Mushroom Foraging in Hermsdorf

Porcini, chanterelle, parasol, chicken of the woods, puffball, oyster… What's more iconic of autumn than brightly-colored mushrooms popping up out of the fallen leaves? Bring out the foraging basket, because it's that time of year again! These crucial, mysterious members of our ecosystem are finally beginning to pop up en masse to spread their spores – and provide tasty meals to the critters around them, including us humans.

With a little searching, even us city-dwellers can find loads of delicious fungi almost right outside our front doors, thanks to the amazing forests around Berlin. Yet, as is well-known, when it comes to mushrooms it takes knowledge and experience to distinguish the delectable from the deadly.

Join Simka (they/them) for an adventure into the forest near Hermsdorf, where we will get acquainted with the most common & delicious edible and medicinal wild autumn mushrooms growing in this area – no experience necessary.

Together we'll explore the forest floor and learn the basics of how to find, identify, collect, and prepare the wild edible mushrooms that are currently in season. Here you will learn which mushrooms to stay away from – and how to get confident enough to bring your own harvest home.

Fungi play crucial, unseen roles in our ecosystem. Yet only when they fruit do we see them above the forest floor in the form of mushrooms, which come in an enormous diversity of shapes, colors, sizes, textures, smells, and flavors. With around 10,000 species of fungi in Europe alone, there is so much to discover!

Because fungi are such fickle fruits and their appearance is determined by many factors, including the weather, there's no guarantee the conditions will be right for an abundant harvest. But there's always something around to fill the foraging basket – so in case the mushrooms end up more sparse than we hoped for, we'll take a closer look at the delicious edible plants & herbs that line the path instead.

The tour will take us through beautiful forest scenery, where we will have plenty of time to relax, explore, and take in the serene surroundings.

When: Saturday November 22nd, 11.00 - 15:00
Where: Tegeler Forst, northern part, near S-Bahnhof Hermsdorf  (~ 6km walking in total)
Cost: Full price 55€ / Concession 45€ 

Attendance is limited to 14 people, so registration is required!

The meeting and ending point for the tour are accessible with public transportation. The exact meeting point, along with what to bring, will be sent via email after registration. Don't forget to read your confirmation email carefully.

Registration and cancellation:

Once you register for the workshop, you'll receive an email with all details on the exact meeting location as well as what to bring.

The event will go ahead regardless of the weather. The mushrooms don't mind if it's wet! Please make sure to wear the clothing you need to keep you warm, dry & comfortable.

If you can't make the event, you may cancel by email up to 48 hours in advance. This ensures another participant can take your place. If you need to cancel, please indicate in your email whether you would rather receive a refund (minus Stripe processing fees) or a gift voucher (full amount). 

Refunds/gift vouchers for cancellations within 48 hours of the event are not possible. Within 48 hours, you may transfer your ticket to someone else, but please make sure to let me know by email.

A note on pricing & philosophy:

It's a deep value of mine that this learning – which radically connects us with ourselves, the land, and one another – should be accessible for everyone, which is why I'm keeping my tours as low-price as I possibly can. This year, I'm using a new system to uphold this financial accessibility while keeping it sustainable for myself. 

There are two ticket levels: Full price and Concession. Please choose the concession level only if you aren't able to afford the full price ticket. 

If the concession level is also not accessible for you, I really see you and I still want you to come foraging with me! I'll be offering a fully donation-based community tour once a month throughout the season. Please join my Telegram group or send me an email to get updates on future Community tours!

My intention with all of this is to earn a living wage while widening the reach of financial accessibility to more folks than I was able to with my previous sliding-scale model. Thanks for being with me in navigating through the challenges of capitalism with justice, honesty and compassion!