Upon returning to Canada in 2016, I had the chance to meet up with Lin Timbers – The Wild Mushroom Lady – in Bancroft, Ontario.
Lin’s wild mushroom workshops – hosted by Bedrock and Brambles in Gooderham, Ontario – provide an awesome introduction to foraging. By the end of the day, we had all of the information and confidence we needed to start foraging wild mushrooms on our own!
The workshop started with an introduction to some beginner mushrooms – such as boletes, chanterelles, and a few others. Then we moved into a few of the poisonous varieties, precautions, signs and symptoms and what to do in case of an emergency.
Thanks to the lessons-learned that day and all of the wonderful follow-up and support provided on Lin’s Facebook page, I was able to continue foraging for all sorts of wild mushrooms including a number of boletes, lobster mushrooms, honey mushrooms, oysters, birch polypore, chaga and a whole lot more!
Kira – from Bedrock and Brambles – also introduced us to a number of edible wild flowers and weeds growing around her farm, including medicinal wild herbs and how to prepare them.
One of the highlights of the day had to be the food (of course!) Kira prepared a lovely kombucha, stinging nettle soup, garlic scape pesto, a wild salad, desserts and of course our mushroom finds were sauteed with butter and served up individually so we could sample all of the different flavours. What a treat!
Following the workshop, I was invited to spend the weekend with Lin. Excited for the chance to cook together, I lugged out my tripod and Hungarian cookware which we used to make stir-fry for dinner. For breakfast we had the most delicious breakfast made up of French toast, maple flavoured bacon, sauteed chanterelles and daylily buds. Yum!
If you’d like to learn more about foraging for wild mushrooms, make sure to follow The Wild Mushroom Lady on Facebook. Or, if you’re planning a visit to the County of Haliburton sign up for a workshop with Lin and Kira!
Stay tuned for an upcoming post featuring Kira’s delicious stinging nettle soup!
The Village Plate 
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Great article. Could you tell me what type of mushroom is pictured first in this article (the yellow bolete that is having the underside of the cap cut)? Thanks
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Hi there! Great to have you visit my blog! I believe that’s either a bicolour bolete or a yellow bolete but leaning on the bicolour. Both are edible and delicious! 🙂
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Thanks for the reply. I’m enjoying your blog.
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Aww that makes me so happy to hear! There will be lots and lots on foraging coming up. Been too busy to write the past few weeks as I’ve been out in the bush and gullies harvesting fiddleheads, wild garlic, burdock, stinging nettles, and a bit of garlic mustard weed. No luck so far finding wild asparagus or morels but I’m keeping my fingers crossed! P.S. Can’t wait to snoop through your site. Took a quick peek and HAD to click on the ‘Don’t Click This’… Too funny! 🙂
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