Sirah Kreitzer

Hi, my name is Sirah, and I am a Forest Siren that sing's to the fungi when looking for them. I do not care much about the Latin names, and tend to focus my energy and research on finding choice edible mushrooms, you know, FREE food. This is what has taken my skills and knowledge to the next level and allowed me to supply restaurants and the community with the freshest fungi I can find year round. 

 

It all started when I was 9 and I watched a show from PBS (channel 9) where 2 men went foraging for edible mushrooms. Once they found a few, they pulled out a little stove, pan,  butter, salt, and bread and began to cook up the choice fungi right in the forest. As they ate, I longed for this type of connection to Mother Nature and all her abundance. Little did I realize, this was a moment that would awaken from deep inside of me in my mid 30s. 

I began foraging in the winter of 2019  during the covid 19 lock down. I had a few friends take me under their wings and show me the ropes being super green to hiking in general. We visited the forest weekly, honing our foraging skills, and this helped me to find who I was without all the noise of the world. It was a special time of growth, expansion, and the pushing of my edges. When the world was able to reconnect once more, I joined the local mushroom group in my town and went out with some professionals. They taught me even more about choice edible mushrooms and really got me hooked. With there invaluable wisdom, I became the Foraging Forest Siren I am today.

​

I now visit the forest weekly for my own mental health as well as to search for the most delicious choice fungi the PNW has to offer. I feel lucky to have discovered mushroom foraging and I am honored and thrilled to share my passion with the world. 

​

I have had many nick names throughout life, but my foraging nick names are my favorites by far.  I have been dubbed Eagle Eyes, and Shrump Queen. I have been told my eyes see what no one else does in the forest, and that means, I get to play the most epic, life long game of hide and seek with Mother Nature, and I think that's pretty cool.   

​

​