Reishi mushroom and forest adventures

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Its reishi season, my favorite foraging time of year! I LOVE THIS MUSHROOM. I love its habitat - dreamy, hemlock-filled, forested creeks and ravines. As my back starts to feel better, a short hike to one of my reishi foraging spots was at the top of my priority list.

After my slow ramble through the forest, I was thrilled to find reishi in various stages of fruiting. It was drizzling and misty and an all around excellent time to be in hemlock habitat.

This is my “super-hyped to find a mushroom bigger than my face” face.

I miss leading hikes and hope to get back to it soon! So, if you’re interested in forest adventures, please fill out this form to be notified if/when I lead something. (I will probably only plan last minute adventures for now - based on how my back is doing).

Medicinally, I find reishi helpful for spring allergies (in double or triple extract form), for gut health and supporting the body in the winter season (in a hot water extract form), and for gentle stress support (in any form).

Making medicine with it can be a little tricky, as one of the main medicinal components, polysaccharides, are not soluble in alcohol (and in fact alcohol can damage them). So the water and alcohol extracts have to be prepared separately and carefully. Traditionally it is made as a hot water extract.

Here’s a link to a short write up on reishi if you’d like to learn more:

Hemlock Reishi monograph