Whimsy foraging, otherwise known as sustainable foraging, is something that more people would be wise to do. If you blanket pick all the edible mushrooms and herbs from a forest the non-edible ones left behind will thrive in their absence, and eventually over the course of seasons and years, push the good stuff out.
In a densely settled country this does not work, and even is illegal! Countries like Germany, Switzerland and Norway do have limits for the amount of mushrooms you may pick in a day. The forest is not your property, and there are others who want to enjoy nature's gifts. The above mentioned countries have the problems Atomic Shrimp hints at, there are (organised) bands of people picking the forests clean of mushrooms, illegally selling them to restaurants (foraging is for yourself, not commercial use). The rest of us are out of luck.
RUclips is full of people who have a lot of advice to give. I think you are right to do what you do. You only pick what you need. You leave the rest behind for the forest to grow and for others to pick. That is a good philosophy to me. ‘Take as much as you can’ as someone else recommended seems selfish.
I just realized I have been subscribed to you for over a year, since one of the first videos I watched were of you drying mushrooms last year. How the time flies!
Interesting thing about the Porcelain fungus is that it produces a type of fungicide to keep the competition away. Whenever I come across these I find nothing else within 100 yard radius and as annoying as that is once the slime is washed off they make a cracking omelette.
I definitely endorse your comments re the whimsy foraging post and I like how you don't compromise your stance on any of your actions. Carry on offering us the pleasure of accompanying your walks and the other activities you share via videos. Hugely interesting and very enjoyable. Thank you.
Its relitively easy to build up a small knowledge base of the easier to id mushrooms. My first ever correctly id'd mushroom was a st georges. Relitively easy as theres not much else about to confuse it with at the time its in season. If youre not a subscriber of marlow renton. Its reccomended as his vids do offer a very easy to follow point by point id of each wild plant or fungi. Loads of foragers take pics and try to id for a long time before anything goes on their plate
I agree - the trick is not to try to ID everything you find (although that can be fun), but rather, to go looking for a small set of good edibles - the top 5 edible fungi are pretty easy to be sure about.
lmao @ that one guy who thinks you should literally be a hunter gatherer instead of just enjoying a hobby. found your content last night, really enjoying it.
What a frustrating mindset to have to call this "whimsy foraging". It is so short sighted. Living off the land means understanding and respecting your land, not picking it clean and dying of starvation in the following years because you destroyed the abundance you chose to plunder! Bonkers.
I agree. I know people who pick so many berries that they couldn't possibly eat them all in a year...like 20 gallons. They end up freezer burned and thrown out. Try to pick and buy only what you can eat, or preserve what you can manage to eat in a year or two.
You are doing what families have traditionally done, picked a few fungi but left some for others to have and to spread the spores. Whimsy foraging sounds like a stupid term invented to justify greed.
Thank you - yes. Whilst we all have that little fierce, greedy spark in our human natures, in my experience, quenching it leads to a happier life than fanning it into flames.
I only used to watch the scam bait videos, but only a few days ago did I watch some of the other videos you do and I have to say there's something about these videos that really strike a chord with me. Someone said it in the comments already: its a really wholesome and innocent chanel and I personally think its great!
Thank you so much for these uploads, during lockdown we've been spending more time in our local woods, it's full of various mushrooms and fungi so it's interesting to watch your videos for some information about what I'm photographing
Amazing how much I appreciate the mushroom picking videos. I know so little about the subject, but appreciate seeing someone who knows more. I would appreciate the sounds of slicing the mushrooms more than the music, but still love the personal feeling of interaction that this gives.
Ah, I envy you. Here in the acid soil west of Wales it is not good mushroom country. There are a few places here and there, but the only one where I have found chantarelle locally nearly 40 years ago, has a lot of traffic on the footpath and on a subsequent visit I found only a few very tiny ones which were trampled. That was well off the path, so likely mushroom hunters. I suspect one of those whellbarrow pickers, and who took no care with where they put their feet. They probably destroyed the delicate mycelium. Next year there were none. Like you, I only take the medium sized ones.
You might be better off looking for arboreal species such as oyster mushrooms - really common in old beech woods, especially if nobody is hauling away the fallen timber.
From what iv read up. Ceps actually preffer acidic soil. Its the reason where i am in the south east they are a lot harder to find as the chalky lime isnt to their liking. Its also the reason that when they are found in those areas that they mainly grow amoung pine and other coniferous trees as those help acidify the soil where they grow. Iv also found most of my blushing wood mushrooms under connifers and even a few shaggy parasols. So those are likely to be unaffected by acidic soil as well
Certainly the New Forest (where I often find them) is pretty acidic - heathland and bog overlying flint and gravel, with some clay - lots of heather and bilberry plants growing (and a rhododendron epidemic)
I think it was from someone who think foragers should go all in and try to live completely off the land. Certainly that's a point of view, but for me, this is as much leisure and art as it is food.
