Comments for FeralKevin

Comment on How to Eat Bay Nuts (Umbellularia californica) by Robert

Robert — Mon, 06 May 2013 03:33:25 +0000

I bought a new property with tons of bay laurel trees and we roasted some nuts and found that the ones pre dried are better. This season we are going to try to harvest 50 pounds. I am interested in the stimulating properties of this nut, what are others opinion on this?

Comment on Contact by Jay Kaneshige

Jay Kaneshige — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:13:32 +0000

Kevin — My cousins and I had a great time learning about East Bay foraging with your group last weekend in Oakland. I’ve been fascinated about ‘edible plants’ since I was a Boy Scout. And your book with the color photos are a lot more accurate than the B&W illustrated books back in the day. (Very dangerous, eh?) We are interested in any other walks on your side of the hill too. Please keep me informed. Thanks, Jay
PS: You mentioned about the lack of wild onions in the Sierra. Back in the day, I worked for the US Forestry through the YCC one summer, and we ate wild onions around the Plumas Nat’l. Forest. Does this seem accurate?

Comment on DISCLAIMER by feralkevin

feralkevin — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:30:27 +0000

Very bad year for chanterelles locally.

Comment on DISCLAIMER by steve

steve — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:34:02 +0000

find any chanterelles this year

Comment on How to Eat Bay Nuts (Umbellularia californica) by Andrea

Andrea — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:27:46 +0000

FYI Melanie (and all), foraging on Cali State Park land is prohibited.

Link (someone else’s blog) with foraging restrictions for all types of public land:
http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2012/03/rules-for-foraging-on-public-land.html

Comment on How to Eat Bay Nuts (Umbellularia californica) by melanie

melanie — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 05:49:11 +0000

Yes! There were a bunch of shriveled pods at Henry Coe State Park this weekend, up on a ridge where we camped. So I brought a bag home to experiment.
It looks like half of the nuts roasted alright, I think I’ll stick them in at 350 for a bit longer to see what happens! Thanks, Kevin!

Comment on How to Eat Bay Nuts (Umbellularia californica) by feralkevin

feralkevin — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:53:16 +0000

If you started roasting them before they were dry, I do not believe they are salvageable, no.
Are you still finding ones right now that are still good?

Comment on How to Eat Bay Nuts (Umbellularia californica) by melanie

melanie — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:35:28 +0000

Hi Kevin!
I am one of the unlucky ones who roasted without drying the nuts at all. After 30 minutes or so, they are light in color, with some having exploded around the oven and smoking up the room. Are they salvageable, able to be changed into our favorite, buttery chocolately nut? Or, shall I just gather another round and go from there?

Comment on Contact by feralkevin

feralkevin — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 05:47:41 +0000

I think a good “science experiment” would be as you said, to get the little grow kits from Whole Foods and grow one with some light and one in the total dark. Very clear cut, scientific. From my own curiosity — I’d like to see yield experiments or nutritional and/or edible analysis of the mycelium, not just the fruiting body.

You could also do oil experiments where you can soak old hair or simple straw in oil to soak it up and then innoculate it with oyster mushroom mycelium. The mycelium has been observed to break down the oil, rendering it non-toxic. Paul Stamets has done this, but would be nice to see it done as a school project I think. Might be hard to measure.

Good luck!

Comment on Contact by Jennifer Jerde

Jennifer Jerde — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:18:55 +0000

HI Kevin,
Julie Hanft recommended that we reach out to you regarding a 5th grade Waldorf Science Project.
My daughter Nell would like to do an experiment with Oyster Mushrooms. Initially, she thought to do something about the effect of light on mushrooms. Julie has suggested that she do something about the effect of moisture on the mushrooms, or something about the substrate. Would you please let us know what would be the most interesting topic for her to observe in this experiment on mushrooms?
Many thanks,
Jen and Nell
Many thanks,
Jennifer and Nell