Our Story

The Mushroom Forager, LLC was founded in 2010 to share our passion for the art and science of hunting wild mushrooms, and to make mycology safer and more accessible. We lead mushroom hunting workshops that foster a sense of wonder, with an emphasis on edibility, ecology, ethics, safety and sustainability. We have facilitated over 200 presentations, workshops and forays focused on mushroom hunting and cultivation to over 4,500 mycophiles from around the world. The Mushroom Forager's work has been featured on CNN's Great Big Story, New England Public Radio, Vermont Public Radio, and in magazines including Vermont Life, Northern Woodlands, Long Trail News and the Vermont Almanac.

In 2011 we introduced the ForageCast, helping you make your forays more targeted and fruitful. The ForageCast is an up-to-date list of distinctive and delicious edible mushrooms in season in the Northeast, informed by our finds as well as field reports from mycophiles like you! The ForageCast gives you a sense of which charismatic species you should be looking out for, as well as where to look.  It helps you sort through the legions of nondescript fungi and find our favorite gourmet and medicinal species.

Mushroom foraging can be extremely safe, but it requires humility, prudence, and patience. Please, remember the old adage, “When in doubt, throw it out,” and never use the text or images on this website or blog as the sole basis for eating a mushroom. It is good practice to have an experienced mycologist or forager positively ID a mushroom whenever you try a new species. Soon, you will be able to tell a chanterelle from a jack-o’-lantern as easily as you can tell a mango from an orange!

Until then, please exercise the utmost care, and keep in mind that the deadly destroying angel is a prolific and dependable fruiter in Northeastern hardwood forests from June through September. We hope to see you at a workshop or foray, whether we are gathering chanterelles and black trumpets in July or maitake, porcini, and lion’s mane in September.