Pretty much - comparing all of the descriptors in the reference material against the specimen - in the particular case of boletes, the colour of the 'netting' on the stipe and the texture of the cap when dry and when wet are useful in telling similar species apart.
@@AtomicShrimp It's something i've always wanted to have a go at - mushroom foraging. I have some books and like watching vids like yours, but i'm just not confident enough. - Like you say, some are really easy to tell apart, i hear you can eat giant puff balls for example. I know where there's loads up near Wigan but i just can't bring myself to try, and it seems a shame to pick one and then let it go to waste. one day maybe... Cheers for the response, hope you're well
Giant puffballs are probably one of the very safest things to start with - basically if it's the size of your head, and solid white inside (and assuming it's not a chunk of manmade foam), there's nothing else it can really be. The downside is that giant puffballs aren't all that interesting to eat. You are right to be cautious though - never eat anything that you are not 100% sure what it is.
I've been comfortable eating amanita rubescens due to its distinctive red staining flesh. It is a tasty mushroom and best of all, most other mushroom pickers are intimidated and leave them for me. They contain a fairly nasty hemolytic protein when raw, but this is destroyed when the mushroom is cooked.
I know it's prejudice, but I just can't bring myself to trust any of the Amanitas. I frequently find Tawny Grisette (Amanita fulva) with a high degree of certainty on the identification, but I just don't trust it.
The mindset of that berk that accused you of 'Whimsy Foraging' was very probably that of someone who goes out, and takes EVERYTHING. And then gloats over the fact that there will be nothing left for the next person. Have you ever tried introducing edible fungi to your garden?
Depends likely on where you live. In Europe (Germany, Switzerland and Norway, where I went for mushrooms) the only doppelganger is the false chanterelle. I really don't think I would mix them up, but in the end the false chanterelle is just not very nice tasting (and might upset the digestive tract a bit). So this is a safe one (here).
I was taught to cut the mushroom off from its root system, and more would come back the next year. When the Vietnamese came into the area after the Vietnam War exodus, They removed them roots and all. (I actually watched them do this). The mushrooms never came back after the bad harvesting technique. All my good Chantrelle patches disappeared.
Theres no evidence to suggest that cutting or pulling make a difference to future mushroom stocks. The only benefit over cutting is you lessen the chances of getting contaminants in your basket. Every expert forager i know also agrees that pulling doesnt harm future growth. Its no different than picking an apple.
I've heard people assert 'always cut', and others assert 'never cut' (in the latter case, because leaving part of the stipe supposedly provides an ingress for moulds and other rot organisms). From personal experience, I've picked mushrooms (the whole fruiting body) from the exact same spot year after year without noticing any decline other than variation of abundance that can be attributed to different prevailing weather in successive seasons. Saprophytic fungi (including chanterelles) sometimes just exhaust the local nutrient source they're living on - so a spot may be hugely productive for a few years, then suddenly decline (indeed the huge productivity may even be a rush-to-reproduce triggered by decline in nutrient availability)
I live in Catalonia, where mushroom hunting is extremely popular, and that has been an ongoing debate for decades. Personally, I tend to pick them whole, and then clean them at home.
Good old wild food uk lol. I have the distinction of being their first subscriber. Im off out in an hour chestnutting. Im secretly hoping to find a hen of the woods that i have seen in my first season at the base of a chestnut tree.......lol @ whimsy foraging. It may be a life or death thing if youre unfortunate enough to live where food is scarce. But not everyone has to pretend to be rambo and be in 100% survival mode. This accuser certainly has access to the internet and modern technology for someone so against the modern world 😂. I forage for the best im not eeking out a life on acorns alone. Especially when a large doner is just a phone call away. I can afford the best of both worlds. And certain wild foods are some of that best.......i just leave the shittier edibles for the poor non whimsy foragers lol
I thought I would like to move to England for the lush countryside. Yet on videos I hear far too many planes. I will stay in Canada where there is dead quiet.
@@AtomicShrimp Thank you sir, I`m not trying to pinpoint your spot, Im in Sussex so was trying to gauge my `Month by rain full mushyometer!!` comparison for this year. Took the family out for our first summer hunt of the year yesterday.... 1 small puffball! Still too dry here!
I'm upset at the notion of people using wheelbarrows or buckets to forage... It's not that hard to grow mushrooms yourself and as others have pointed out, damaging to the ecosystem.
