Fungi aesthetic

Add c Possible Death Cap. Amanita Phalloidesption

                                       

I feel very reluctant to go into the woods and bring fungi with me to ingest them. My interest is exclusively to enjoy the beauty,  creativity, and diversity with which mother nature endlessly and prolifically showers us.





                                                  

Amanita (?)

Scratches, falls, bugs...

Because I am new to the world of fungi, I don't know yet the names of many of them. I have taken hundreds of photos and I am in the process of identifying them. 

In my adventure, I have laughed a lot. One day, I saw a mushroom growing on a log that was across a little brook. I took another log and put it next to the first one. I  Made sure that it was safe.  I climbed on it, I bent to take a shot, I lost balance and fell down. I reacted and somehow I ended sitting on the logs with one of my legs in the cold water. 

Several times, I have got thorns in my hands, on my clothes. One day I poked one eye with a stick! I have fallen when trying to climb on inclined logs. I have got dog poop once in one of  my shoes when searching for fungi. But, it is all worth.

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                                          Earthstar?  cientific name? Help if you know.

Little by little

                                            Xilaria polimorpha - Dead man's fingers asco


At the beginning of my adventure with fungi, I was so scared of touching them. I thought I was going to get poisoned. I could not resist to pull one or two fungi so I could take it home to identify it. Little by little, I became confident about handling them and I learned that ONLY by ingesting them is when you may get ill.

I had a tool apron and I took it with me in my walks. I carried a plastic meter, a knife to cut the samples, a notebook,a  pen, and a mirror. Sometimes I don't dare to cut a mushroom's cap when there is only one fruiting body, so I take a photo of it and I place the mirror underneath so I can have one more clue to the fungus identification. Later I changed the apron to a basket to carry all my tools.


The beauty of the fungi adventure resides in the fact that once you start, some kind of 'scan' develops in your brain and your eyes detect them in unsuspected places, like the fungus above.