“. . . the degree of our awareness is the degree of our aliveness. What is invisible to me is what I have not yet learned how to see. The invisible becomes visible through our attention, through stillness, through silence. And patience.”
– Terry Tempest Williams
November was filled with a bounty of mushrooms and other fungi that grew in the most unexpected of places. With my days filled with tasks that were always more than the hours that were available, I made a conscious effort to pause and take late afternoon walks, when the light is dreamy. In the process I discovered many of the small gifts nature offers to us, which we wouldn’t know exist until we go look for them.
Pause, and come walk with me:
Note:
There are various edible mushrooms that grow on the land, but I will wait for next year when I will hopefully have more time to educate myself on what is edible and what not, by getting a mushroom expert who lives in the area to come out to the land to identify what grows here. Only then, I think, will I be brave enough to go foraging. For now, I simply use an App called Shroomify Mushroom ID to sate my curiosity, instead of my appetite.
Written by: Jolandi
You answered my question in the last paragraph; I was wondering about which ones were edible! The variety is astounding, unless perhaps some are the same and just look different from various angles. Good for you for putting aside a small bit of time for your walks – good for the soul (and blood pressure!).
I think one or two of the photos are of the same ones, Lexie, but otherwise they are all different. I was also pleasantly surprised about the variety. I will definitely next November try to learn more about the different types, as hopefully by then life would have fallen into a more gentle rhythm. For now the simple life I’ve been dreaming of, is still just a yearning. – Jolandi
What a lot of fungi! I love finding toadstools and mushrooms but have never been tempted to eat any of them. So many are almost identical to really poisonous ones and their colours can change with age or are affected by the soil constituents on which they grow. Trying to identify the brown ones especially, is almost impossible unless you are an absolute expert so I just admire them and leave them be!
I am really pleased you have been able to take a break each day and start to get to know your special place!
I was just as surprised at the enormous variety, Clare. I know absolutely nothing about fungi. Like you point out, it is a bit risky to go foraging if one isn’t a hundred percent sure if they are edible or not. I’m not a very adventurous eater anyway, so trying something that could be poisonous doesn’t really get me salivating. Plus I think most of what I’ve photographed is either inedible or poisonous. Finding and photographing them was a lot of fun, though. And like you, I prefer to just admire them and leave them be. 🙂 – Jolandi
Love the different varieties, shapes, sizes, and colors. I would be so curious to know what each one is.
Great photos.
what a great variety.. we have the same around here but I let well alone!!
Mushroom foraging is ‘a thing’ in the UK and here in Australia where you pay a lot of money for a walk in the forest and an ‘expert’ to tell you what you can pick , or not! A new career for you Jolandi? Heh heh.
Hahaha! I think I’ll give that one a skip, Christina. – Jolandi
An incredible variety! Most probably inedible if not poisonous. The last one is edible (assuming it’s at least 6” across) and delicious died in bitter. I think it’s Macrolepiota something and gallipiernes un Spanish but I don’t know what it is in Português. Get a good book as well as an expert and don’t take any chances!
Yes, as far as I could gather, the last one is edible, Trevor, but I was just not brave enough. Good to hear they are delicious fried in butter. I will have to wait till next year November and make sure an expert confirms that. I have no idea what they are called in Portuguese. Another thing I need to learn. 🙂 – Jolandi
Fried in butter!
Fungi mushrooms and toadstools… so beautiful, so fascinating, so delicious and some so deadly. It brought to mind an unfortunate incident for myself as i was going yes yes wise woman for waiting… i live in south oz and some of my family live on a property in the adelaide hills. This story happened nearly 20 years ago. Mysellf and 2 friends, one of whom professed to know which fungii were safe went mushrooming in the woods. There were ma y different kinds as you have. We harvested some w hite mushrooms and cooked them for tea. An hour or so later we three became violently ill vomitting , diarrhoea. It went on for hours.
Luckily for us not deadly!!! Anyway sso glad to see so much diversity which might seem to indicate the soil is hea,thy yyeah!!! Take care love reading yr adventures Trees
Oh my goodness, Trees. What a story. A good reminder of what can happen when one isn’t a hundred percent sure. And like you point out, thank goodness they weren’t deadly. I hope you are right and that the diversity is an indication for healthy soil. We have so much to learn, but the one thing we are quite adamant about is that we want to make sure we have good soil, and if we don’t, improve it. Thank you for joining us on our adventures here. – Jolandi
Lovely pictures! I miss hiking and looking at local flora and fungi. I did spy among your photos a couple of edible mushrooms, but I would never dare suggest, based on a single photograph, that they were safe to eat. Several years ago, there was a woman in my area who ran an assisted care residence for ten people; she inadvertently poisoned all of them and herself serving mushrooms she had picked from her backyard! (Four residents survived, apparently because they thought her soup tasted “off.”) I think you have to know your area and the types of mushrooms and plants that grow there very well before you can go foraging. But I was born in this area, and I still won’t eat plants and mushrooms from the wild. I don’t have confidence in my identification skills to know for sure if something is safe to eat. You’re smart to take lessons from a local forager.
Wow, what a horrendous story, Hangaku. Yip, better safe than sorry, and like you point out, one has to be a hundred percent sure when going foraging. And yes, from what I understand one needs to take various things into consideration before one can be sure if a mushroom is edible or not. Better to consult the expert, and I suspect that even then, I will be cautious. 🙂 – Jolandi
It’s so easy to become task-oriented in your current situation, so it’s great to see you taking these afternoon walks. It must be divine in that unpopulated area. As for which mushrooms to eat?? Like others, I would also steer clear.
So true, Gwen. Although I appreciated the fact that the many tasks gave shape and purpose to my days in the beginning, it also felt overwhelming at times, and spending time outside was definitely a good way to ground myself and give me a moment of respite. Now that winter is setting in, I am far less inclined to go for any kind of walk, especially on those very cold days, so it was a good thing I made the most of the good autumn weather. – Jolandi
Wow. That’s a great variety of schrooms you got there! Something to look forward to 🙂
I was quite impressed with the variety, Lani. Never even knew so many existed. 😉 – Jolandi