It's absolutely galling to me that people would take issue with what you do or don't take. Seriously, get a life people. It's none of your business anyway. I'm so sorry people are so ridiculous.
![Gunna - HIM ALL ALONG [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/w7Wf0h1Q8a4/mqdefault.jpg)
Whimsy foraging, otherwise known as sustainable foraging, is something that more people would be wise to do. If you blanket pick all the edible mushrooms and herbs from a forest the non-edible ones left behind will thrive in their absence, and eventually over the course of seasons and years, push the good stuff out.
the question is, for some peaple is whimsy foraging enough to live off?
In a densely settled country this does not work, and even is illegal! Countries like Germany, Switzerland and Norway do have limits for the amount of mushrooms you may pick in a day. The forest is not your property, and there are others who want to enjoy nature's gifts. The above mentioned countries have the problems Atomic Shrimp hints at, there are (organised) bands of people picking the forests clean of mushrooms, illegally selling them to restaurants (foraging is for yourself, not commercial use). The rest of us are out of luck.
This is a good channel, very innocent, very wholesome. Keep up the good work.
this channel relaxes me :). so simple and pure.... love it... i hope you keep making nice videos like these, keep up the good work!
RUclips is full of people who have a lot of advice to give. I think you are right to do what you do. You only pick what you need. You leave the rest behind for the forest to grow and for others to pick. That is a good philosophy to me. ‘Take as much as you can’ as someone else recommended seems selfish.
I just realized I have been subscribed to you for over a year, since one of the first videos I watched were of you drying mushrooms last year. How the time flies!
Interesting thing about the Porcelain fungus is that it produces a type of fungicide to keep the competition away. Whenever I come across these I find nothing else within 100 yard radius and as annoying as that is once the slime is washed off they make a cracking omelette.
I definitely endorse your comments re the whimsy foraging post and I like how you don't compromise your stance on any of your actions. Carry on offering us the pleasure of accompanying your walks and the other activities you share via videos. Hugely interesting and very enjoyable. Thank you.
More bloody whimsy foraging ;)
Love your content Mr Shrimp, find your videos a great way to de-stress after a long day at work, so thank you for that 👍🏻
anyone else just watch / listen to him just to feel less lonely cause :,D
His videos help me sleep at night! :D
Great video, I love mushrooms but wouldn't trust myself to identify any in the wild so I leave them all and buy what I want in a shop.
Its relitively easy to build up a small knowledge base of the easier to id mushrooms. My first ever correctly id'd mushroom was a st georges. Relitively easy as theres not much else about to confuse it with at the time its in season. If youre not a subscriber of marlow renton. Its reccomended as his vids do offer a very easy to follow point by point id of each wild plant or fungi. Loads of foragers take pics and try to id for a long time before anything goes on their plate
I agree - the trick is not to try to ID everything you find (although that can be fun), but rather, to go looking for a small set of good edibles - the top 5 edible fungi are pretty easy to be sure about.
lmao @ that one guy who thinks you should literally be a hunter gatherer instead of just enjoying a hobby. found your content last night, really enjoying it.
Such a nice dude and his mushrooms, I love this..
I love your outdoor videos and you are so respectful of the future and other foragers!
I wish I was your neighbor...especially at lunch & suppertime! (I like watching you cook!)
Nice mushrooms, they look so good, thx for sharing.
SurvivalAustria
I’d love to see a video showing the types you pick side by side, maybe close up at home ;)
What a frustrating mindset to have to call this "whimsy foraging". It is so short sighted. Living off the land means understanding and respecting your land, not picking it clean and dying of starvation in the following years because you destroyed the abundance you chose to plunder! Bonkers.
Here in the Philippines we got lots of Porcelain Mushroom in the mango tree logs :D
Take what is needed not what is wanted and you shall be rewarded
I agree. I know people who pick so many berries that they couldn't possibly eat them all in a year...like 20 gallons. They end up freezer burned and thrown out. Try to pick and buy only what you can eat, or preserve what you can manage to eat in a year or two.
You are doing what families have traditionally done, picked a few fungi but left some for others to have and to spread the spores. Whimsy foraging sounds like a stupid term invented to justify greed.
Thank you - yes. Whilst we all have that little fierce, greedy spark in our human natures, in my experience, quenching it leads to a happier life than fanning it into flames.
I only used to watch the scam bait videos, but only a few days ago did I watch some of the other videos you do and I have to say there's something about these videos that really strike a chord with me. Someone said it in the comments already: its a really wholesome and innocent chanel and I personally think its great!
