Mushrooms

Speckled specimen.

I've always loved mushrooms and their shapes. They bring to mind fantastical fairy tales about leprechauns, those whimsical shapes that capture the artistic mind with a naturalist bent. I had a yellow polka dotted, painted wood cutout of a mushroom on my wall as a kid, decor that was sought to match the bright walls. I also loved the scene from Fantasia with the dancing oriental mushrooms. What kid didn't? The very first piece of art I did at Oneonta State (a SUNY school, enough said) was an Alice in Wonderland piece of psychedelia with a giant 'shroom that I put on our front door. It went with the giant tie dye tapestry we bought for about $15 (we haggled with the hippie who went door to door) that hung from the ceiling. We also took a tossed couch by the side of the dorm with no legs, put it on top of a tipped over bookcase, and covered it with a black and white cowhide I bought at a farm goods store in West Texas.

Me and my best friend were the first people to get "written up" (cited for partying) on campus, in the very same dorm her older brother was an R.A., and we're chicks, so overnight we became infamous. Within a few days, the sorority girls from Long Island, in their matching Champion sweats, slouchy socks, and top knot ponytails, wrote nasty remarks about stoners on the drawing, and then someone jacked it. In retaliation, we spray painted cracks about them in hairspray on the mirrors in the common bathroom (our commentary about their dependency on beauty products and their cliched 80s hairdos), and then lit them on fire so they would be visible in burnt scorch marks, a brilliant piece of impromptu performance art that was angry, hilarious, and true, which was our punk ethos at the time. We made the scene, and the best guys around wanted to hang out and party with us, which made us even bigger targets, but by then, we'd already surpassed the dorm in hijinks, so we were golden. It kicked off one of the best, funnest, fruitful, and most stable parts of my life, but more about that in the future. Suffice to say, whenever I see a cute patch of them, I still think the same thoughts: they're funny, sweet, cheerful, happy and also edible, but please don't go foraging without an expert. The difference between an edible one, a trip to Mars, or a slow, agonizingly painful death can be a minute one, so don't do it. If you're interested in mycology like I am, check out some resources on the subject, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/The-Pocket-Guide-Wild-Mushrooms/dp/1620877317/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382549928&sr=8-2&keywords=Skyhorse+mushrooms.

Mama and baby 'shroom.

There's also a bunch of nature hikes with guides you can take in the area New Yorkers, so have at it you freaks, and I mean that in the best, warmest way possible: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/.

Live life, and prosper.

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/nature/. 

Nature: Edibles

Wild onions by the side of the road.

Years ago, when I was a little girl, my grandmother told me she used to gather dandelions with her family from the side of the road in New York City; hard to believe but true, because I asked her how that could be done.

Small apple orchard at the local park.

She explained to me that roads were a lot less traveled back then; fewer cars meant less exhaust, and besides, my grandmother said, most people still had horse carts or used the trains. She and my grandfather were avid canoers, too. They met through a pre-arranged date for just such an excursion. She said they often went swimming in the East River back then, when it was clean enough to do so.

Wild mushrooms on someone's front lawn.

She said that they made salad from dandelion greens, and home brewed dandelion wine. When she was a little girl, her mother bought a rabbit from the market and kept it in the bathroom tub. She loved the little bunny, and was horrified to come home to a meal of rabbit stew simmering away on the stove, which she refused to eat. She thought the bunny was her pet because she named it.

More wild mushrooms growing near the sidewalk.

Since then, I've been aware of the environment around me as food. As Girl Scouts, we learn all about edibles during outings: which birch tree was the original root beer, that then we peeled with our pocket knives and smelled, wild onions, wild carrots, and mushrooms, which are trickier because some are poisonous. 

Someone gathered a nice collection on a park bench.

I've always wanted to gather some items to cook, but so far I've been too shy to do so. It's weird enough picking flowers and walking these days, let alone taking out a camera, then collecting specimens in a bag. Talk about being in the spotlight! Today though, the spotlight shines on these local beauties I found. Please don't eat anything you collect in the wild without consulting an experts' opinion first.

 Happy hunting!