Picking in the Russian Taïga

Standing in the shade Here are a few pictures shot in the immense taïga forest of central Russia (way east from Moscow), a gold mine for all sorts of delicacies, small red or black fruits and countless varieties of mushrooms in particular. All you need, in addition to spotting the berries and mushrooms, is trust the knowledgeable local persons whom you believe will be able finding the way back to the village. I must admit that I wasn't always confident that we would find the right direction back to the civilization. Our party went into 2 weathered all-terrain vehicules along grass roads deep into the woods which I knew was total wildeness in one direction at least.

Preparing to drive into the woods Baby trees in the taïga Beware, we're not alone... Nice one, although a bit ripe Filling up Valentin at work Find them Three red spots Miniature forest on the moss Wild raspberries Blackberries (Zernika) showing up Color in the shade Me in the middle of the taïga Trees growing out of the moss Blackberry waiting for me Wild strawberry in the Russian forest Group of redish mushrooms Wild raspberries hanging Fallen silver birch trees red hat family Big one Red cone Part of our party Me in front of "my" UAZ (definetely the best vehicule for such an expedition) Having last year's one tonight Slicing the mushrooms to dry them Put on skewers together Soviet-made drying kit right into the oven for a few minutes Ready for later consumption, and without preservatives Take a couple fish from the river nearby, what could you ask more ?