The hunt was on in the cold, calm and sunny North Suffolk morning in late October.

Steven Kirkpatrick walked through the woods along Chuckatuck Creek with his eyes scanning for signs of life. There was no wind, and the air was still with the exception of birds chirping and the crackle of leaves, twigs and branches underfoot. A Jack Russell Terrier named Dante accompanied the excursion.

The invasive species specialist, North Suffolk Rotary Club president and foraging enthusiast was looking for mushrooms, and the family’s spunky, 10-year-old dog was just eager for a stroll.

“He doesn’t like to be left out of the action,” Kirkpatrick said with Dante beside him. “He always wants to tag along.”

Kirkpatrick and his wife, Susan, live on Swallowtail Farm, roughly six and one-half acres of wooded waterside property off Crittenden Road, where the couple has lived for more than two decades. They share the land with Dante, several cats and Gracie, a white and brown horse that can be seen laying in the grass beside her stable.

A self-described “nature boy,” Kirkpatrick and his wife also love to forage for their kitchen recipes. He wrote a story titled “In Search of the Wild Oyster (Mushroom)” in which he described how he combined his “nature boy” antics with his passion as a “foodie.”

“This includes picking wild berries in summer, harvesting chestnuts and pecans in fall and gathering mushrooms in winter,” he wrote.

The subject of this morning’s hunt was the titular oyster mushroom, a fairly common edible mushroom that can be found in grocery stores and trees throughout Hampton Roads. They’re found on hardwoods in the spring and fall and have a unique scent that’s often compared to sweet anise or licorice, according to mushroom-appreciation.com.

“There are a few closely related species that can be hard to distinguish from oysters,” the website reads. “Thus, it’s helpful to bring someone knowledgeable when searching for them in the woods.”

Someone like Kirkpatrick, who spotted the evidence of woodpeckers in devoured branches on the woodland floor beside crab nests and wild turnips. Dante did his own sniff check to make sure the coast was clear.
As he wrote in the article, their preferred habitats are dead, moderately rotting deciduous hardwood logs with the bark still attached.

“Oyster mushroom prefer more organic nutrition,” he said, such as the bark of fallen trees or insect excreta known as frass. “They won’t grow on a dead, bare tree trunk.”

He also spotted different species of plants native to Virginia, like a patch of catbrier, one of nine different kinds that can be found across the state. Some species are armed with prickles that will catch your clothes.

But like most of Virginia, every corner of the woods surrounding Stillwater Farm was also marked by the vines, roots and leaves of invasive species. These are non-native plants that were imported into Virginia and became rampant. They proliferate because few species here eat them, and they have seeds that are dispersed far and wide.

Kirkpatrick found the berries of Chinese privet plant hanging from a tree. It was introduced to North America as an ornamental shrub and for hedgerows. It has since spread across the southeastern United States in dense thickets that reduce tree growth and prevent sunlight from reaching native species in the shade underneath them, according to invasiveplantatlas.org.

Part of the problem is that birds and other wildlife eat their abundant fruits, then excrete the seeds as they travel.
“Birds will come and eat the berries and spread them like crazy,” Kirkpatrick said beside a thicket of privet. “It will grow down here in the shade and tolerate a lot of different lighting conditions.”

There are about 90 species of plants among Virginia’s flora that are considered invasive, amounting to just about 3 percent. But the damages are far and wide.

According to the Nature Conservancy, invasive plants have directly contributed to the decline of 42 percent of threatened and endangered plant species in the country, and an estimated $120 million is lost annually because of these infestations. They cover 100 million acres across the country in a cumulative span of land that’s roughly the size of California.
Kirkpatrick addressed two specific problem plants during the morning hike. One is kudzu, a Japanese native brought stateside at the turn of the 20th century to stabilize soil, feed animals and, like many others, for decorative purposes.
According to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, kudzu went from being a nuisance in the 1950s to a common weed in the ’70s. It’s now spread along the Atlantic coast, as far north as Massachusetts, as far west as Texas and deeper south into the Florida Everglades. Drivers in Virginia can see kudzu along roadways and bordering agricultural fields.
“Where it grows, kudzu has the ability to out-compete and eliminate native plant species and upset the natural diversity of plant and animal communities,” according to the Department of Conservation and Recreation. “Its extremely rapid growth rate and habit of growing over objects threatens natural areas by killing native vegetation through crowding and shading, and can seriously stifle agricultural and timber production.”
But the sneakier trouble maker, according to Kirkpatrick, is Japanese stiltgrass. This grows in dense mats and prevents seedlings of native forest plants from growing, just like Chinese privet. They don’t harm existing trees but stymie the next generation of native vegetation.
“There was none here when we moved in, but now they’re everywhere,” he said, adding that the problem is only going to get worse as the stiltgrass continues to spread. “It’s very sneaky, and it is quietly infiltrating.”

Locals have been tackling the problem with herbicides, insects like flea beetles and borer moths that are hungry for certain invasive species and the old-fashion elbow grease of pulling, mowing and cutting.

Kirkpatrick’s old-time hobby also bore fruit when he and Dante managed to find one oyster mushroom in the hollow trunk of a dead tree. Past dogwoods and a brief but steady walk across a fallen trunk, the pair took a closer look at the mushroom.

They grow in clusters, each one about 2 to 10 inches across in shades ranging from pale tan to light grayish brown, Kirkpatrick said. There are obvious risks to going out into the woods and picking mushrooms for a recipe. Every amateur forager should be careful to avoid anything far less agreeable to the human body, not to mention beetles and other insects that frequent mushrooms.

But a successful wild oyster mushroom hunt can lead to a tasty dish, as long as you wash them thoroughly and cook them just right.

“If you have a good day of mushroom hunting, I suggest you cook them all, and freeze them in pouches equal to about a cup of cooked mushrooms per pouch,” Kirkpatrick wrote. “Then, when the time comes for that veal marsala or stuffed clams with mushrooms, you’ll be ready to go.”