Chaga hunting + Hoof fungus + Maple syrup harvesting + marsh walk + photos

Birch trees

I decided to head on out into the bush and see if I could find the magic elixir known as 'chaga'.
At first all the birch I checked was void of this magic fungi and I was wondering if, for some reason, this area just didn't have the spores. I found that somewhat hard to believe, so I kept on my search  and eventually came across a tree that had fallen over and saw what I was looking for.

Hoof fungus

Since it was a rotting tree and upon inspection, the chaga did not look good enough to make anything I wanted to drink. Once I cracked it open I could see little larvae entranced in their winter sleep. I decided this was not the pickings I was going to take back and make into tea. At least this gave me the perseverance to keep on my hunt, knowing now, there must be more of it out there, as, fungi spread quite easily. After trudging deeper into the backwoods I eventually came across another tree with Chaga on it.

Hoof fungi 

The one thing I noticed which I found strange, all the Chaga I found was only on the north side of the property, all the trees on the south end were devoid of this mushroom. I searched high and low on the one side and nothing, but as soon as I went over to the other end of the property, there it was. Many of the pieces I could not reach, as, they were 15 ft up the tree; I saw one piece that must have been 5 or 10 pounds bulging out of the tree. I will come back for these with a ladder. For some dumb reason I realized when I got back to the house, that, all the pictures I took were of the hoof fungus, not one of the Chaga, WHAT WAS I THINKING!
I will go back and take pictures of the big mound of Chaga once all the snow clears.

Hoof fungus

The hoof fungus tends to look like these little hoofs on the side of the tree, they can also look more blackish.

Hoof fungus on birch tree

Chaga and hoof fungas harvest in Ontario

This was the days harvest, not all will go for tea, and I made sure to leave the trees with what I believed to be a sufficient amount of Chaga spores so as to be able to reproduce. The parts I do not use will go to the stove, as, from what I understand, Chaga shavings and hoof fungus is a great fire starter. 

Chaga preparation

The process is really quite simple, scrape off the hardened black exterior until you reach the soft orange-ish inner core. Then, take out your grater and grate away. You will want to leave it out to dry, preferably in the sun for a few days, so as not to let it mold. 

Preparing Chaga

Since were in full swing of spring, the sap is flowing. The temperature had dropped the previous few weeks/days and I had neglected checking the buckets for sap, but now that we've had this turnaround into good spring weather, things are flowing into prime syrup season. We have already made a batch of syrup a few weeks back, but this was of the sap (that I'm told) is more so the anti-freeze of the tree, while it does have sugar, it produces something that just doesn't compare to the next flow of mapley goodness.

 I could tell when I walked up that those buckets were full and I knew, time for some cooking!

Maple sap

Later on it was time to walk the dog, so I brought my camera along to see if I could get some decent shots of the stream and marsh by my place. I decided to take a little macro of everybody's favourite nuisance plant - burdock. I remember the games played with these, it was always fun to whip these threw the air and watch it stick to someones shirt; then, you could see it in their eyes, the game was on!.

Burdock -

The sumac was a plant I've known since a child, thankfully, we don't have the poison ones around here. I remember being very young in my girlfriends backyard sucking on these sour-ish buds. I dont know why we did it, no one told us it was safe, we just kinda ate them without concern. Ahh.. to be a child. lol.

Sumac

I finally reached the marsh and I was glad I brought my camera.

Springbrook Marsh / river

I love all the old barns in my area, I must make a project of capturing as many as I can at some point. Our personal barn ( and house ) goes back to the 1850's, and from what I understand, some of them might go back even further.

Springbrook heritage barn

O'Hara maple syrup festival

O'Hara tapped trees in maple forest

We decided to take a trip to the O'Hara maple sugar festival and see what it was all about, and let me tell you, it can be described in one word, maplelicious... thats a word, right?
In good'ol Madoc is where you can find this feast of all things maple. Hankering for some pancakes laced in syrup, you got'em. Drizzed maple syrup candy-pops made over snow, got'em. Maple butter, candies, and syrup for sale, you betcha!. It all starts off on a horse drawn ride through the maple forest, then, a trip back in time through an old pioneer house to show you the instruments used to collect sap. They also have old knickknacks for sale, everything from quilts to cast iron hooks.

O'Hara pioneer house

O'Hara maple syrup festival

I just love these old pioneer houses, any log homes for that matter. These modern homes with steel beams and fake formaldehyde filled flooring just feels.... blah.
Ive always wanted a fireplace like this, just right there, no safety, keeps ya on your toes I suppose, lol.
The house was filled with treasures from yesteryear; wooden water buckets, snow shoes, old fashioned saws, candy presses, and all sorts of tools that were essential to life back then. To be honest, alot of the stuff they had there I would prefer to what we have today. Plastic this and plastic that, I see why they were healthier then my generation.

Old fashioned maple syrup supplies- O'Hara

I couldn't help but turn this photo in a vintage like feel. The wooden piece beside the wooden buckets was used to make candies, I think thats what the piece at the far left is too. There is a large screw beside the candy box that was used to drill the trees for sap and the wooden taps ( to the left of the screw ) were used to collect the sap from the trees, all of which dripped into wooden buckets. Wood, wood, wood,  does a body good.

Old fashioned snow shoes

For some reason whenever I see stuff like this I always want to try it out; it takes every ounce of my strength to not ask, I know they never would let me, and I know I shouldn't because I'd probably break them, but I want to, oh lord how I want to.

O'Hara Maple butter

 I always thought maple butter was maple syrup and butter mixed, and since I gave up butter, I never tried it. Turns out, its just maple syrup made in a specific, scientific like way. Its almost like soft maple candies, but smoother, more spreadable. In fact, right now I am eating this on a piece of bread with a mug full of how water and maple syrup -Canadian to the bone.

O'Hara water mill

They have this neat watermill and log building, I'm not sure if its functional but I will definitely be coming back to see this place in the summer as there are a bunch of festivals and things going on when the warmer weather arrives; fingers crossed the mill flows.

Pioneer cemetery

Along the drive there was this old pioneer cemetery intermixed among the trees. Ive never seen anything like this, some of the plots go back to the 1800's