Merry Lea students forage on canoe trip along Elkhart River

Every year in September, I lead students from Goshen College’s Sustainability Leadership Semester on an eight-day canoe trip from the headwaters of the Elkhart River at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center to Lake Michigan. Along the river we forage wild food and meet with local entrepreneurs, pastors, artists, community developers, restaurateurs, professors, NGO professionals, residents, farmers and political leaders. In these interactions we explore many ways to contribute to resilience in our places and sustainable futures for our communities. Michiana’s local foods community is a main thread in our conversations.

Chicken of the Woods

Our paddles churn the surface of the Elkhart River as our canoes glide around a sweeping bend. The world is glowing green beneath the shade of the broad-leafed sycamore canopy on this crisp afternoon. Cardinal flowers bow to the river, red from the dark, exposed soil. A great blue heron spooks downstream as a train rumbles by on the riverside rail. Soon we see fluorescent orange and yellow in the crook of a two-trunked wild cherry tree. As we float closer, we confirm that what we’re seeing is an edible mushroom called chicken of the woods.

José Chiquito and I maneuver our canoe to the mucky shoreline. Chiquito is a sustainability studies major who is active in the local foods community. We laugh as we struggle out of our unstable boat. Once on solid ground, we examine the mushroom colonies, noting their condition and age. Chiquito slices a few selections from the trunk with a pocketknife, and we continue downstream.

Later that evening, the campfire crackles as students hover around a cast-iron frying pan with forks in hand, tasting thoughtfully.

“Oh, wow, this chicken of the woods really does have the consistency of chicken,” comments Reena Ramos. She gestures positively with raised eyebrows and takes another bite.

We talk about others who may have eaten this food in this place. This place is home to the Potawatomi people who have eaten this mushroom seasonally for generations. We delight in the reality that we are among many—people, chickadees, coyotes, elk and ants—that have shared this food before.

Paw Paw

Downstream of Goshen, the river widens, growing larger with each tributary. Groves of paw paw trees, with sweeping oval leaves, grow densely along the banks. The yellow-green fruits hanging from these trees look tropical, and are known to some as the “Indiana banana.” Paw paws are plentiful here along the river’s edge, but ripe fruits can be scarce elsewhere as squirrels and raccoons gobble them up.

I quarter the succulent mango-like fruits, and we chew down to the flat, nickel-size seeds. Student Laura Hochstetler makes plans to use paw paw fruits in baked goods at the bed and breakfast she hopes to create, where visitors will learn how to grow and preserve food, how to operate renewable energy systems and other living skills.

We return to the shore many times for more fruit.