05/02/2024
Morel mushrooms are emerging this time of year across the country. They are extremely flavorful, packed with vitamin D, iron, and a multitude of protective antioxidants; morels are a prize edible mushroom.
Whenever foraging, make sure you correctly identify what you’re harvesting, and remember to practice the principles of the “honorable harvest”.
In the book “Braiding Sweetgrass”, Robin Wall Kimmerer shares:
“The guidelines for the Honorable Harvest are not written down, or even consistently spoken of as a whole-they are reinforced in small acts of daily life. But if you were to list them, they might look something like this:
Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself.
Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.
Ask permission before taking.
Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last.
Take only what you need.
Take only which is given.
Never take more than half.
Leave some for others.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”