The magic of mushrooming
On Monday, I attended a meeting of the BrittanyGardenersClub (www.BrittanyGardenersClub.com) to give a little speech about why I go mushrooming.
I’m not all that used to Public Speaking (and haven’t been since I was an IT manager in the City of London and had to give speeches to people that I was about to make redundant!)
But, you know, it wasn’t so bad – the people were nice and I sort of enjoyed it! So much so that I’ve decided that if you are part of a group who would like to listen to some guy waffle on about mushrooming – give me a call. All I ask is that you are resident in Brittany, France; that’s where I live now – I’m happy there – I’m not keen to travel too far!
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The magic of mushrooms
At the Gardeners Club that I went to, there was one person who jokingly asked about Magic Mushrooms.
There wasn’t much I could say; I know what they are, I’ve seen them in the forest but, I’ve got far too many socially acceptable problems with beer and cigarettes – I ain’t so interested in Magic Mushrooms.
What I do like (and what I love talking about, however), is the Magic of Mushrooms!
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Deer in the forest!
Perhaps the easiest way to explain is to tell you about the deer in the forest.
One day, in 2004, after cycling the 6km back from work (I couldn’t afford a car at the time), I decided to go for a walk in the woods.
It was early afternoon (I worked shifts way back then), and it was late March or early April.
I didn’t think that there would be many mushrooms about but, I was (and still am), ever optimistic!
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There weren’t any mushrooms that day but, do you know, it didn’t matter because…. that day I saw my first ever deer in the wild!
I was walking along a quiet path, eyes fixed on the ground when, all of a sudden, I looked up. And there, I saw them; a mother deer and her two young.
I don’t know how long I stood there watching them, until they noticed me and scampered off – it may have only been ten seconds or so; to me it was a lifetime!
I walked home happy, that day. My basket was empty but my heart was full. I still get a buzz out of seeing deer in the forest. The young get born in February and March and don’t know that they need to be scared of people. When I say that I’m going mushrooming in March or April, what I really mean is that I’m going to look at the deer – I’ll just happen to be carrying a mushrooming basket as well!
But no sausages!
Or there was that time when I wandered into the forest for a mushrooming session and ended up exiting the forest near the village of Lanouee.
I like Lanouee, partly because many of my friends live there and partly because it has a bar (three bars, to be exact – and I really do think that you have to be exact about these things!)
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On this occasion, I hadn’t found any mushrooms and, when asked how my luck had been, I replied…. “Terrible, not a sausage!”
This didn’t translate into French quite as well as it should have done and for the next few years, people would ask me how the sausage hunting in the forest was going!
Complete strangers, even!
In fact, for a long time, I felt that I was being pointed out in the Saturday morning market at Josselin – almost like a tourist attraction – “There goes that weird English man who looks for sausages in the forest!!!”
I even had a phobia about buying sausages in the butchers!
Thankfully I took it all in my stride – you’ve got to have a thick skin if you’re a mushroomer (and a host of stories about the “One that got away!”
If a picture tells a thousand words…
Oyster Mushroom Video
Hunting Chanterelle Mushrooms
The Magic of Mushrooms
So, for me, the real magic of mushrooms is so much more than the trip into the forest. It’s seeing the deer (and the other animals that call the forest their home), it’s talking to complete strangers about what mushrooms are about (and how to cook them), only to find those complete strangers become friends. It’s the gentle ribbing that I get when my basket remains empty and the joy of my neighbours when I pick more than I need and have to share the surplus.
No one can explain why an hour in the forest makes me feel good (and chases any problems away) – the colours, the air? Who knows?
But, that is the magic of mushrooms for me – and I haven’t even got round to mentioning how easy they are to cook and how good they taste… Perhaps that’s for another article?
All the best
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