Woodland gold

We decided to head back to the woods today with the aim to come back home with just a few mushrooms in our basket. We worked on the flat for the whole day yesterday, and didn't feel like having another intense work out.  But as I said before, once you're there, the mushrooming frenesy empowers you, and pushes you forward to find more than you can actually take. And that's what happened today; we came back with twice as many mushrooms as last time.

But it was so nice again, and now we have enough mushrooms to fill our winter larder, and share some with our family.

We didn't find that many chanterelles this year, but a lot of ginormous Slippery Jack & Xeroponus. And I was so happy to find a handful of Saffron Milk Cap. We actually call them "Whole Larder Love" mushrooms.

I hope hat you're having a wonderful beginning of Fall!

Hello September!

I hope that you are doing well since last time and that you are embracing this new season.
Even though the Autumn has not officially started, I like to associate the 1st of September with the beginning of Fall. And I’ve been enjoying it so much!
Last weekend, I’ve been mushrooming for the first time in a very long time. And I came back home with a basket full of different mushrooms. Some of them have been eaten in soup, but the most part has been preserved for this winter.

Even though I'm not a college student anymore, I wanted to treat myself with some "back to school" supplies. And in my world, that means knitting stuff. I've been wanting this tote for such a long time. I often work in coffeeshops and so I thought that this little bag would be perfect to carry all of my projects around. I also ordered some icelandic yarn for a new sweater, and got some very good deals whislt browsing people stashes on Ravelry. SO there's even more yarn on its way!

Are you also looking forward to embracing this new season?

Unexpectedly

The berries got even bigger than last time and are flourishing now. When I head outside with my baskets, I know which path in the woods will lead me to find my favourite bushes. No later than yesterday afternoon, I was there again, filling my baskets with these precious fruits. The satisfaction that you get from eating a jam or a soup made with food that you found for free in the wild is priceless. I know that this abundance isn't going to last, so in the meanwhile, I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can. If I would listen to myself, I would eat all of the berries at once. But then I remembered the cold months of the year, and how much I was craving for some homemade jam on my toasts. I know that this week might be the very last one for blueberries. So I headed back this afternoon for one last harvest. After getting my little container almost full with them, I decided to go and explore some parts of the woods that I didn't know very well. Unexpectedly, but very gratefully, I found mushrooms on my way. If you've ever been mushrooming before, you might already know this feeling, this frenzy that empowers you, and pushes you to find even more. With my little basket on my back and my bottle of water, I was unstoppable! We found many Cantharellus cibarius. Some of them were already so big! We also got some Boletus, and there is one mushroom that I had already seen before but wasn't very sure about. Luckily, there was a grandma that was mushrooming too, so we asked her, and she said it was a Suillus. I'm so happy when I get the chance to expend my knowledge on wildfood. Yum.

When I'm not too busy running around in the woods, I try to find the time to knit some stitches. Yesterday evening, I started working on my Christmas in July knitting. The chart is very easy to follow so far, the repeats are very entertaining and not too complicated. This yarn is also fantastic, I absolutely adore the little gold and green flecks that pop out here and there.

Herbals

This week has been so hectic for so many reasons! We started by celebrating Jāņi which is the Latvian Midsummer festival. We spent quite some time in the kitchen, cooking and eating caraway cheese. Then we headed out to the woods to pick more mushrooms. It's still the very beginning of the season, but we were able to forage enough to eat them of garlic bread. It was divine! Next time, I intend to bring a small pan and fry them in the forest.
We've aslo been busy making renovations in the flat. We're planning to get rid of most of the old Soviet furniture that takes so much space and create a minimalistic space: paint the walls white, remove the old linonium and put clean parquet instead, surround ourselves with lot of plants... (this diy caught my eye!) Last week, we removed the very old and dirty wallpaper in the hallway, and yesterday we had to plaster many parts of the walls. There's still so much work to do, but it's been very nice to work as a team. I never thought renovating could be so much fun.
I haven't been knitting that much lately. But I made significant progress on my Keynote since last time. I'm also working on new designs for the shop. Spending time outside really helped me in the creative process, and I cannot wait to start knitting the sketches that I made.

The rain is pouring like crazy these days. And I wonder if we're ever going to have a proper Summer this year. But that means that everything has been growing so fast! Yesterday evening during my walk, I realised that the blueberry bushes that were not carrying any fruit two weeks ago are full of them now. So this morning, I went back to the woods, more equiped that yesterday. I got four several boxes to pick wild strawberries, blueberries and leaves.

I never I would get that much! But we did het enough to fill two containers of jams and enjoy our morning pancakes with. The leaves and the wild strawberries are drying on trays in the kitchen, and hopefully in just a few weeks, I'll be able to blend my own herbal teas.

* The set of knitting needles can be found here.

Evening walk

I just came back from a lovely walk in the woods and the meadow. It's been so refreshing to go out after spending the whole day inside, renovating the flat and cleaning up the dust that accumulated in every corner.

After whole the rain that poured these last few days, I feel that the plants in the woods grew so fast. Most of them are already in bloom and tiny mushrooms can be spotted between the light pillows of green moss. I also spotted several places where I can get wild strawberries and blueberries. I tried to get some, but it was already late in the evening - the mosquitos were starting to invade the woods, and found my legs particularly sweet. But I cannot wait to get back tomorrow morning, before the rain if I can, and collect as much as I can!

Wishing you a lovely evening.

A forager's simple wishlist

1. It's always a good idea to keep a foraging ressource whilst mushrooming in the woods. But if a book is too heavy to carry around, there's also some apps that are very useful to identify mushrooms. Check and double check the item you've foraged before eating it.

2. I recently learned that there's a proper way to pick mushrooms. Always carry a knife around, cut the foot of the mushroom but not the root. Remove any dust and mud with the little brush while you're still in the woods so you won't have to do it at home.

3. A basket is the forager's essential. The mushrooms want to breathe after they've been picked. Avoid plastic bags as much as possible. Bring several brown paper bags to keep the different species apart.

4. Here in Latvia, the woods are infested by ticks. So we usually dry to dress up with light colors, so the little besties would be spotted easily if they try to climb up. I can easily imagine myself running trhough the woods with this gorgeous linen dress.

5. A pocket compass is always handy. You never know where the quest of finding mushrooms might take you.

6. The best moment to forage for mushrooms is usually just after the rain. That's the moment they stop "hidding". Foraging can sometimes take many hours, so keep your feet dry.