Welcome to Nature Notes & Discoveries

If you've followed Megan's Mushrooms for a while, you may have noticed things look a little different around here.

What started as a mushroom-growing business has slowly evolved into something much broader. Mushrooms are still a huge part of my life, but these days they share space with edible plants, native species, seasonal recipes, gardening, food as medicine, and whatever interesting thing I happen to find while wandering around outside.

Colorado is where this journey began. It's where I discovered gourmet mushrooms, started Megan's Mushrooms, learned to forage, and developed a habit of stopping to look a little closer at the natural world. Living in South Carolina has fueled that passion. The plants, mushrooms, wildlife, and growing seasons may be different, but the curiosity that started the journey is exactly the same.

One of the biggest surprises after moving from Colorado to South Carolina was just how different nature feels here. In Colorado, I could hike for miles and recognize most of the landscape. In South Carolina, I feel like I'm constantly meeting new plants, new mushrooms, new insects, and occasionally things that look like they belong on another planet.

Most days, you'll find me slowly wandering around my yard with my phone in hand, stopping every few feet to photograph a mushroom, identify a plant, or investigate something I've never noticed before. Fortunately, my neighbors don't wonder if I'm lost. When I first met them (as with most people who meet me), mushrooms quickly became the main topic of conversation, so they know exactly what I'm doing. They even let me explore their properties, which means there's a decent chance I occasionally show up on a trail camera wandering through the woods, crouched next to a mushroom, or staring suspiciously at a plant. At this point, finding me in the woods talking to a mushroom probably wouldn't even make the top ten list of strange things they've seen me do.

I really enjoy the process. I love finding something unfamiliar, taking a photo, researching what it is, learning its history, discovering whether it's edible or medicinal, and figuring out how it fits into the larger ecosystem around it.

Of course, if it's edible, there's a good chance I will need to try it in the kitchen!

The medicinal side of all of this is a huge part of the appeal for me. The more I learn, the more fascinated I become by the idea that food and medicine were never meant to be completely separate. One of my dreams is to create a natural apothecary filled with remedies I've made myself from native plants, garden harvests, mushrooms, and ingredients gathered responsibly from the landscape around me.

But that dream extends far beyond tinctures, teas, and herbal preparations. I want my plate to be part of that apothecary too. The more I learn, the more I find myself asking not just what tastes good, but what nourishes, supports, and provides exactly what my body needs. In many ways, creating a recipe collection built around homegrown, foraged, and seasonal ingredients is just another expression of the same goal.

One of the things I love most about the South is that something is almost always growing. The seasons blend together in a way that constantly presents new opportunities to learn, experiment, and discover ingredients that never would have crossed my path in Colorado.

What started with mushrooms has expanded into a much bigger goal: learning how to build a healthier relationship with food and understanding what my body actually needs. The more I learn, the more I find myself drawn to foods that nourish, support, and connect us to the natural world around us. Sometimes that means mushrooms. Sometimes it's a native edible plant. Sometimes it's a recipe inspired by something growing right outside my door.

When I have more time, you'll usually find me exploring the lake, wandering islands, searching for mushrooms in new places, or chasing whatever curiosity has captured my attention that week. Lately I've been considering hobbies that pair naturally with exploring—gold panning, arrowhead hunting, maybe even a metal detector someday. My childhood collections of rocks, bugs and bird nests seem to have evolved into a habit of bringing home almost anything interesting I find outdoors.

This category is where I'll share those discoveries.

Some posts will be about mushrooms. Some will be about plants and herbs. Some will be recipes. Others may simply be stories from a walk in the woods, a day on the lake, or a fascinating species I've never encountered before.

There will probably be a few unexpected detours as well. If I suddenly become interested in gold panning, arrowhead hunting, native bugs, unusual rocks, or whatever curiosity captures my attention next, there's a good chance you'll hear about that too.

Whether you're here in the Southeast or still following along from Colorado, I hope you'll enjoy sharing in the discoveries. For those who prefer to admire the humidity, bugs, and occasional mystery creature from a safe distance, I'll do the exploring and report back.

Mostly, this is a place to share the things that make me stop, look a little closer, and appreciate the incredible world around us. I hope you'll follow along, learn something new, and maybe even be inspired to step outside and start making a few discoveries of your own.