Sustainability and Legality of Foraging

When we talk about legality the most important thing is where and how to safely forage.. 

Foraging is a great hobby because it can be done just about anywhere. That being said, there are some places where I would strongly discourage you from foraging: private property including suburban lawns, and anywhere near a highway or busy road that trucks travel down. 

The reason that private property and suburban lawns are bad to forage on is first: Going on somebody else’s property is trespassing and you should not do that. You never know what kind of chemicals or soil history that the property has and mushrooms can absorb these toxicities and if interested they can make you really sick. If you really find a nice specimen that happens to be on private property, I would suggest you knock on the person's door and ask if they would mind if you picked this mushroom and if they use any harsh chemicals in their yard. I realize this sounds a little bit strange but if you have the potentiality to make some new friends and teach others about the magic of foraging mushrooms this way. 

Highways and busy roads have a lot of traffic from diesel trucks especially. Several mushrooms such as the edible and choice oyster mushrooms are capable of absorbing toxins like diesel fumes from the air. This makes them unsafe to eat and thus mushrooms growing within at least 50 feet from a busy road should be left where they are. 

Mushrooms can be picked in area parks in the state of CT including state parks. The mushroom season is at its peak from July through October although you can find edible mushrooms during all four seasons. The best time to go foraging is on a sunny day just after a good soaking rain or thunderstorm. One way mushrooms reproduce via spores which require moisture to germinate. The spores are produced and dispersed through the fruiting body which is the part of the mushroom that we see above the soil or on the tree. To form the fruiting body you need a lot of water and a little bit of sun and that is why you find the most mushrooms on a beautiful day after a big storm. 

Lastly there are a lot of environmental benefits, the first is that foraging mushrooms is a very sustainable hobby for a couple of reasons. When you collect wild mushrooms you are not harming the environment as picking mushrooms is like picking an apple or other fruit. This is the fruiting body of the organism which will rot away once it has accomplished its task of releasing the reproductive spores. 

Picking wild mushrooms is also a great way to help reduce your food budget, these mushrooms are more sustainable than grocery store ones. Thus by not buying the less sustainably commercially grown mushrooms we help to reduce the need for massive commercial farms which also helps our planet. It is our job to take care of the environment that we live in and by foraging you will gain a better understanding of the environment which you live in and how best to take care of it.