Thank you so much for these uploads, during lockdown we've been spending more time in our local woods, it's full of various mushrooms and fungi so it's interesting to watch your videos for some information about what I'm photographing
Nobody :
Atomic Shrimp : WHAT A SPECIMEN!
Still love these older videos
Amazing how much I appreciate the mushroom picking videos. I know so little about the subject, but appreciate seeing someone who knows more. I would appreciate the sounds of slicing the mushrooms more than the music, but still love the personal feeling of interaction that this gives.
The season is nearly here again. I will do more videos on this topic (and maybe a 'slow TV' video of just picking and slicing mushrooms!
Well I must be whimsy watching then. Just what I fancy.
seeing those beautiful boletus and chanterelles made me miss hunting. Sadly there aren't mushrooms anywhere near my current residence.
Ah, I envy you. Here in the acid soil west of Wales it is not good mushroom country. There are a few places here and there, but the only one where I have found chantarelle locally nearly 40 years ago, has a lot of traffic on the footpath and on a subsequent visit I found only a few very tiny ones which were trampled. That was well off the path, so likely mushroom hunters. I suspect one of those whellbarrow pickers, and who took no care with where they put their feet. They probably destroyed the delicate mycelium. Next year there were none. Like you, I only take the medium sized ones.
You might be better off looking for arboreal species such as oyster mushrooms - really common in old beech woods, especially if nobody is hauling away the fallen timber.
From what iv read up. Ceps actually preffer acidic soil. Its the reason where i am in the south east they are a lot harder to find as the chalky lime isnt to their liking. Its also the reason that when they are found in those areas that they mainly grow amoung pine and other coniferous trees as those help acidify the soil where they grow. Iv also found most of my blushing wood mushrooms under connifers and even a few shaggy parasols. So those are likely to be unaffected by acidic soil as well
Certainly the New Forest (where I often find them) is pretty acidic - heathland and bog overlying flint and gravel, with some clay - lots of heather and bilberry plants growing (and a rhododendron epidemic)
I enjoyed this, and it makes me want to go foraging even though I don't like mushrooms.
Brilliant introduction to foraging, keep up the great work. I’ve just started my own show, so thanks for the inspiration
Foraging where I live contains a very different echo system of roots, cactus and nuts.
I think your opinions are valid and beautiful.
leave the rest for nature, and for others. love that.
7:36
I'm sorry did you say "Destroying Angel"
?
That sounds Fucking Metal...
Well said, good on you!
What you do is up to
You if you enjoy picking mushrooms that’s up to you
Reading the comments someone has probably said hing about whimsy foraging. Can someone please explain?
I think it was from someone who think foragers should go all in and try to live completely off the land. Certainly that's a point of view, but for me, this is as much leisure and art as it is food.
I got another big batch of yellow chanterelles coming up in my back yard. I am still too wary to pick them. Basically I'm a big scaredy cat.
Hi, nice video thanks for sharing ☺.
What's the song that plays 5 minutes in?
You are such a nice person ..i like what youve said..
Re the penny buns, you said you'd do the final ID when you got home, but didn't show how - is it just a case of looking them up in a book?
Pretty much - comparing all of the descriptors in the reference material against the specimen - in the particular case of boletes, the colour of the 'netting' on the stipe and the texture of the cap when dry and when wet are useful in telling similar species apart.
@@AtomicShrimp It's something i've always wanted to have a go at - mushroom foraging. I have some books and like watching vids like yours, but i'm just not confident enough. - Like you say, some are really easy to tell apart, i hear you can eat giant puff balls for example. I know where there's loads up near Wigan but i just can't bring myself to try, and it seems a shame to pick one and then let it go to waste. one day maybe... Cheers for the response, hope you're well
Giant puffballs are probably one of the very safest things to start with - basically if it's the size of your head, and solid white inside (and assuming it's not a chunk of manmade foam), there's nothing else it can really be. The downside is that giant puffballs aren't all that interesting to eat. You are right to be cautious though - never eat anything that you are not 100% sure what it is.
Some top quality fungi you find that day.
4:20 is definately a boletus edulis :)
In Poland we call these "prawdziwek" which means affectionately sth like "the real one"
I've been comfortable eating amanita rubescens due to its distinctive red staining flesh.
It is a tasty mushroom and best of all, most other mushroom pickers are intimidated and leave them for me. They contain a fairly nasty hemolytic protein when raw, but this is destroyed when the mushroom is cooked.
I know it's prejudice, but I just can't bring myself to trust any of the Amanitas. I frequently find Tawny Grisette (Amanita fulva) with a high degree of certainty on the identification, but I just don't trust it.
are Hedgehog mushrooms the same species as Pied de Mouton ?
