipe, if you want to get technical about it) for soup stock.
• Use lots of butter or oil! Again, they're like sponges, so they'll soak it right up.
• Really garlic and salt are the only other things you need, though ramp salt or a nice za'atar blend give it an extra fantastic taste.
• Give the mushrooms some personal space.

Even if they don't seem wet, they'll release water when they cook. If they're too close, they'll just soak it back up. 

• Cook well, until they're crisp and browned on the edges. 

Some mushrooms can be toxic if not well cooked. This technique will give you the best taste, too. 

Oyster
(Pleurotus species)

Oysters are probably the most abundant edible species with the longest season that you'll find in this region. This is partly because they're not very picky about which tree species they grow on. I've seen them on ashes and tulip poplars, but there are many more, and they can grow on living or dead trees. You have to catch them at the right time. Too late, and they're dried out, too wet, and they're mushy and gross. This is a good one to tap the top, because little tiny beetles like to hide in the gills. The oysters have a very specific smell to them that you'll always know once you've smelled them.

Lobster 
(Hypomyces lactifluorum)

These may possibly be the most incredible mushroom! They start as a white, mostly inedible mushroom in the Lactarius or Russula genera (plural of genus), and are colonized by a different fungus to turn them orange and super edible. Woah, Mother Nature! These start having gills and end up with no gills or faint ridges. They smell and taste somewhat lobsterish and grow on the ground, usually in groups, but not clusters. Lobsters love to grow in pine forests, thought I've seen them in areas of more decidous woods, too. ​

These are also often a dye mushroom with a wide variety of dye colors. We'll be trying them out at my Wild Color Retreat coming up soon. Check it out! ​

There is one thing that makes honey mushrooms super spectacular. They are the largest living organism on earth! They cover almost 2,400 acres in Oregon!!! While it's recommended to gather wild mushrooms in mesh bags to help spread the spores, the opposite is true for these. They can destroy trees, so collect them in non-mesh bags. 

Honey mushrooms are definitely at leaste a 202 level mushroom, i.e. not for beginners! This is because they could be confused with a very poisonous mushroom called The Deadly Galerina. Here's what that one looks like.

There are ringless honey mushroom and ringed honey mushrooms. I find mostly the ringless in the Midwest, which are also blamed for causing possible gastric upset, which can possibly be prevented by parboiling them first. I've never experienced any problems with them. But it brings up a good point. For any mushrooms you're trying for the first time, it's a good idea to only try a tiny bit and wait 24 hours to see if you have a reaction. Anyone can be allergic to anything.
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It's spring and seems like the warmth is finally here to stay in Appalachia. Yesterday, in the May rains that have been common lately, during my Wild Foraging and Herbal Medicine Making Apprentice Day, one of my students exclaimed how vibrantly green all the plants were. It's true, you can see the glow of aliveness in everything. Being a Florida born plant person, I admit winters are tough for me. I invite all of us to take some time to sit in the sun and bask in the beauty of everything awakening after the long, cold season. 

The early spring greens are transitioning from their tenderness to a harder fibrousness. At this point, they're not as tasty as raw salad greens. So what do we do with them? Cook 'em up! I found out from my awesome homesteading friend, Meredith (also the incredibly knowledgeable and generous author of the new super helpful website lymecompass.net all about her family's journey with Lyme Disease, as a way to help others on their journeys with Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses) who grows lots of nettles, about nettle pancakes. How did I never know about these before?! Apparently they are super popular in Nordic countries, and called nokkosletut. 

Stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, is the species most commonly thought to be medicinal. However, I like the taste of our wild wood nettle, Laportea canadensis, better. They are both in the nettle family, Urticaceae, with stinging hairs. Of course, to protect yourself from the stings, wear leather gloves, though the sting is medicinal, too, for arthritic conditions, gout, etc. I'll add any of a wide variety of wild greens to these, like dandelion, day lily, violet,  and chickweed. Just remember to make any bitter greens, like dandelion, a small amount of the total greens, or you'll end up with bitter pancakes.  You might like that, though. Remember how great for us bitters are?!
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