Hello from the wildly beautiful state of Oregon! Nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, this temperate rainforest is home to so many different species of plants and animals. An outdoor lovers playground, especially in the summer months. With half the state covered in forests there’s plenty of nature to explore! There’s food around every tree and eye candy around every creek bend. Join me on my adventures into the majesty and wonder that is the Oregon Rainforest!

How did I start Foraging?

n the spring we are reminded than anywhere plants aren’t already growing, nature will fill in the space. A lot of weeds that pop up just happen to also be edible, so even if you can’t get into the high mountains, you can find food literally anywhere. I was astonished when I first started learning about edible weeds. It started with eating dandelion leaves out of our yard. I was tired of buying lettuce and having it go bad before we finished it. Sometimes you just need a little for your burgers or tacos so why not just grab some greens from the yard? That inspired me to find out what else I could eat, surprisingly a lot. If you don’t count the grass, I would say about half the weeds that grow in a yard are edible.

This led me to looking for edible plants when we were in the forest or visiting family (in the forest). We had been mushroom hunters for years at this point but looking for edible greens is a less common practice. It isn’t hard to find mushroom hunters, mushrooms are plentiful in the fall, they also grow through the winter and spring but what you’re picking will change with the seasons.

The Inspiration to Share

When you do something regularly it starts to feel normal. Thats where I’ve been with foraging and preserving, it just feels normal like something everyone knows how to do. I realized though that isn’t the case, so I thought I could pass my knowledge on to help other people have the experiences I’m fortunate enough to get. No matter where you live, there’s something to forage, or even things you can plant yourself that just look like part of the landscaping. Honestly one of my life dreams is to plant my own food forest. Preserving food out of the garden was normal when I was a kid, we continued doing it as an adult. We is referring to my husband, he also grew up in the country with family that preserved their own food. Sure homegrown or foraged food is a lot healthier than store bought but the real reason I stick with it, the flavor. Quality food makes such a huge difference when you’re cooking, other countries like Europe and France know this but we are just discovering it here in the United States.

Creek Walking Adventures

This obsession began at an early age, I used to go to my friend’s house, and she had a creek. I thought that was the coolest thing being able to explore in the summer. We never found a lot there, but it didn’t stop us from looking. My grandparents and parents also frequently took me to rivers, creeks and lakes where I spent much of my time exploring the banks. As many children do, I would come home with a pocket full of rocks. The same thing happened when we went to the coast except I would take a bag to carry them all.

As an adult I married a man who also has a love for the outdoors, and we spend much of our free time out in it. I started collecting rocks as a cheap and easy past time. We would spend an entire day walking a creek to see what we could find. I would take pictures and drink in all the beauty around me, there’s really nothing like being surrounded only by nature. With running water as your backdrop, it’s a level of peace that’s impossible to find in a city. I want to share a little piece of that feeling with the world.

Why Review Campgrounds?

I’m not exaggerating when I say every single time we reserved a camp site ahead of time we were disappointed when we got there. You cannot tell what the site looks like based on the map provided when you make the reservation. I thought, how cool would it be if someone went around and took pictures of these sites so you could actually see what you’re paying for. Coming from out of state, it would be impossible to go check out the campground before you make your final decision, That’s how that idea came to fruition. My goal is to go around to every reservation campground and review each site so people can know what to expect when they get there.

I take pictures of the site and also cover things I would want to know before reserving. Such as how many vehicles can park there. How many if any motor homes could be parked at the site. Is there shade, is it private. What kind of bathrooms they have and how close they are to each of the sites. Are there trails near by or water access. Does the campground provide water. For the campground as a whole I also cover what you can do while staying there.