As an Arctic blast is holding Aberdeenshire firmly in its grasp, my heart rejoices at the thought of all the fungal life that will now spring into action. Grey oysters have been slumbering all summer, waiting for this dramatic change in the weather.

On Saturday I ventured out on my mountainbike, wearing my entire wardrobe! The only part of me that never feels the cold is my face. Over the years I’ve mastered the art of operating my phone with my nose under these conditions.

Near Drumoak I walked a little way into a woodland where many Scots Pine came down last winter during storm Arwen. While very sad to see, it also provides me with the opportunity to pick pine needles. My beech leaf stocks are getting low and I can’t live without tea, so pine needles it is! The flavour varies enormously from one Scots Pine to the next, so you’ve simply got to try a few to find your favourite. Luckily for me, the ones I picked on Saturday were very tasty.

Onwards with slightly warmer hands from the walk, I headed for the South Deeside Road to check on a beech tree. Last year it sported some oysters but I found them just a bit too late.

Bingo! They were back again!

They were frozen solid, which was just as well as I only had a rucksack and nothing ‘boxy’ to put them in. As temperatures were below zero all day, they kept their shape perfectly on the homeward journey.

Yesterday John joined me for an outing to Glack Hill. This turned out to be more of an adventure than we bargained for. We went out on trikes, and the snow-free tracks on the road were *just* about wide enough. Frozen tractor imprints made for a very bumpy ride and I even lost my mudguard (and my temper). But we made it. The scenery on top of the hill was awesome. It was still, and strangely enough it wasn’t cold.

Back home we realised just how much fresh air we’d had – we zonked in front of the woodburner and I could have fallen asleep there and then. But managed to watch Harry and Meghan (because, ahem, we need to know what the world is talking about).

Winter is magic. To everyone reading this, I do hope you can head out and experience it for yourself. I also do hope that you have a warm house to come back to. It’s not something we ever take for granted!

During the first lockdown of 2020, John and I felt a bit boisterous and actually nicked a larch tree from a forest. To be fair, it was a very small tree (it fit into a rucksack) and it grew in a precarious position. Back home we planted it at the top end of the lawn where it would be alright for a decade or two. Since then, I’ve been marvelling at its rapid growth – it’s now nearly as tall as John. I noticed that each year the bark produces its own pattern and you can use this to work out the tree’s age. Let me show you (in a forest near Glassel):

Together with birches and Scots pine, larches are my favourite trees. I never get tired of looking at their bark and in the Spring, stroking their newly emerging needles that feel lovely and soft.

Larches are not edible, but Velvet shanks are! I know I’ve written about these before, but this weekend I found such a wonderful “kebab”, which I feel compelled to share:

The bright yellow mushroom at the bottom is called Yellow Brain – a name so apt that I might have have given it that myself if I hadn’t known! It’s not edible.

We’re sitting by the fire now after a day out in the elements – the cold wind has made us glow. Chaga chunks are drying, apple compote is cooling, and the conker washing liquid is soaking. Our house is full of foraged things that have made their way into our everyday routines. We feel very far removed from Black Friday and all that entails. As this is my blog, (and if I can’t say it here then where can I 😉), I would strongly like to urge you to think twice before buying ‘stuff’ this December. Can you make something instead? Can you give ‘time’ instead? Teach someone an invaluable skill?

There are things we can do with our December month that would benefit not only our loved ones and ourselves, but also the planet we live on.

Aberdeenshire has seen record levels of rainfall in the past few days. Rivers are swollen and have burst their banks; floodplains are doing their name justice. We were out yesterday to pick the Chaga I saw last week, and had a look while we were there:

The sheer volume of water was immense. Today I went to Falls of Feugh to see the state of the river there, and oh my goodness, the power! I hardly dared venture out onto the footbridge as I felt it shaking. Turn your volume up for the best effect:

Finally, after 4 days of rain and dark, overcast skies, this afternoon the clouds lifted. The natural world breathed a collective sight of relief as it stretched out and shook off the atmosphere that had weighed it down so heavily.

I found Velvet shanks and horse mushrooms. We enjoyed them at lunchtime today, with some tarragon and soured cream. Here’s some footage:

Tonight a frost is forecast. That means the end of the season for some mushrooms, so I will venture out tomorrow morning to pick the remaining ones that I know of. For Velvet shanks the season is only just beginning. Here’s to many more!

