Update: If your thinking, “this is old news, why am I seeing this again?” I updated my video because I discovered the footage I thought I lost. The story is the same.
Yesterday I was struck with a bit of envy, or even jealousy, if I am honest. A local forager, April Punsalan from Yahola Herb School, I follow on the Scam, Instawhatever, posted her amazing find of a beautiful, plump lion’s mane seen here: Instagram Lion's mane find
Since I completed my Wild Mushroom Foraging certification, I have been longing to find one of these nutritious treasures. April Punsalan’s post alerted me to the fact that they were indeed in season, so I was on the look out. We just had a hard rain, so it made sense that there would be a new fungi bloom. Randy invited me to walk down to his deer stand so he could check his camera. I grabbed my foraging gear and tagged along. It was a slow four miles, because we stopped and analyzed every new fungus. I looked high and low, but found no sign of lion’s mane. It was a lovely walk though.
When we got home, I was still inspecting the trees and I looked up in our own backyard and, BAM! High up in a hollow of an oak tree, I spotted a white orb. I remember my instructor from Mushroom Mountain said they could be quite high, but that was almost out of reach. I grabbed a ladder, a piece of gutter we found helpful when we were picking pears and my trusty hunter. He was careful not to cut too much away so it will come back year after year. For a moment we worried it would fall into the hollow of the tree and be lost to us, but it plummeted out of the tree with little damage.
It is vey heavy for it’s size. I dried a little to go in a tincture and I can’t wait to sauté the rest tonight. If I hadn’t been motivated by my virtual friend’s post I never would have found my very own lion’s mane. Envy is still bad.
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
2 Corinthians 9:8
As for Randy’s hunting spot, you can see how our adventure continued here:
Thanks for sharing our Saturday in the South.
Searching is Fun