Essential Equipment
Whether it's a day trip deep into the forests or a brief excursion, we consider some pieces of equipment to be
essential:
Breathable Basket - Our choice is a plastic, grocery-type basket with many holes in it. We selected a red basket so it's easy to spot if we forget where we set it down! The holes allow air to freely circulate around the mushrooms, helping to keep them in prime condition.
Bear Repellent Spray - We always carry this in our basket, not knowing what animal we might encounter in the forest.
Compass - We check our compass before entering an area, even a well known area, so that we always know how to come out of the area.
Knife - Even if we don't intend to cut the mushrooms, we find that having a knife is handy. For example, it can be used to scrap away debris, cut up an apple for a snack, etc.
Mushroom Diary - We keep detailed notes of what we picked, when and where in a loose-leaf, pocket size binder that allows us to arrange the pages in date order. Being able to compare the forays from year to year is invaluable information for future outings, and enhances our knowledge of mushrooms!
Paper Bags - When we come upon an interesting mushroom that we don't recognize, it goes straight into the paper bag for immediate isolation and later identification.
Plastic Bags - Be a good citizen! Pick up trash and carry it out of your gathering spots!
Whistle - Long before we acquired walkie talkies, whistles were our mode of communication. One whistle meant: where are you? Two whistles meant: let's go, I'm ready to try another spot. And, three whistles meant: come see what I found!
Walkie Talkies - The whistles served us well for many years, and we still use them for backup when batteries start to fail. Walkie talkies, of course, are great because they allow extended communication rather than the one, two or three whistle blasts.
We highly encourage