Who we are.

We live in McMinnville and, like most Oregonians, love to get outside and enjoy the natural bounty that surrounds us.  We love hiking, camping, exploring, and foraging. We’re also a family of makers: Jonathan is a woodworker; Kate a sewist; and Genevieve an artist. Mia is a born working dog. She loves the forest and you can see her natural instincts kick in in a truffle patch and she puts her nose to the ground and gets to work. Otis is sweet and starting to learn but doesn’t have quite the same drive Mia does. That’s ok with us because our house would be chaos with two dogs with Mia’s energy and drive!

One of our hobbies is foraging and mushroom hunting here in Western Oregon. There's nothing we enjoy more than being out in the woods exploring. Truffle hunting without a dog involves looking for visual clues (the right environment, evidence of animal snuffling) that truffles may be present and raking the forest floor to try to unearth the elusive fungi. This, however, can be detrimental to the surrounding flora and fauna and can result in harvesting truffles that aren’t yet ripe. A dog brings more precision as they are attracted to the scent of the ripe truffles. We always hunt on leash and remain closely connected to the dogs in order to manage where and how much they dig, protect wildlife and manage what they may leave behind. There’s then a combination of human and canine digging and sniffing that (hopefully!) ends with a truffle in hand. (To see footage of Mia and other truffle trained dogs in action, check out the videos from the 2022 Joriad below.) We then fill back in the hole and replace the duff as best we can and Mia’s off to sniffing again.

As amateurs, we love to share the experience and the reward of searching out these underground treats. We have no commercial interests and only seek new friends and hunting grounds to share in the reward.