It’s only 5 weeks to go until the meteorological start of Winter. Yet, cycling around the Shire yesterday I would never have guessed! Maybe early morning it was a bit nippy, but it soon got warm, with a balmy wind reminiscent of early summer. I heard birds singing their mating call. The forest smelled of resin, the way it does in August.

And yet, cycling along the lane towards the Clachnaben woods, I suddenly caught sight of something orange from the corner of my eye: Velvet Shanks! Who’d have thought it! These little chaps tend to be spurred on by periods of frost. Now we did have a couple of nights with subzero temperatures last week, so that’s probably what did it, but these poor souls must have had one heck of a shock to pop their heads above the soil and be faced with a cyclist wearing shorts at temperatures in double figures.

They are firmly in my top 5 of favourite mushrooms, sweet and with a very pleasing texture. Panfried with a bit of salt and pepper, that’s all they need.

Today I went out for a shorter ride (I have a lot of student assignments to mark) and hit the jackpot near Kintore:

I didn’t have a saw with me for getting it off, so I’ll have to come back for it later. It makes wonderful tea – I’ve been drinking it everyday since I first found it last winter.

Almost home, I screeched to a halt at the sight of two Agaricus augustus, otherwise known as The Prince. They were growing under spruce beside the road, and when I was picking them, a car driver stopped to ask if I was alright, as for all he knew it looked like I had a mechanical problem or was sick in the hedge. “All is well, just picking mushrooms”. With the typical response “Hope you know what you’re doing”. Yep, fed them to John and myself at lunchtime and we’re still here.

Here ends a weekend full of outdoor air. I’m bracing myself for another working week with lots of marking – but it’s an enjoyable task now that it gets dark early. It’s a very cosy feeling to think of how much food and wine is stored in our house – we’re ready for winter!

This week marked the arrival of the Snowy Waxcaps. They’re getting increasingly rare, as one of their habitats (mossy, poor quality grass) is so often forced to make way for concrete carparks. Thankfully, in our neighbourhood there are a few patches left:

I’ve picked a few and have placed them on our own grass, to hopefully spore and procreate.

Yesterday I went out to Durris to explore a wood I hadn’t walked in before (but cycled past hundreds of times). On the way, a very reliable patch of Hedgehogs filled my foraging bag:

Deeper into the wood, I was lured down a track by something intensely white that caught my eye. I worked my way through low spruce branches to get a closer look… And what a sight! As beautiful as they are deadly, a long avenue of Angel’s Wings stretched out before me. With fruiting bodies like ghostly white tongues, these are strictly for admiring and photographing.

Amongst this deadly collection were some very friendly porcini that popped up to say hello. I picked them (oh, how my new knife loved it!) for John to cook his delicious risotto later this week.

On the ride home I passed a basket of cooking apples and a sign above it read “please help yourself”. Despite our shed being stuffed to the hilt with apples, this was an offer I couldn’t refuse. As I was picking out the biggest ones, suddenly I heard a voice from the other side of the hedge: “Apple tart tonight then?” A mannie appeared and I asked if the apples were from his tree – apparently not, but he did have a walnut tree! My eyes must have popped out of their sockets with enthusiasm (either that or I looked hungry), as the mannie quickly offered me a few handfuls. Yes please!

Loaded with produce I arrived home, and boy, what a spread:

The title of this blog is ‘white things’, and there’s one last white thing I’d like to share with you. It was our 12th wedding anniversary this week, and John and I dressed up for the occasion. Foraging is not going to make you fat, so the dress still fits 😁. We had a photo session in the garden, me barefoot to feel connected with my beloved earth.

John and I explore this planet together. We share a love of birds and of trees. We ponder the majesty of it all and can get totally absorbed in observing a group of ants breaking down a mueslibar crumb. We are aware of how small we are and how insignificant within the bigger picture. But for this moment, my time on this Earth is made more valuable because I share it with my very best friend.

We hereby proudly present to you the latest batch of blackberry wine:

The fruit for the Black Border wine came from Peterculter and Wester Ord, which is where the boundary runs between City and Shire. I picked them on a very early, cold August morning with the sun low in the sky and the mists hanging over the fields (and I regretted wearing cycling shorts!). The Hirness fruit is named after the hamlet of Hirn, about 14 miles from Aberdeen. I always say to John that I would love to live there. Hirn feels like the centre of the Shire to me, equally close to lots of places I enjoy being. I picked the berries on a warm, sunny afternoon.

