Foraging/Self sufficiency

We've always done our best to grow and produce the majority of the food we consume. We hunt and fish, and garden. We have a neighbor who sells grass-fed beef, and another neighbor who produces lambs. So we make an effort to eat local and fresh, and not buy packaged foods.

We love to "eat wild" wherever we are- oysters on the Gulf coast, blue crabs, etc- and to try local cuisines when we travel.

We've had a great fall with our garden, and with our oyster mushroom logs. We found more mushrooms nearby, and today picked a few more.

After picking the mushrooms, I saw four grouse flush by me. In excitement I cried out, "Look! Four grouse!". I scared one so bad he flew into a metal pole barn.

Well, here was our bounty just from that little trip:






I did a braised grouse in a mushroom cream sauce, with garden veggies (broccoli, carrots, onions, shallots, and greens) over garden mashed potatoes.

It's hunting season, and while we have licenses neither one of us was carrying a weapon. I guess I"m scary enough without a gun!

+1 yoop

Mmm.... Grouse... It's whats for dinner!

Looks absolutely delicious!

Jeez, was the impact enough to kill it, or did you have to finish it off? Although I'm a vegetarian, I do a lot of the same forage/self-sufficiency stuff, and can definitely respect that approach to eating meat.

Yesterday I was up at the girlfriend's mom's house, which is immaculately landscaped with very non-edible stuff. But I was excited to find a kousa (Japanese) dogwood in full fruit. I gathered about four lbs of ripe kousa to make a country wine, while her mom chuckled tolerantly.

While working out in Nantucket I happened upon an entire jetty of Mussels...that ,with pasta in a white wine sauce was one of the best meals I've ever had. I raise chickens and grow vegetables too, but there's something to be said about "wild caught" meals.

I've never heard of kousa! I would try it- I make wine out of just about anything edible.

The grouse broke his own neck, so there wasn't much to do except pick it up and bring it home. Bob cleaned it while I got the mushrooms ready. There are maybe 8 pounds of mushrooms in the food dehydrator, and we used the rest in the grouse dish.

I have a lot of dried mushrooms already from this fall, but we do love them and they are so good for you so you can't have too many. I think oyster mushrooms are one of my favorites, besides morels. They are a bit earthy, but still pretty neutral, and go well with everything and are loaded with protein and antioxidants.

Did you inoculate the logs yourself or are the mushrooms wild?

alane1 said:

While working out in Nantucket I happened upon an entire jetty of Mussels...that ,with pasta in a white wine sauce was one of the best meals I've ever had. I raise chickens and grow vegetables too, but there's something to be said about "wild caught" meals.

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Wow- that sounds awesome. We LOVE mussels, but don't get them wild in Texas in the winter, or of course here inland. I'm jealous!

alane1 said:

Did you inoculate the logs yourself or are the mushrooms wild?

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Both! The ones in the photo are wild, from down the way near our neighbor's house (and on his property) but many of the ones we've already harvested came from our own "mushroom logs". We eat oyster mushrooms and puffballs, and morels (if we can find them!) for wild mushrooms. I don't love the puffballs, but they are pretty flavor neutral and will absorb the flavors of the sauce. Morels are by far a preferred favorite, but harder to find. The oyster mushrooms are pretty easy to find, and are very tasty with a chewy texture.

Kousa is the edible fruit of an Asian dogwood variant. I ate several, and they remind me of guava or papaya. Only good when they're very soft and mushy. I'm going to ferment them on the skins for a few days to add some tannins.

Yooper, you are living the life we all dream of. One of my bucket list items is to join you on an UP brewday. I love to cook, but my "foraging" is limited to the local farmer's market and my very small garden.

I used to see morels all the time in SE Ohio during undergrad. Old buddy of mine still goes out hunting regularly. Here is a photo from his haul this spring - this was about half of what he found.

Yooper said:

After picking the mushrooms, I saw four grouse flush by me. In excitement I cried out, "Look! Four grouse!". I scared one so bad he flew into a metal pole barn.

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So you've figured out a way to hunt without using violence!

My ex mother-in-law had / has a family of pheasants living in her back yard. I can't reember how many times I've yelled at those things but I still never managed to eat one of them.

podz said:

So you've figured out a way to hunt without using violence!

My ex mother-in-law had / has a family of pheasants living in her back yard. I can't reember how many times I've yelled at those things but I still never managed to eat one of them.

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Yes, I guess I"m big and scary. The dog just looked at me, and didn't even go pick up the grouse- I did.

