Weedscape | What we do when we're not picking mushrooms

December 16, 2024

Written by Weed Scene (guide of picking group )

During the summer vacation, guests often ask: "What should I do in summer?" Picking mushrooms , what do you do in winter?" When I encounter this question, I only know one word to answer: "Play".

Perhaps our work is just "playing" in the eyes of many people, but I think as long as it involves payment, there is work responsibility, and there will inevitably be some psychological differences.

Sometimes we want to go somewhere to play by ourselves and invite guests who have participated in the activities to go with us free of charge. At this time, although we still go hiking in the mountains with the guests , it will be much more relaxing. Maybe it is because at such moments, we are more focused on ourselves.

Although, when I’m not working, I still play with the same things I do when I’m working, walking around in the mountains and picking up this and that.

Last month, I swallow , Yang Min and Jason went to Heqing to camp and pick mushrooms. Jason drove his old van through a large forest and dropped the three of us off. We carried our baskets and went into the forest. He sat next to the van and played with his phone. It seemed as if he was a mushroom dealer, and the mushrooms we picked would be sold to him at a low price.

However, we wandered around the forest for an hour with full confidence, but we didn't see any mushrooms. September is not the time when mushrooms are extinct. We prepared chicken soup and noodles, and were waiting for mushrooms to be cooked for dinner, but we never expected such a situation.

Without mushrooms, I suggested changing the game to "picking up dead branches and leaves", where each of us picked up anything on the ground that had no signs of life but that we thought was beautiful, and made it into a specimen.

In my mind, this game can simulate part of mushroom picking. The most fun part of mushroom picking is looking for them, but what’s even more interesting is that it requires you to step out of your daily routine and bring out those eyes that can discover cuteness.

In the end we picked up spiral bones, velvety polka-dot leaves, and beautifully textured bark.

However, after all this time, the feeling in everyone's eyes is still: I won't accept the fact that there are no mushrooms...haha.

On the way back from treasure hunting, Yang Mi found a big white mushroom. We looked at it carefully for a long time, thinking "It would be great if it could be eaten". It was not until we saw the remaining fungus veil that we thought it might be the head of an old man with an umbrella! Because I had never seen an old man with an umbrella before, I didn't react.

After a burst of ecstasy, we continued to search nearby. This mushroom encouraged us, and sure enough, after a while, Yan Zi picked a super large standard old man's head that had not yet opened its umbrella nearby. Hehe, how lucky!

For mushroom pickers, it is a very happy thing to pick a variety that they have never picked before. The key is that you can eat it. And if it weren't for it, we would have to cook noodles with wild vegetables that night. Looking back, those old man heads are like mushroom gifts given to us by elves, which suddenly came.