We are all allowed to do what we enjoy if you like picking mushrooms. Don’t worry about what anyone says
The mindset of that berk that accused you of 'Whimsy Foraging' was very probably that of someone who goes out, and takes EVERYTHING. And then gloats over the fact that there will be nothing left for the next person.
Have you ever tried introducing edible fungi to your garden?
I like your philosophy.
What the difference between a party and a mushroom ? He is a Fungi !!!
5:20 it looks like a little paper cut out of a mushroom drawing lmao
Poor little shroomies, stolen from their family. They will send spore clouds as distress signals.
Magic video
Are most chanterelles edible? It seems there are also mushrooms which imitate chanterelles and are highly toxic.
Depends likely on where you live. In Europe (Germany, Switzerland and Norway, where I went for mushrooms) the only doppelganger is the false chanterelle. I really don't think I would mix them up, but in the end the false chanterelle is just not very nice tasting (and might upset the digestive tract a bit). So this is a safe one (here).
What is the outro song, please? :)
I was taught to cut the mushroom off from its root system, and more would come back the next year.
When the Vietnamese came into the area after the Vietnam War exodus, They removed them roots and all. (I actually watched them do this). The mushrooms never came back after the bad harvesting technique.
All my good Chantrelle patches disappeared.
Theres no evidence to suggest that cutting or pulling make a difference to future mushroom stocks. The only benefit over cutting is you lessen the chances of getting contaminants in your basket. Every expert forager i know also agrees that pulling doesnt harm future growth. Its no different than picking an apple.
I've heard people assert 'always cut', and others assert 'never cut' (in the latter case, because leaving part of the stipe supposedly provides an ingress for moulds and other rot organisms). From personal experience, I've picked mushrooms (the whole fruiting body) from the exact same spot year after year without noticing any decline other than variation of abundance that can be attributed to different prevailing weather in successive seasons.
Saprophytic fungi (including chanterelles) sometimes just exhaust the local nutrient source they're living on - so a spot may be hugely productive for a few years, then suddenly decline (indeed the huge productivity may even be a rush-to-reproduce triggered by decline in nutrient availability)
I live in Catalonia, where mushroom hunting is extremely popular, and that has been an ongoing debate for decades. Personally, I tend to pick them whole, and then clean them at home.
How did you learn so much about mushrooms. I think I found chicken of the woods but was too coward to pick it
Have you ever tried growing mushrooms instead of foraging for them
I've grown from kits a couple of times with mixed results. I am interested in outdoor cultivation - maybe making a log stack or something
Good old wild food uk lol. I have the distinction of being their first subscriber. Im off out in an hour chestnutting. Im secretly hoping to find a hen of the woods that i have seen in my first season at the base of a chestnut tree.......lol @ whimsy foraging. It may be a life or death thing if youre unfortunate enough to live where food is scarce. But not everyone has to pretend to be rambo and be in 100% survival mode. This accuser certainly has access to the internet and modern technology for someone so against the modern world 😂. I forage for the best im not eeking out a life on acorns alone. Especially when a large doner is just a phone call away. I can afford the best of both worlds. And certain wild foods are some of that best.......i just leave the shittier edibles for the poor non whimsy foragers lol
> sees "mushroom hunting"
> me "cowboy bebop?"
Legend ❤️
Comment 100.
Love your content
I thought I would like to move to England for the lush countryside. Yet on videos I hear far too many planes. I will stay in Canada where there is dead quiet.
again, western hemlock = fungi, boletus are fond of the tsuga
LOL. Whimsy foraging?!?! It sounds like a phrase only a weakling or busy body would use.
#gatekeeping
@@AtomicShrimp lol. Now you're whimsy replying?
What county is this?
England
@@AtomicShrimp County?
I am so sorry. Eyes. Coffee. Hampshire
@@AtomicShrimp Thank you sir, I`m not trying to pinpoint your spot, Im in Sussex so was trying to gauge my `Month by rain full mushyometer!!` comparison for this year. Took the family out for our first summer hunt of the year yesterday.... 1 small puffball! Still too dry here!
@@jimooky7113 I'm not really previous about foraging spots - this was out in the New Forest
I'm upset at the notion of people using wheelbarrows or buckets to forage... It's not that hard to grow mushrooms yourself and as others have pointed out, damaging to the ecosystem.
It's absolutely galling to me that people would take issue with what you do or don't take. Seriously, get a life people. It's none of your business anyway. I'm so sorry people are so ridiculous.
Interesting, but with poor camera work! : o(