It’s my birthday today and John bought me my very own foraging knife! (in the hope that I don’t keep walking off with the cutlery 😆)
It’s beautifully made, with both a serrated and smooth section. It fits my hand perfectly and I know I will so much enjoy using it!
John joined me on my post-work walk today, to pick beech leaves and to try out my new tool. We found Clouded funnels:
Some people can, while other people cannot tolerate these mushrooms. On my birthday I didn’t really want to discover whether I fit into the latter category, so we just admired the look of them.
Further on we spotted a magnificent Boletus edulis (otherwise known as porcini, but that doesn’t alliterate with ‘birthday’…). My knife screamed with joy and so did its new owner:
Back home we cooked it as the starter to our birthday meal. The main course was a traditional Dutch apple pie, made by John from foraged apples. There’s a tree in Lyne of Skene that has the best ones for this purpose. It’s in someone’s garden and the residents are keen for me to pick as many as I like.
Here is one of the apples:
This weekend we’re heading out into the woods near Banchory to give my knife another good workout. Our hope is to find Hedgehogs (these are mushrooms!) and then make a nice fat fluffy omelette. Watch this space…
The healthy forager 
Ohhh!!! Many happy returns of the day to one of the most fantastic personalities I have ever met in my life! Hope u had a great day and may u have a fabulous year ahead!
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Thank you for such kind words Prameela 😊
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I found some hedgehogs last weekend at Cambus O’May (and some orange peel fungus and chanterelles, but all the ceps I saw were past it)
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That’s good to know about the hedgehogs! Last year I didn’t find them until they were the size of saucers, so I wasn’t sure what time their season actually starts. Pity about the ceps… When cycling I also come across enormous ones in the verges, and I know you can dry them, but I just leave them be.
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