This is meán fomhair or mid-harvest. The temperature in the air and in the ground is still relatively warm, the berries are ripening, if we´re lucky, we get an "Indian summer" and the weather is sunny and warm enough for the seeds to dry out. It is the very end of the ripening season and we have so many lovely things to harvest, dry, juice, bottle, preserve, make alcohol, ferment or just pop in our mouths and chew!
The other advantage of this time of year is that due to the mild temperatures and the fact that most plants have gone through their full growing cycle - growth, maturity, flower, seed. So now, some plants come back to life for a short while and we experience a mini-Spring in September where we get fresh young growth like in Spring-time.
Let´s dive in and look at my favourite plants AND fungi (let´s not forget the fun guys) for foraging at this time of year.
Beech nuts
Hawthorn haws
Elderberry
Rosehips
Ink or lawyer´s Cap Mushroom
Field or Wood mushroom
