Newsletter #409, June 9, 2020

There are five edible mushroom species in this photo, four very good. We should see them and more at a mushroom class this weekend. Photo by Green Deane

There’s an old song “what a difference a day makes.” If it were about mushroom it would be “what a difference a week makes.” A week ago I walked my “mushroom mile” and saw nothing. This week the fungi is fruiting all over. Thus this year the timing was good. OMG (the Orlando Mushroom Group on Facebook) wanted to hold classes in June last year but the mushroom season was six weeks late. That threw everything off and we never got a change to meet. (Only two mushroom groups in the state meet, Gainesville and Orlando.) This year after studying long-term forecasts we took a guess that mid-June would be good and luck was with us this time. I put off foraging classes in the Carolinas, put a mushroom foray on the schedule, and the Rain Gods cooperated (along with warm nights.) 

Joshua Buchanan on an OMG mushroom hunt.

Joshua Buchanan and I will be having a mushroom hunt this Saturday, June 13th, in Lake Mary, Fl. He’s interested in all mushrooms including cordyceps. I know a few dozen edibles. He brings a west-coast perspective and broad knowledge, I’m east and more an edible specialist. The class is 9 to noon, $10 per adult, 8515 Markham Rd, Lake Mary, FL 32746. Some reference material will be provided. This is a bicycle trail head so there is ample parking and bathrooms. Kids and other pets welcome. Reservations are not necessary. As foraging is illegal in Florida this is a mushroom hunt not a forage. Should you choose to take some fungi home for further … ah… study … that is your choice. It is recommended you discretely use a backpack or a tote rather than a mushroom basket.  The hunt is rain or shine: Tropical storms or hurricanes excepted. Other species common in the area but not in season are Deerberries, Persimmons, Opuntia and Gopher Apples. Wild life is deer and gopher tortoises. You might see bear tracks. Occasionally a pygmy rattler is seen on the east side of the park by the trails. Look before you reach. As it has been wet something ward off mosquitoes and ticks is recommended.  

Classes are held rain or shine.

Only one plant foraging class this weekend, in Blanchard Park this Sunday, always a pleasant location. 

Sunday, June 14th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. Meet at the pavilion between the YMCA building and the tennis courts. 9 a.m. till noon. 

Saturday June 20th, John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot. 9 a.m. until noon. 

Sunday, June 21st, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m to noon. Meet at the parking lot at Bayshore Drive and Ganyard Street 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, June 27th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. Third time is a charm. This class has had to be rescheduled twice because of weather. This is also the only location without any official bathrooms. 

Sunday, June 28th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center, 9 a.m. to noon. This is contingent on the park being open. I will get a definite answer this coming week.  

For more information about these classes, to pre-pay or sign up go here.

Natal plums are not plums but they are a tasty fruit which once established are extremely wind, drought and salt tolerant. This makes sense as the first time I saw them was some 35 years ago was at a beach house inside Canaveral National Park in New Smyrna Beach. For $75 we could rent the two-story place from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. It slept six, was almost across the street from “Turtle Mound” and was right on the beach, literally. The best part is we were locked in the park from sunset to sunrise giving us the entire beach to ourselves. That house had a hedge of Natal Plums on the west side. In fact just north of Bethune Beach Park there is a half-mile section of A1A that is  residential and on the beach. Many of those houses have Natal Plums and where I go when I want to collect a lot of them.

Natal Plums have edible latex. Photo by G.D.

Some 20 years later when I was in San Diego on business I saw Natal Plums everywhere in both commercial and residential landscaping. They can take the heat. And in Port Charlotte, Fla., where I teach some of my foraging classes, there are several Natal Plums in the area. There are some in the neighborhood where I live. Invariably when I ask the owner if I can have the fruit they have no idea they are edible. In fact find most of the Natal Plums when I’m driving. When I spy a dark green hedge with plum-size red fruit it’s almost always the Natal Plum. Although it’s closely related to the deadly Oleander there is a large, commercial variety of the species available. And while various fruit councils have championed the species for decades it never really took off as a commercial fruit. You can read about it here.

Suriname Cherrie might be an acquired taste.

While on the topic of wild fruit we are down to the last few days locally of Chickasaw Plums for the year. Height of the season was perhaps three weeks ago but there are some lingering fruit here and there. Annually I have never found any Chickasaw Plum fruit after the Fourth of July. Also confounding foraging some this year are the Surinam Cherries. In two different locations some 200 miles apart the Suriname Cherries seem to have had two fruitings. In both locations they flushed out with smaller than usual fruit, stopped bearing for about three weeks then came back with a second set of fruit. This time many making it to full size. The weather can indeed be strange. There are also two varieties, the deep red shown left and a dark purple variety (which I think is sweeter and less acidic.)

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

Changing foraging videos: My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been selling for seven years. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy. The DVD format, however, is becoming outdated. Those 135 videos plus 15 more are now available on a 16-gig USB drive. While the videos can be run from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The150-video USB is $99 and the 135-video DVD set is now $99. The DVDs will be sold until they run out then will be exclusively replaced by the USB. This is a change I’ve been trying to make for several years. So if you have been wanting the 135-video DVD set order it now as the price is reduced and the supply limited. Or you can order the USB. My headache is getting my WordPress Order page changed to reflect these changes. We’ve been working on it for over three weeks. However, if you want to order now either the USB or the DVD set make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here.  That order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and in the note say if you want the DVD set or the USB. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.

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