foraging – Lo Vedo Life

What’s a garrigue?

I live in the garrigue of southern France. If you stand on a Mediterranean beach near the city of Narbonne and move north, you’ll pass through flat and fertile river land before arriving in my regional garrigue. It’s a rough, rocky, hilly terrain that marks the transition from flat farmland to the low mountains of the Haute Languedoc region.

The garrigue is terribly difficult to farm, but people have been trying for a few thousand years. This land is hilly, dry and rocky. It used to be covered by forests, but those were chopped down, first by the Greeks (who arrived in the 6th century B.C.) and then by the Romans, who established Narbonne in 118 B.C. They all used a lot of wood, and entire forests were wiped out during this period.

Day's Harvest — One hour’s harvest of red pine mushrooms, also called saffron milk cap.

One hour’s harvest of red pine mushrooms, also called saffron milk cap.

Mushrooms and Chestnuts, or Champignons et Châtaignes
Last week we donned our “wet forest” walking clothes and drove up into the hills behind town, in search of the edibles our forests could offer that day. It had rained two days before, and rain brings thoughts of the mushrooms that will appear shortly afterward.

Our first parking spot was in an area of scrub oak and some tall pine trees. It was the pines that captured our attention, because they mark the place to search for the vivid orange Lactaire Délicieux, also known as red pine mushroom or saffron milk cap.

Continue reading “Fall foraging in the forest”