Learning the land Sauk Centre

PHOTO BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN Shane Brown identifi es plants with children, as all ages are welcome in the foraging group.

Learning the land

Foraging a way of life for Brown

BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN STAFF WRITER

SAUK CENTRE

– There is a small and simple missed opportunity in many people’s lives when they unwittingly miss the forage for the weeds. Shane Brown of Sauk Centre has made it his goal to share the incredible bounty of nourishing plants and mushrooms growing wild. He and his wife, Pam, have developed their skills in foraging, cooking, canning and drying. Now, Brown leads a public foraging group through the River of Life Church, is a Saturday regular at the local farmer’s market and is developing a mushroom cultivating enterprise. Interestingly, the seed of this interest bloomed strong because of sibling rivalry. Brown began foraging because of his highly competent outdoorsman brother, Lee. On family outings, Lee’s resourcefulness made an impres-

PHOTO SUBMITTED Shane Brown is pictured with oyster mushrooms, which are amongst the easiest for a beginner to identify. They grow in a shelf formation only on wood, are almost always white and have a licorice-like smell.

sion upon Brown. “He’s one of those people who could use my glasses, that stick and your bag and somehow start a fi re with it,” Brown said. “He’ll take a plastic bag of water, spin it tight, refl ect light through it like a magnifying glass and

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