Education & Foraging Lessons

Due to unprecedented demand, I'm opening booking for foraging and fishing lessons for all of 2025. I normally do this seasonally but I'm already filling up fall slots. I encourage you to book in advance if you'd like to go out this year.

All of my students receive comprehensive written summaries of the day's teachable moments along with resources for reference. This allows you to enjoy the day instead of focusing on new concepts and it saves you from having to hunt this all down on your own.

- Spring Season - 

I will be teaching morels and spring mushrooms in the Willamette Valley from April to Mid May, when I will be heading to higher elevations in the Cascades for spring kings and morels. Shaggy mane, inky caps, oysters, turkey tail, mica caps and feral garden escapees can be found in our mixed hardwood forests.

I'm teaching stocked trout and bass fishing in the Willamette Valley from 3/1 to 7/1. Some of our most desirable mushrooms grow alongside some of our most prized fisheries. It is a very valuable survival skill for backwoods hikers and only takes a few ounces of gear to secure food. 

I have all the gear necessary and extra rods so you just need a fishing license if you want to put a line in the water. (You don't need one if you'd like me to just demonstrate and there are no laws saying I can't give you fish.)

- Berry Season -

Valley berry season (marionberry, raspberry, Oregon grape) is 4/1 to 7/1, when I will transition into coastal berries (salal, evergreen huckleberry, red huckleberry and elderberry) until the end of August. Coastal summer berries is the most desirable season and I can teach you how to impress your friends and family while you're vacationing in our bountiful state parks.

- Fall Mushrooms -

Late August begins fall mushrooms at higher elevations (lobsters, chanterelles, cauliflower, chicken of the woods). I will be on the coast mid-October to Thanksgiving for porcini, matsutake, and chanterelles. If it stays warm again this year I will be teaching matsutake until Christmas. I will continue to hunt chanterelles in warmer inland pockets until the roads freeze.