We too have been out in the forests trying to add to our larder, mostly without success. However, just as we tell kids that winning isn't everything and climbing a mountain isn't really about getting to the summit, foraging isn't really about finding things you can eat. Despite our empty baskets we've been lucky enough to visit two amazing places near Helsinki: Talosaari and Sipoonkorppi. Though mushroom were thin on the ground the forests themselves were amazing.
Talosaari is more woodland than forest but still with moments suddenly dark and spookily quiet and underfoot springing like a sponge cake. There we met some Ray Mears wannabes who showed us lots of other green things you can fill your basket with when the mushrooms aren't biting and we made a nice salad of dandelion, ladies mantle and ground elder. Dog also learned that you can eat berries.
Lovely people in Talosaari
Lady's mantle
Ground Elder
Dog eating blueberries
Sipoonkorppi is perhaps even more spectacular, the forest trail runs through night-dark steep-sided gorges down and up almost vertical wooden staircase and over single plank bridges.
Spooky forest
Spooky trees
After years of the heights and expanses of the Andes, the intensity of the Finnish forests is really exciting. Visibility is less than 50 metres and words are hushed, everything seems both living and rotting, millions of tiny organisms turning everything into squishy floor and millions of other organisms bursting roots and leaves. Great stuff.
Can't wait to see a bear.
Can't wait to see a bear.
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