Boreal Quest

27/12/2023

Evening ode to the boreal forest. More writing related posts on my private account

21/05/2022

The lemon of the north.

We're just about into that 3-4 week harvest window for spruce sprouts, the yearly growths appearing at the tips of spruce branches as temperatures rise.

Rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, they're a tasty addition to salads as such but over the centuries people have become very inventive with them. I'll have a go at the schnaps and liquor this year!

Remember: the sprouts don't fall under the every man's rights in Finland so you do need the landowner's permission to pick them. And whatever you do, don't pick the one at the top of the tree unless you want to stump its growth big time.

27/10/2021

29/08/2021

Out mushroom foraging with and the pooch today. The woods of Järvenpää yielded a fantastic bounty of a few species of the Lactarius group, or milk caps.

The mushroom of the day is Lactarius Rufus, the rufous milk cap. The dark brick colour cap flattens from a convex as it ages and keeps a distinctive boss in the middle, surrounded by a depression in aged mushrooms. As is the case with Lactarius mushrooms in general, if you damage the gills underneath they will leak white milk.

The rufous milk cap is an abundant and popular edible in Finland. For this very reason one should be extra careful when hastily picking them as is often the case when a big batch is found...

Do you still remember the description of the cap? The lethally poisonous Deadly Webcap shares the same colour and central bulge. If you were to ignore its brown gills underneath as well as the striped coloring on the stem you might pick them by accident if unlucky.

Taxonomy can be boring but it's there for a reason 😊 Still, mushroom picking doesn't have to be a scary thing at all. There is only a handful of seriously poisonous mushroom species in Finland. One thing that gets you started in foraging is learning to identify just them so as to steer away from them. Check every mushroom individually back at home as you wash them and if you're not a hundred percent certain, throw them away.

The rufous milk caps need a good 10 minute boiling to rid them of bitterness. This sour peppery mushroom goes great in a creamy salad or a pie. You can also salt them or pickle them!

21/07/2021

A young brown bear male two hours after my meeting with him.

I'm at a stage in my life where I'm about to relocate to a more urban setting. Nature offered me a farewell present at the Russian border to remember: my second bear encounter.

Last week I spent a night stalking wild boar. The summer nights have been particularly warm and that combined with the glimmer of the sun just below the horizon, as it never really sets around midsummer, made for an atmospheric stalk. The boars gave no sign of their presence, neither did a multitude of deer and birds whose songs I had learned to expect at certain times of the night. My eyelids growing tired I packed my gear and headed towards my car, crossing a meadow and taking a gravel road.

I still had my clip on my rifle as I reached the car that was parked in reverse in a dead end with alders and spruce standing dark behind it. Having just reached the rear passenger door I heard a loud snap and there he was, 20 metres away in the woods. Clearly startled by my arrival he sprinted. It took me a second to make out his figure emerging from the dark and to see that he had actually sprinted towards me. All this happened in a matter of two seconds but I remember contemplating if I was going to fire a warning shot or just climb in through the back door of the car but before I'd finished the thought the bear had already veered and circled back into the woods. He stopped and looked back. Another adrenaline filled two seconds of silence. I grunted loudly. He disappeared running into the woods.

"I hope you wore brown pants" said a friend about it later. I got in the car and drove off. The rush of adrenaline was gone and was now replaced with a smile and a feeling of gratitude. Still, I'll admit that despite a dashboard light and a loud signal trying to tell me my boot was ajar I didn't stop the car before I was home.

Continued in the comments

19/07/2021

Blazed salmon pasted with butter, lemon and honey.

A knife and a hammer will get you through the tough skin and the board. For the hole you just made, whittle some nails out of birch - if you use iron nails they can burn through and your dinner will be an ashy one if the fillet falls.

Keep enough distance between the fish and the flames. If your hand can bare about 15 seconds next to the fish you're good to go!

08/06/2021

Throwback to the forest immersion instructor training back in 2017.

In this picture taken by I'm on my phone. A great tool for organizing future work and entertainment but all too often an easy dopamine lollipop for our restless minds trying to avoid the here and now.

The boreal forest is a useful environment for cultivating conscious awareness. Some of the most efficient anchors for letting the mind settle are our own five senses and there is plenty of food for them out in the woods. In having to give room to those senses lies the beauty of many an activity, be it tracking down an animal or taking that perfect photograph of a quivering aspen leaf.

06/05/2021

Heading out wild boar stalking again tonight. Sus Scrofa has an extremely good sense of smell which means paying attention to the wind during your approach is critical or you will never catch a glimpse of him. Here's one thing I never leave the house without when I go hunting: a pocketful of ashes to help keep the wind in my face.

You don't need to be a hunter to make use of this one. An avid photographer wanting to sneak up close enough to a sounder of hogs can apply the same techniques to remain undetected.

A peculiar Finnish saying: "To take the ashes from the hearth" means to take even the little that someone already smitten and suffering has away from them. In this case a friend happily fulfilled my wish and donated his as there is no fireplace in my current house.

20/04/2021

The common European adder - Vipera berus

Came across this feeding male basking on some pine barrens nearby. The dog paid little attention to it, luckily so.

An adder will shy away from humans and is not aggressive. There are nevertheless around 100 bites per year in Finland caused by the only venomous snake here in our latitudes. For a healthy adult they pose no danger but one would be wise to see a doctor if bitten. Do not touch the bite, raise and immobilize the affected limb and avoid anti-inflammatories for the pain. Some may have a more severe allergic reaction in which case medical attention is needed quickly.