Good stuff Yooper.

When I lived in Michigan. I was a troll ( under the bridge) I remeber one of the best meals of my life was one spring day. Stopped on the way home from work and caught a couple of brook trout and picked some asparagas that grew wild near and old abandoned farm house. That along with some morrels that I had collected the day before. Made some pilaf and a salad and I was in heaven.

I want more advice on kousa dogwood. I have a load of these and want to make at least a gallon of wine.

fogdogwine said:

I want more advice on kousa dogwood. I have a load of these and want to make at least a gallon of wine.

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Most dogwoods (wild ones) aren't widely considered very edible. The ornamental one you mention may be- but it is small and probably not really worth it. I'm more about wild fruit gathering, or from native plants, so I really don't know.

15 mile dinner. We raise and process the chickens, kale, zucchini, etc from the garden. We bought the corn for the zuke fritters from a local farm since woodchuck eat all our corn. [emoji34]

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Yooper said:

Most dogwoods (wild ones) aren't widely considered very edible. The ornamental one you mention may be- but it is small and probably not really worth it. I'm more about wild fruit gathering, or from native plants, so I really don't know.

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Thank you for your reply Yooper!! I can respect the wild fruit gathering ect, Im with ya, I love to forage!! But have to disagree with the "not worth it". Yes it's small and a little time consuming, but so are most berry picking, and it has an awesome peach/banana type flavor!
Some of my favorite wines are those from unusual fruits. Yeah, It may flop, but it also might be lip slapping good! ��

I forage at shop rite

I picked prickly pears this year and have 3 1/2 gallons of wine (I hope) bubbling away now.

Deer ate the wild plums and persimmons before I could get some.

The only mushrooms I ever picked tasted bad, but made all the colors much nicer.

I lucked out this year. Managed to find elderberries, beach plums, and beautyberries all within walking distance of my apt.

Im surrounded by tall white pines and only a couple of oaks. I usually hate them especially this time of the year with the leaves. I've changed my mind. The couple in the back of the yard are producing morels at the forest line in the spring. We've had an unusually wet summer and the last couple of weeks has been really wet with hardly any sun. I headed out in the morning the other day and something the size of a basketball was under the oaks just off my driveway.

15lbs of Hen of the woods from just two heads. Another head was hiding under the blueberries on the other side. I walked the deeper woods and didn't find any others. A bunch of white broad leaf mushrooms on the elevated shade west/south side. No clue what they are.

I looked online and most recipes are garlic, butter, pepper and oil. Any other recommendations? Gonna have some tonight, freeze and then dehydrate the rest.

I found a couple beef steaks this year. This is the first year i’ve ever found them and I came across four clumps of them. They had a very unique sour flavor to them which was great in curry and not so great in a regular old mushroom gravy.

We also found a pile of boletes and oysters. My kids like coral mushrooms so we always pick those too.

This super wet summer grew a bunch of mushrooms for sure. I kinda wish I put more up now that it’s cooled off.

TheDudeLebowski said:

Im surrounded by tall white pines and only a couple of oaks. I usually hate them especially this time of the year with the leaves. I've changed my mind. The couple in the back of the yard are producing morels at the forest line in the spring. We've had an unusually wet summer and the last couple of weeks has been really wet with hardly any sun. I headed out in the morning the other day and something the size of a basketball was under the oaks just off my driveway.

15lbs of Hen of the woods from just two heads. Another head was hiding under the blueberries on the other side. I walked the deeper woods and didn't find any others. A bunch of white broad leaf mushrooms on the elevated shade west/south side. No clue what they are.

I looked online and most recipes are garlic, butter, pepper and oil. Any other recommendations? Gonna have some tonight, freeze and then dehydrate the rest.View attachment 593882View attachment 593883View attachment 593884

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Garlic, butter, salt, and pepper are all I use when making fresh mushrooms. Just remember they probably have a lot of water/moisture in them so they'll shrink up a good bit.

TwistedGray said:

Garlic, butter, salt, and pepper are all I use when making fresh mushrooms. Just remember they probably have a lot of water/moisture in them so they'll shrink up a good bit.

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Thanks. That's what I did during half time. Partitioned them up a bit and made a snack. I added the salt with the mushrooms as they entered the pan to draw out the moisture and kept them in until it almost evaporated. Pretty meaty and umami. I wish I didn't have steak the previous night. Would have liked to make gravy with it.

I also saw a good soup recipe with cognac. Freezer is full and dehydrator running 24/7 now. House smells like the earth now