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As soon as the real mushroom and berry season starts, the most popular websites are full of photos of beautiful boletus and chanterelle mushrooms. There is also the occasional basket full of heavenly berries.
That's the way
we, the majority of Latvia's population, are - as soon as a weekend or other
free moment in the summer comes along, off to the woods we go. And then there are
jars of picked and pickled mushrooms, jam and compote in the cellar or fridge.
Others sell their bounty at the market and to buyers. Is it still a distinctive
feature of our nation to engage in a general 'hunt' for mushrooms and berries?
And on the broadest spectrum - from a hobby to an essential livelihood?
Silva Bērenfelde, a resident of Valle parish in Vecumnieki municipality, says that she started mushroom picking when she was six or seven years old, and even then she did it alone. Later on, she would go for mushrooms and berries everywhere she lived.
- I can't do without the forest. It is no coincidence that my name means "forest" in Latin. I guess my love for the forest is written in my destiny. In the last year, I can no longer be in the forest whenever I want, because I have a permanent job, so I feel that I am literally drowning outside. I need the spaciousness of the forest, I need to be close to nature. The forest completely relieves stress, I feel so free!
I started selling berries and mushrooms in the 1980s, when I was a beekeeper and I was tasked with guarding beehives in the forest. In my spare time, I would go into the forest to forage and berry pick, find good spots for chanterelles and lingonberries, and take the harvest to the Bauska market to sell. A few years ago, I got more serious about it. I went to get berries and mushrooms every morning as if I were going to work. I got up in the morning and left for the forest. I picked blueberries and chanterelles. From then on, I knew the mushroom and berry places in the local forests so well that if someone ordered, for example, chanterelles, I would go to the chanterelle places, if porcini mushrooms, I would go to the mushroom places, if a less common mushroom, I would know where it grew.
I managed to earn quite well from this business. I have heard that one in two pickers pick five or six buckets a day. I'm not that hard-working, but I had two or three buckets full of blueberries by noon. The best day was when I earned 50 lats for berries and mushrooms.
I even made my own mushroom bed in a cluster of trees near my house. I scattered the remains of the cleared chanterelles in the moss and they grew. Back home after a week of work, I picked them last Saturday and the sauce came out.
Silva manages to make a living from mushrooms and berries, and also manages to prepare the family's winter supplies. Most of the time she freezes mushrooms, but when she has more free time, she also makes a mushroom casserole to spread on bread. For this purpose, take birch leaves. Boil, fry in butter, add onions and tomato sauce. Fill into jars, heat and store in the cellar. Spread on sandwiches in winter.
Sometimes the forest also brings unexpected surprises. Once she got lost in the forest. It was on the Jelgava side. Then she got scared. When she finally emerged from the woods after a long wander, she walked eight kilometres back along the highway to her car. At other times, driving away from the forest after dark, she met suspicious hunters. At that moment, Silva felt really sick to her stomach, because who knows what these people were doing in the forest, and whether they wanted anyone to witness their black deeds. Sometimes she found a wolf trap, and another time, when swine fever was raging in Latvia, she found a dead wild boar. She reported what she had seen to the local forester and remained calm until matters were resolved.
Mushroom picking - a shared passion
Reinis Grīnbergs, a criminal police inspector, and Indra Gavara, the manager of the "Pasaules optikas" store group, are also very avid mushroom pickers. Their sons Pēteris (16) and Kristaps (6) are also frequent visitors to the forest. From June to the end of September, the family can often be found in the woods, most recently near Ropazi, Inčukalns and Garkalne. The biggest catch they have managed to bring out of the forest at one time - 400 porcupines!
At the age of six or seven, Reinis was taken to the forest by his mother and taught which mushrooms were edible and which were not. Indra also had her first mushroom picking experience with her mum, but when Reinis and Indra started a family, mushroom picking became a shared passion. Their favourite mushrooms are chanterelles, sunchokes and alder. Birch leaves, chanterelles are not to be missed.
- Chanterelles, known as the queens of the forest, are not only very tasty, but also high in vitamin A and C. They contain as much vitamin A as carrots. I particularly like to pick porcini and chanterelle mushrooms. They are very high-quality mushrooms that can be used for everything - drying, soup, sauce, pickling. In addition, I am very pleased with the colour and smell of these mushrooms. I can tell the difference between a common boletus and a pine or spruce boletus. My wife, on the other hand, likes alderberries best because they keep their crunchiness when pickled," says Reinis.
Mushrooms in the basket and pretty pictures
Why does Ainars
Vladimirovs, Chairman of the Board of the public relations agency "Tēls
PR", go into the forest to find nature's bounty?
- I'm too lazy to
pick berries. I only go to the forest to pick mushrooms. There are three
reasons why I do it. The first is that I love being in the forest. It's so cool
there - it's quiet, peaceful, you don't have to think about work, problems and
other everyday things. What could be even better - walking in the woods,
observing the surroundings and picking a mushroom at the same time. The second
reason is that mushrooms are pretty. If I also take a picture of a mushroom
before I put it in the basket, I get two in one - mushrooms in the basket and
nice pictures for my own enjoyment. The third reason is that I really like
mushrooms. In different forms and with different uses - in sauce, in soup,
canned, dried. The best of all mushrooms - pickled porcini and woolly
mushrooms. Many people say it is a strange choice, but these mushrooms are
crunchy when pickled or salted. And I also like the process of cooking the
mushrooms. I can go on for hours.
