‘Feisty forager’ turns love of outdoors into business

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA — A Lawrence County woman who has always loved the outdoors has found a way to turn her love of foraging into a business.

Whitney Johnson also has 737,000 viewers on Tic Tok, 46,000 on Facebook and 22,000 on Instagram.

Johnson, 33, appeared on the Weather Channel in January, had an article in the Farmer’s Almanac, was recently on WYMT and has done an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader. She will also be doing a segment with ABC News in Lexington next weekend.

Johnson is a forager and creates videos to share her uses of plants and mushrooms in a variety of ways.

“I try to post at least one video a week,” Johnson said. “I’m a feisty forager and Appalachian outdoor enthusiast. Mushroom huntin’ is my forte, but I don’t discriminate against any wild edibles.”

Johnson said she has been an outdoors fanatic since they cut her umbilical cord and that her first memories are all related to being outdoors, playing with snakes, climbing trees, digging in the dirt with spoons.

“My mom couldn’t keep spoons in the house, they were all bent or covered in mud,” Johnson said. “I grew up hunting and fishing with my dad, gardening with my uncle and pickin’ poke sallet with my papaw.”

Johnson said she started getting more into foraging when she was a sophomore in college.

“I have always loved to hike, but then I started to notice mushrooms on the trails,” she said. “Being the Appalachian I am, I am always seeking to be as self-sufficient as possible, so I became enamored with the thought of bringing wild mushrooms home to eat,” Johnson said. “Plus, they are super cool to look at and I’m so amazed by their different shapes, sizes, color and textures. I sometimes say that I didn’t find mushrooms, because it seems like one day, they just found me and then I never turned back.”

Johnson said she started taking pictures of different mushrooms that she found while hiking and would take them to study and research until her fingers were about to fall off, figuring out what is edible, what is toxic, what tastes good and so on.

“However, I wouldn’t consider myself to have been a really full-fledged forager until about two years ago,” she said. “That’s when I really took the leap to make it a part of my identity and my everyday life. I got into this just from the innate love of the outdoors I’ve had since I was born, but also it was part of a journey to improve both my physical and mental health. When I got into mushrooming initially, I was involved in a relationship with someone who did not support my aspirations. I was not in the greatest headspace, and I was also extremely overweight. I found myself being unhappy with a lot of things, so I decided to change it.”

Johnson said she began to reconnect to her love of the outdoors and to dedicate more time to mushroom research.

“I started to lose weight, be a better version of myself and was just overall a more positive and happy person,” Johnson said. “I never really did have one person in the family who died foraging. There were more of the hunters, fishers, but no one really into plants and mushrooms. That kind of just happened to be something that I was interested in and I ran with it. I would say I am influenced by just Appalachia in general. This region has a history of being able to take very little and turn it into something bountiful and beautiful. I see this in my foraging. I can walk outside, find a wild edible, bring it home and cook it up and share with family and friends. It really doesn’t get much better than that. It’s the ultimate holistic experience.”

Johnson said she loves to hike, so basically any trail she is on she is foraging.

“You just have to be sure foraging is allowed because some parks require a permit or don’t allow it at all,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that she has been hiking for many years and foraging off the beaten path, and she has only ever encountered three poisonous snakes during that time.

“You need to be aware of your surroundings and respect the space of the wildlife. It’s their home, not mine,” Johnson said. “I will kindly and slowly step away and they have never tried to harm me. I would say the biggest danger I would encounter would be ticks. They are awful and seem to be getting worse year after year.”

Johnson said her best find was a haul of giant Chanterelle mushrooms a couple of years ago in the Slade area.

“It was a sea of orange as far as the eye could see, and let me tell ya, I’ll be chasin’ that rush for the rest of my life,” Johnson said.

Some of the items made by Johnson include seasonings and salts, including mushroom salt.

“I also make tinctures for wellness, which is an extraction of different plant/fungi matter that you use for the medicinal benefits. I make salves, face wash, toners, lotion bars, soaps, jelly, jam relish, hair products, beard oil, syrups, teas and the list, goes on and on,” Johnson said. “I do most of this on my own. Everything that I make, my hands are in it. I pick, clean, process, craft, package and ship everything from my home.”

Johnson said her boyfriend is her camera man, so without him, she feels like her videos wouldn’t be what they are without him.

“He will also help me pick goodies,” Johnson said. “My eyes are always peeled and my brain is on this setting where it doesn’t turn off for wild edibles. Wild food is everywhere. I would say the most bountiful time is summer/fall. I will usually get a seasonal target plant/mushroom in mind and try to hunt it down.”

Johnson said she doesn’t really go into it with the thought of what she is going to make. She brings things home and will often let the foraged finds speak for themselves and build upon that.

“Certain mushrooms have certain flavor profiles and textures, so part of the fun of foraging is bringing it back to the kitchen and experimenting.”

Johnson has a website, www.appalachianforager.com where she puts things up seasonably. Her online store is more active during the fall/winter.

She does demonstrations and sells her items at various events, including the upcoming Mountain Mushroom Festival in Irvine.

“I’ll be doing a cooking demonstration there in April,” Johnson said. “Some festivals I will be vending and slinging my goodies at will be the Fallsburg Summer Stage, in Fallsburg, Mountain Grrl Experience in Pikeville, Folk Fest in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, and Possum Fest in Cumberland. There are some others that are in the works that aren’t confirmed yet.”