We’ve been following Gregory Han and Emily Ho for quite some time now. They are always going on amazing adventures all over California discovering gems in some of the most far out places. Gregory told me that he looks at Google Earth to search for roads that meander into the mountains and then has a hunch that it’s going to be good. Or, he follows the coast on the Google Earth, locates tide pools, maps it and off they go! You can imagine we were thrilled when they invited us to go foraging up in the mountains of San Bernardino, a couple hours outside of LA.

We were eager and they wanted to share what they have learned about mushroom foraging. By no means do they claim to be experts, but, their “ooohhhs” and “aaaahhhhs” after unearthing the weeping bolete was all that was needed. Their enthusiasm for the hunt was magic and it rubbed off on us. Angie and I got right into it, getting down and dirty, putting our noses right into the mushrooms and smelling the earth. Not everything we discovered was edible, but, it didn’t matter, the fun was in the discovery. Some other mushrooms we found are little brown mushrooms and puffballs. The puffballs are amazing, they are edible when fresh, but, when they are old and dry, you step on them and a cloud of spores waft in the winds. We can’t wait for chanterelle season!

Other than mushrooms, we cut a little bit of white fir pine, picked a good amount of wild red currants, and even found a a little glob of pine pitch (pine sap that smells amazing).

Emily and her cute little Poketo foraging tote!