WHIDBEY ISLAND STATION, Wash. — If you've always been curious about foraging for mushrooms but don't know the good ones from the bad, there’s a tour in Island County that will give you a crash course.
"I started these tours on the south end of Whidbey because it's something I've always wanted to do," said Travis Furlanic, forager and owner of Whidbey Island Wild Mushroom Tours. "I've had a lot of friends tell me that, you know, I've always taught them things. And they said, 'Oh, you're really good at this, you know, you should do tours.' I'm like, yeah, maybe one day."
And then, a life-changing event jumpstarted him. Furlanic said he was hit by a car, which put things in perspective.
"When you almost die, everything becomes a little more important and how you spend your time is important," Furlanic said.
Furlanic starts his tour with some show-and-tell. Furlanic sais the group meets at Tilth Farmer’s Market where he has a table laid out with specimens that are labeled and identified as either edible or poisonous.
After the talk, Travis takes his tour group to a remote location he has scoped out ahead of time.
"The tours are for anybody that is curious about mushrooms. I think there's a lot of unknown or mystery around mushrooms. A lot of people aren't very familiar with them," said Travis. "I really want to teach people that mushrooms aren't anything to fear. You want to be careful, take your time, but once you get a fundamental understanding of the anatomy of a mushroom and how to go about identifying it makes it a lot easier."
Educating would-be foragers is Furlanic's biggest goal on the tour.
"Most important thing I want to teach people is that there's a lot less to fear than you would think. There's a lot of fear around mushrooms, especially in North America. It's called mycophobia,” said Furlanic. "Most people are pleasantly surprised with the amount of education they get and the confidence that they feel afterward and that they too can go out and do this on their own."
But the folks on the tour aren't the only ones who get something from it.
"The biggest reward for me is to watch somebody get excited about identifying an oyster mushroom and being able to take it home and cook it up that day," Furlanic said. "It's rewarding, you know. That's more important to me than money."
Whidbey Island Wild Mushroom Tours has public tours every Saturday through June 15. Check ahead for times.
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