In recent years, I have been going for mushrooms most often to the woods near my country home in Birzgale. I have a 'small circle' and a 'big circle' where I pick mushrooms as needed. If it's for preserving and cooking for the winter, I go to the big circle, if it's for dinner sauce, I go to the small circle.
This summer, in the first half of July, I was able to pick mushrooms in the last days of my holiday, and it went very well. It turned out to be a good chanterelle mushroom sauce. I added some cucumbers and boiled new potatoes with dill. What could be more delicious!
Last year, my pickled mushroom jars became a favourite gift for friends and acquaintances. Friends and family members are also great mushroom pickers. It's interesting to taste how someone's pickle or brine turned out and how it tastes different," says Ainars.
You can make a good living from wild berries
Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out how much forest produce people handed in at buying points across Latvia, as neither the Ministry of Agriculture nor the Central Statistical Office, it turns out, collects such data. In order to find out something about the situation, I contacted one of the largest mushroom and berry buyers in Latvia, Pharmeko Lettland Ltd. Silvija Grigorjeva, a representative of the company, says that the blueberry harvest has been particularly good in the forests this year, which is why people have been handing over the most of these berries so far.
By 20 July, more than 100 tonnes of blueberries had already been bought. In the second half of July, the company paid EUR 1,20 to 1,30 per kilo for blueberries and EUR 2,00 to 2,70 for chanterelles. The purchase price can vary slightly from day to day, depending on the level of competition between buying points in the region and the supply of berries and mushrooms. Who knows how many other berries and mushrooms the company will be able to buy this year, because, for example, the blueberry harvest was very poor a year ago, so few blueberries were produced, while porcini berries grew very well.
- I think that the people who pick and hand over berries and mushrooms at the buying points earn quite well. There are those who take a holiday when the berry and mushroom season starts so that they can earn extra income. The €3 000 they earn from their agricultural and forest produce throughout the season is not subject to income tax. It seems that the most diligent foragers are approaching this threshold, - believes Silvija Grigorjeva.
This is how we spend our free time
What drives Latvian people to the forest for berries and mushrooms? I asked Aivita Putniņa, a doctor of philosophy in social anthropology, to answer this question.
For example, the Japanese also go to the forest at weekends, but for a different purpose - climbing mountains, observing the landscape and building a relationship with the forest through photography. And they do it from childhood to old age. The Japanese belief in Shintoism is also most directly linked to nature and trees. For them, mushrooms have more aesthetic value than practical value, which is why they photograph them. It is a way of physically exercising themselves. The tradition of going to the woods for mushrooms and berries is based on a whole cultural history. Latvians have many films, such as one of the most characteristic ones, For the Sake of that Stupid Pauline, which show berry and mushroom picking as a tradition. Latvians also differ from many other nations in that they are quite good at distinguishing not only between useful and poisonous berries and mushrooms, but also between medicinal herbs. Old Europeans no longer know what chamomile is, for example, and how to process it for health benefits.
Going to the woods for mushrooms and berries wastes a lot of petrol and time. That money could buy a good many canned mushrooms, jams and compotes. This is why pragmatic people in developed European countries prefer to buy everything ready-made in the shop. It is also a peculiarity of Latvian culture, and especially of Latvian traditional culture, that the inhabitants of the largest cities spend an enormous amount of money and time maintaining their country houses. If you convert the value of the tomatoes and cucumbers grown into money, they are worth gold.
The question of man's relationship with the forest is also a topical issue in Latvia. People usually go to places where they have walked for a long time to pick mushrooms and berries, so they develop a very personal relationship with them. Despite the fact that much of the forest has been privatised, Latvians still see it as a shared national asset and take it very personally when it is brutally logged. For Latvians, a forest is not just a forest, but a place they know, where there are certain trails, so the relationship with the forest is extremely deep," said Aivita Putniņa.
Don't get lost
It turns out that it is not calculated how much each rescue operation costs the State Fire and Rescue Service, because, as the SFRS spokesperson points out, rescuing people in distress is the main task of the service. Unfortunately, not a single institution interviewed was able to provide data on the people who ended up not only lost but dead while mushroom picking and berry picking. To make sure this never happens to you, please read and remember the advice given by the National Fire and Rescue Service (see above) before you go into the forest!
* a bottle of water and chocolate will also be useful as they will help you regain energy if you get lost;
* carry a pocket torch, as this will not only prevent panic in the dark, but will also help rescuers find you more quickly. A whistle and a compass will also be useful to indicate your location if necessary and to follow the signs to get out of the forest;
* When you arrive in the forest, look around - railways, roads, prominent trees or natural objects can be good landmarks if you get lost. Paying attention to your surroundings and objects will help rescuers understand how you moved through the forest and where you are;
* Do not stay in the forest until dark, as it will then be virtually impossible to find your way out of a strange forest;
* if you realise that you are lost and will not be able to get out of the forest on your own, do not panic. Panic will become your worst enemy, as you will not be able to assess the situation objectively in a stressful situation. Sit down, relax, try to get your bearings and then make your way home. Don't try to start walking chaotically through the forest looking for a way back, as this can lead you deeper into the forest;
Source: news
portal www.la.lv
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