When we bottled them last night and (of course!) had a sample, we felt so rich and grateful for the endless gifts we receive from our Shire.

Today I went out to Millstone Hill and walked a path that was lined with mushrooms – most of them not edible (to humans) but a magnificent sight nonetheless. There was nobody else, just me and tall green larches that gently swayed. No traffic sounds, no lawnmowers.

I know that my Psychology students are following this blog, so this paragraph is just for you: how I felt being in nature today, was what I would call the perfect example of ‘self-actualization’. Being where I want to be, how I want to be. Happy with my own company and no more ‘ideal selves’ to strive for. I’d love to hear what self-actualization means to you!

To start with the finger: my knife was a little too enthusiastic yesterday. I chopped off a fair bit of skin and it bled like there was no tomorrow! Hearing my dad’s advice echo in my ear (‘you really ought to carry plasters’) and cursing my way through my pannier in search of tissues, I fabricated a makeshift bandage using a bungee from my hair.

Injuries aside, it was a magnificent day in the woods! We had proper Scottish weather, wet and blustery, which added to the sense of adventure. Near Banchory I checked my hedgehog spots and was lucky:

I found larger ones in the next wood I explored:

To my amazement, there even were Winter chanterelles! They are beautiful, on a yellow and twisty stem. They don’t have an outspoken flavour, but are nice panfried and tossed with parmesan. The forest floor was covered in them:

Along the side of the road near Drumoak, the cyclist’s rewards were growing aplenty; pristine porcini that only I could see and stop for.

We ate the hedgehogs, winter chanterelles (and also some spectacularly coloured Amethyst deceivers) in John’s signature fluffy omelette. We took the porcini to Glack hill today and fried them al fresco:

We cycled back through Elrick, where we checked the hazlenut tree I’ve been keeping an eye on all summer. Finally! They were ready! I’ll be toasting them in a dry pan tonight for a fireside nibble. Here they are, lovely and fresh off the tree:

Hope you all have a good week ahead!

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:

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…

A picture of a washing machine is probably not what you expect on a foraging blog. However, it turns out that my ‘conker liquid’ (see last week’s post) was very good at removing stains from my fleece! I resoaked the conkers to get a second flush out of them. And tomorrow on campus I will be searching for more!

Yesterday I had an invigorating morning ride to clear out my head. I’ve been cycling to work through abysmal city traffic everyday for the past 3 weeks, so being out in the Shire was a tonic to the soul. One of the many benefits of cycling is that you see stuff that car drivers don’t, and that you can actually stop to pick it! Near Raemoir I spotted some lovely chanterelles in the grass verge:

I also found more horse mushrooms, so back home I cooked up a feast for John and me. Today we went out together and picked Rowan berries for our next batch of wine. Getting them off the tree in very strong winds was a bit of a challenge, but we managed it:

These memories will have to keep me going in my working week ahead. There will be little opportunity for foraging, but every time I’m outside I keep my eyes open for anything I might find!

John has arrived home to a shedload of mushrooms! Our evening menu will feature them for many weeks to come. And they keep on popping up everywhere…

Yesterday I found an epic collection of Porcelain fungi growing high up on a beech. Thankfully there was a fallen branch on the ground with plenty on it, too.

They are very slimy and soft, with a sweet flavour that doesn’t resemble ‘mushrooms’ at all. These beauties are all around us at the moment, as we have a lot of beech trees.

Talking of trees, the storms in the weekend have brought down a wonderful carpet of conkers. I picked a bag full on my way to work today. They’re not edible, but eating is not the only thing we do! We also need to do our laundry. And that’s what these brown glistening beauties are perfect for. To make detergent, you first bash them to pieces. John kindly offered to do that:

Then you dry them in a low oven ready for storage. To make up a solution to wash with, soak a handful in water – this water is your detergent. It even foams!

It’s so much better for the environment than supermarket detergents, both the actual liquid as well as the fact that we’re not using plastic bottles. It will not have a ‘detergent smell’, which is great, as I’m not a fan of my clothes smelling of chemical flowers! We will keep you posted on our washing session results. Monday is wash day in the Brady household and this week I’m secretly looking forward to it 🤫.