Cool rainy June good for Finland’s mushroom hunters
While the wet, cool weather this month may have disappointed many, it will be a boon for mushroom pickers.
The weather conditions with steady rainfalls and low temperatures this June were ideal in Finland for the mushrooms chanterelles and boletes which can already be found by sharp-eyed mushroom hunters.
According to mushroom expert at Helsinki University’s Museum of Natural History Tea von Bonsdorff, the next couple of weeks will be the time to get out into the forest to find the early summer fungi.
“An increase in spores depends on many factors, for example groundwater and snow conditions,” von Bonsdorff said, adding that conditions were ideal for a promising harvest this year.
If July happens to heat up particularly, von Bonsdorff said, the mushroom boom will taper off until closer to autumn when the rains will bring them back.
It was also a very good spring for mushrooms, von Bonsdorff said.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Mushroom rush in Yukon, Canada, Radio Canada International
Greenland: Researchers must be honest with Arctic peoples about food contaminants: doctor, Eye on the Arctic
Sweden: Sweden’s climate-friendly food advice project scrapped, Radio Sweden
United States: Foraging for Alaska’s wild plants, Alaska Dispatch
