Chaga Harvest

I'm happy say that Spring is starting to warm up permanently around here - and so we do not have long before the bugs will set in and we'll be reminded of all the horrors Spring brings.  But in the meantime, this is the ideal time (right before the buds bloom) to be harvesting the chaga mushroom.

My reasons for this as follows:
1. As I mentioned, it isn't black-fly season yet; saves a lot of pain when trying to hack a piece off a tree.
2. Since the bushes and trees lack foliage, you can see the chaga clusters much easier.  Navigating to the chaga cluster is easier too.
3. It's easier knock / cut a chunk off the tree and trim any additional chaga out of the tree which did not come out with the first chunk.
4. Its just nice to get out and smell a growing forest again.

The ideal time for this is after the heavy Spring rain.  The chunks that I found were a little dense with moisture, so they came off relatively well.  I think the majority of the chaga growth happens in the spring (my observation of frequenting a certain chunk).  This is probably due to birch producing a syrup that the chaga thrives off of.

Earlier in the winter, I tried hacking a chunk of a tree with a hefty knife and didn't get anywhere.  Impossible to break a chunk off or get anywhere into the piece.  In the Spring, I used a basic thin 'survivalist' type blade and wiggled the blade in and around a chunk of this tree which popped off in no time.  Take precaution doing this though -- I lost part of a fingernail.  I was trimming a bit of the birch bark still clinging to the chaga and slipped through.

Anyway, after pulling off the chunk, it was easy to trim out any bits of rich yellow chaga out from the tree and bag that.   In the pictures, you'll see that I pulled off one half of the chaga to see what growth will occur in the place of the old chaga (yellow spot) compared to the other chunk I did not harvest.  This way its possible to figure out later in the season(s) if the yield is getting better or worse after harvesting a hunk.

Again, if you know nothing of chaga and why the hell I'm harvesting a mushroom/tree fungus, refer to one of my old introductory blog pages here.  There is a reason I tell you, and its not psychotropic hallucinogenic reasons!

To your health - Cheers!

Original chaga chunk of the tree.

Half of the chaga chunk taken off to compare growth later in the season.

Size of the one chunk - not to shabby!

Some of the easy trimmings taken from the tree (trimmed out with a blade).