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Chaga?!

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May 4, 2017
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Location
Woodland Park, CO
I had heard of it, and just now learning how healthy studies have shown it to be. I wish I had been more tuned in to it when I was in Ontario last year. Do any of you North men harvest and drink it? Please educate me on season/ finding / processing it.
 
I harvest it, make a Double extract of it, use that extract in my coffee every day. Blood Sugar, cholesterol, down and 40 years of hives gone. I have a GPS with 150+ conks marked as Waypoints.
Chaga grows on all LIVE Birches, when you harvest it leave some behind so it will continue to go. Once you get it home cut it/grind it into the final product BEFORE you dry it. It will become a rock when dry, but make sure you dry it out to <14% moisture content or mold will get into it. You can use chaga over and over for tea until the flavor is used up. Don't boil it, you'll lose many of the anti-cancer properties. COOK it at <180˚ until it reaches the taste you want, it may take an hour, so larger batches that you reheat are a good idea. You can keep it for up to 4 days.

There's a start for you. There's a lot of videos online. It makes a great fire starter with flint and steel.
 
GIVE UP COFFEE!? Coffee's good for you, just add chaga to it.

Finding it: Where its true that Chaga grows on Birches it also needs conifers, especially Hemlocks along small streams or gullies off from streams. I think its about less wind and more moisture. I also think that it grows more on Silver or Black Birch then White/Paper. I have walked thru the largest Birch grove that I've seen with a stream running thru it and didn't see a single conk but as soon as I got down into the hemlocks with fewer birch I found a huge conk. If you have to pick a side of the stream to walk, South over North, and less so East over West, it's a sun thing, and just an observation based on a lot of time looking for conks.
 
Well Dan, I do know one "hot-spot", if you come up again, it will have to be a day trip though, couple hours drive, but prime bird hunting too.
 
Sweeper.........
No black birch, silver birch or hemlock in my part of the world, but lots of paper birch with chaga mushrooms on live trees. Lots of sunshine during the growing season, as it doesn't really get dark, just a few hours of dusk and dawn. The hoof conks are on the dead or dying paper birch.
I am going to start adding chaga to my coffee habit. What do you suggest just add a spoon full of the ground dried Chaga per cup?
 
yes and yes, really popular up here, I harvested some a couple years ago wile moose hunting... every time I'm close to birch trees I take the time to have a look, not alway lucky though!!
 
Sweeper.........
No black birch, silver birch or hemlock in my part of the world, but lots of paper birch with chaga mushrooms on live trees. Lots of sunshine during the growing season, as it doesn't really get dark, just a few hours of dusk and dawn. The hoof conks are on the dead or dying paper birch.
I am going to start adding chaga to my coffee habit. What do you suggest just add a spoon full of the ground dried Chaga per cup?

When I add it to coffee in power I lace it in on top of the coffee grounds during brewing. Some people say it mellows the coffee and requires less cream/whatever you use. Mine has always ben Black.
 
I've harvested and drank it in tea, didn't notice any difference in anything, so I stopped.

If you have high Blood Sugar, or Cholesterol you might give it a try. A friend/canoe partner with diabetes has a friend who claims he cured it with Chaga now he's taking it.
It also supposed to have anti-cancer properties, especially for Melanoma. These properties are destroyed when you boil Chaga

I once saw a reference that stated that smoking Chaga would relieve Migraines. I worked with a women who was having a bad day and told her about it. She came in the next day and laid a full on kiss and said that was the first time in years she was free on headaches. I can't confirm this, I don't get headaches, I get them, because everyone knows its better to get than receive.

Before you try chaga to combat a medical problem make sure you do your research. There are few side affects with Chaga but make sure.
 
Great Stuff, thanks to you all! A few members have graciously offered to send me some to sample and all these links give me some studying to do.

Mem, very kind offer that I will take you up on, probably in 2019 when I retire from the crazy job. Sounds like a great adventure. I'm moving a lot better now than last fall and even running a bit. Just slow gains until recently. I'm back on the weightpile again and that feels good too.

DanOver
 
There is a lot of good information in that article. Thanks for posting it.

I just finished making up 19 pints of Double (Alcohol/Water) Chaga Extract. With the extract, we don't drink the tea, a small splash in the coffee and we're good to go.
 
DanOver - Not sure about the forests in your neck of the woods but besides the usual birch trees it will grow on, chaga can also be occasionally found on maples. While neither common nor prevalent, I have found it in my wanderings throughout the Catskill mountain region of NYS. In the Adirondacks you will find it on both yellow and white birches as well so it's definitely out there if you can spend the time ambling the woods.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper
 
Odyssey, thanks for posting that article. A lot of good info and history of Chaga. I'm currently taking an infusion 2x a week with my tea.
 
Snapper I saw one on a Beech on the Carry from Green Pond to Little Clear Pond In St Regis Canoe Area but I won't use any of them medicinally unless it was from a Birch. The other tree it grows on is so rare I would never disturb it.
 
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Sweeper - I've also read about chaga growing on beech trees but hadn't seen it myself. As to the rarity of it being on maples or a beech, I would have to concur. In fact, in spite of all my searching, there's only that one maple I've ever seen it on so like you, I've left it alone. There's plenty to be had from the birch trees that there's no reason to disturb it.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper
 
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