Mushroom Foraging with Dr. Rachel Criswell

Whether you’re a beginner or have been foraging for years, explore our Fogg Island Preserve and learn more about fabulous fungi.

Rachel is a resident of Mount Vernon, where she raises her family, seven goats, a dog, three cats, and many chickens and turkeys on 45 acres of meadow and woodland. A lifelong fan of nature, she began foraging in earnest six years ago after falling in love with mushrooms on a foraging walk with her medical residency. Since then, she has gotten to know Maine plants and mushrooms, with a focus on edible and medicinal varieties, and has foraged in the Maine woods, coastland and meadows, Colorado, New Mexico, and New Brunswick. She works to incorporate herbal medicine into her family medicine practice, and she is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Fellowship in Integrative Medicine. She enjoys introducing others -especially kids!- to the plants around them and has led numerous local foraging walks. She works to cultivate medicinal herbs and mushrooms on her family’s farm, Baraban Farms, and she has sold her teas, salves, and tinctures at local shops and farmer’s markets. Her favorite mushroom is a black trumpet, although her “white whale” is a morel, which she has yet to find.