It's about the time that I post my usual spring update, so here it goes!
Firstly, I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy. It's a difficult and stressful time right now. Please reach out if you think I could help in some way, even just to talk foraging and take your mind off of everything else for a little while.
With the Governor's stay home order starting tomorrow I want to encourage everyone to look at this as an opportunity to get out and do some foraging. I know some of you are probably out of work, or having to juggle kids and an essential job, or maybe you're a medical professional. Keep your heads up; it's a difficult time, but it will pass and we'll come out of this stronger in many ways and thank you endlessly if you're a medical professional. Thank you.
Polis' stay at home order allows us,
"To engage in outdoor activity, such as, walking, hiking, nordic skiing, snowshoeing, biking or running. For purposes of outdoor activity, state parks will remain open to the public to engage in walking, hiking, biking, running, and similar outdoor activities..."
This definitely includes foraging (though not in state parks)! So use this opportunity to better yourself, learn how to forage. If you've been interested but didn't know where to start this is the perfect time. If you've just started dipping your toes in, take a jump! Start learning. Be sure to practice safe social distancing and follow the other guidelines in the EO.
When you're out taking a breath of fresh air or walking the dog pick a plant to learn. Take some pictures, bring a sample home with you, and start learning it! Once you're comfortable with that species, pick a new one to learn. Right now the spring abundance is just beginning, and over the next several weeks it will only get better. I went out today on a quick walk with our dog and saw half a dozen edible species of greens starting to sprout. The oysters, morels, and asparagus are soon to follow!
As part of this suggestion to get out and learn, I will offer myself as your personal resource. Take detailed and good quality photos of the plant (or mushroom) you want to learn, jot down a few notes about where it was, how it was growing, etc. and send them to me via email at foragecolorado@gmail.com, or a message on Facebook or Instagram and I will do my best to help you ID and learn it!
In addition to that, I will be out doing some walking and foraging myself and I plan on sharing photos/videos of that on the above mentioned social pages. I'll probably mess around with some Instagram stories because I'm terrible at those and I should learn how to better utilize them. Who knows, maybe I'll even go live which is something I've never tried. Either way, be sure to follow those and check out what I'm up to!
Finally, I'll be writing and sending out a Spring Newsletter to my email list subscribers sometime soon. That email will have information about my plans for class offerings this year (pending COVID), as well as some notes about a handful of species that can be foraged this time of year, and a few other TBD topics. If you aren't signed up to receive my emails you can do so at the bottom of the page, or when you first visit the homepage you should be prompted to sign up. I think I've averaged about 2 emails a year, so you don't have to worry about being spammed by me.
Stay safe, stay healthy.
Thanks for reading! Don't hesitate to get in touch.
-Orion