Hello friends!

We have been quite busy preparing for an exciting spring season, as nature is bringing to show the first signs of spring. Frog eggs in our pond, daffodils popping up, suspiciously warm weather, and lengthening days are all pointing towards the end of winter and the beginning of a new season of growth. We have updated our online store with a few new and old products, so be sure to check that out. If you notice any issues with the store, do not hesitate to reach out and let me know so I can get them fixed! 

Our class schedule for 2024 is nearly completed. We may have some additional events and activities come up, but our monthly foray schedule has been posted and is bookable now. Please let us know if you have any questions and we hope to see you sometime soon! 

Our 2nd truffle season is wrapping up with the season change, and it was another good one for the books. We found our first black perigords in a nearby orchard, had another great successful year hunting our native wild truffle, the Imaia gigantea, and found a few unidentified species. We were featured on WLOS, so that was fun! check it out here 

We should be back at all our usual markets this coming year, and possibly a few new ones. A big shout out to all our friends and interns who help make what we do possible. We are also in a number of retail stores currently, so if you can’t make it to a market, be sure to head on over to any of the wonderful establishments carrying our wares. You can check out the list and get directions here 

THANKS YALL! 

Hope to see you at a class, market, or around town soon! 

Mush love,

Luke & Natalie 

Hello everyone! 

As I type this the leaves are falling from the trees and summer has long past. We have harvested some of our last hens, and truffle season is well underway. This year we will be attending the Asheville City Market all winter. The hours will remain 9-12 throughout December. In January the hours shift to 10-1. We also can be found spore-radically at the Jackson County Farmers Market

We are super excited to be heading out to The Barn near Cashiers + Highlands  for our Umbrian inspired truffle hunt! We will be exploring the terrain with Eva and Massimo, our truffle pups and then will be enjoying some of our wild harvested native truffles. for more information on our Appalachian found truffles, click here. Unfortunately the event is sold out already, but check back next year! 

You will also be able to find us at a few holiday markets this year:

Hendersonville Farmers Market Holiday Market Saturday November 18th 9-1pm + Saturday December 2nd 9-1pm

Biltmore Park Holiday Market Every Sunday, November 19th – December 3rd from 1-5pm

Holiday Extravaganza at the Ag Center Saturday + Sunday November 18th and 19th 10-4pm

Also, the final Friday East Asheville Tailgate Market will be this Friday, November 17th 3-5:30, and its a holiday market! so we will have new and guest vendors, along with all of the usual ones! Don’t miss a great opportunity to get some shopping done, and to get some special ingredients for your thanksgiving dinners.

Thanks to all of your wonderful people! Mush Love!

Natalie + Luke 

Hello Fungiphiles! 

Just wanted to post a little update: We have our 2023 class schedule live now! Head on over to the classes page for full details. Shiitake logs are popping off new buttons, stinging nettle has raised its young stingy shoots from the ground, and other friends such as creasy greens, day Lilly, sheep sorrel, violet, comfrey, and jewel weed are all waking up a bit early this year! 

We have added ramp seeds to our store, and yes, you can grow them in a regular garden too! If you are wanting to help establish a new patch of ramps, or help regenerate an old, planting by seed is one of the easiest methods to re establish, or establish ramps in a given area. With proper conditions and a little patience, in about 5 years (sometimes even less!) you will have your own patch to harvest from, and to share with the future generation. This year we have over 16,000 ramp seeds that we will be sewing, selling, and sharing with our communities, in an effort to be proactive about our love for ramps! As long as you are educating and practicing sustainability, there is no reason that we should feel guilt about correctly and reverently harvesting ramps for our tables. Ramps are hands down one of our all time favorite foods and each year we gleefully look forward to ramp season. Additionally We have added a  link to NC State Extensions ramp planting article in our menu under the “Log, Planting & Mushroom info” for anyone looking for a handy reference on how to best start your ramp patch.

A quick word of caution: When ramps are in their youngest stages, they can have some toxic frequently mistaken others, or look-a-likes. Please always to be 120% sure of what you are eating, and when in doubt, ask someone who knows!  

Also with this early spring, snakes are early too! be sure to exercise caution when frolicking in the forest for our dear friend the copperhead snake. She loves the same environments that morels and ramps do, so always be on the watch as they are quite venomous, and even worse, you don’t even want to know how much that anti venom costs!! Luckily most people don’t even need the anti venom, but it can take months to fully recover from a bite. The copperhead is typically a docile snake unless it is being stepped upon, so just watch where you are going.

And with that, I’m going to go and sterilize the mushroom lab! We are working on inoculating some red oak rounds with some Hen of the  Woods, so if you are looking to add to your mushroom log collection, keep an eye out in a few months as we will have about 12 Maitake logs available to start. 

Get outside and don’t forget to eat your mushrooms,

Natalie