Nature center hosts mushroom foraging expedition
Karen Arechiga and her friends were among the large group of people who attended a mushroom foraging hike at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center on Sunday afternoon led by mycologist Bat Vardeh.
Arechiga said she heard of the event through her friend Denisse Villa and they decided to go as a group with their other friend Anna Kato.
Villa said one of her hobbies was foraging and she was familiar with Vardeh’s foraging group, Women Forage SoCal, which is where she found out that the mushroom hike was going to be in Santa Clarita.
Arechiga, a Santa Clarita Valley resident, had been to Placerita before several times but never thought to look down for the small fungi.
“I’ve come here all the time, and I feel like I’m always looking up,” said Arechiga. “I’ve never thought to look down and see what’s out here and discover those things.”
Vardeh said it was a perfect day to go out hunting for mushrooms because of the recent rainfall. Before the group ventured out on the hiking path, she prepared everyone with a few tips on how to identify mushrooms they may come across and where to look for them.
“I like to mention this a lot, but oak trees are really good place to look for mushrooms because they just have so many specialized relationships with like a lot of different mushrooms,” said Vardeh. “I always tell people that if they want to find mushrooms after a good rain, just check around oak trees and there’s pretty good chance, you’ll find mushrooms.”
As the founder of Women Forage SoCal, Vardeh said it was moving to see such a huge turnout for the mushroom hike. She said she started her foraging community with the purpose of creating a space where women could come together and support each other’s foraging.
“I love how our community has grown. I basically made it as a space for people to come and find what I call foraging friends,” said Vardeh.
Elaine Lee was another forager who heard of the event through Vardeh’s group. She said that she had always been interested in mushroom foraging but was nervous to go on her own, so she was excited to have a community to do it with.
“It’s nice to slow down and observe everything and be present,” said Lee.
Lee said she appreciated Vardeh’s presentation before the hike that explained how to respect the environment as they are mushroom hunting. She went over how to spot the smaller mushrooms and then the more prominent ones.
Lee was excited about being able to find several different types of mushrooms and she said she was excited to keep on hiking and find more.
Vardeh walked alongside the attendees and whenever they would find a new mushroom, she would help them identify them, tell them some facts about it, but she wanted to let them learn as they went.
“To me honestly what I see when I see a room full of people that are here for mushrooms or plants or literally anything outside is a room full of people that are going to stick up to protect what they love and what they appreciate,” said Vardeh.
