#foraged and found

[mcromwell]

Mushroom hike adventure with the Wiggle.

[lindagoesmushrooming]

Boletus

[mel--lon]

[botanicalbutch]

Suddenly I’m 23. Today I bought a handmade rat king at a night market for nearly $200 which I definitely can’t afford. It was also my first day as a park ranger. I’ve always wanted to be a park ranger. I live with my best friend and her husband and our other grade school friend. I am in a stable relationship. I sing in a semi professional choir and we are planning an overseas tour. I have a sweet little cat. I taught my roommates how to forage leeks this week and we had them with potatoes. I remember to take my meds. I have a skincare routine and floss most days. I care about thread count. I have regular game nights with my steadily growing game night group. I make an effort to be kind now, even when it’s hard. I say the serenity prayer a lot, which I picked up in rehab. I’m more at peace than I ever thought possible. I’m so glad I stuck around

[foundfeast]

My first foraged mushroom back in 2020

ID: Chicken of The Woods Found: Pennsylvania

[sleepynegress]

For those who wanted to see Tiffany Stanton's full press conference.... If you want to go straight to her, she steps up to speak for herself at 6:13. I don't usually diagnose strangers, but I know my people. DEFINITELY a neurodivergent Black woman.

[balkanradfem]

This is a story from a few months ago, but I keep thinking about it! It's very unserious and a little ironic. It's about a foraging trip, lost and found, and a bit of exhaustion.

I lost my gloves while foraging in the forest. They were quality, thick gloves that I got from my neighbour lady, who suggested I only wear them for fancy occasions, they were fancy gloves. But I saw them and immediately thought 'I'm gonna construct my house wearing these, they're good protection'. In the meantime, I was keeping them clean and using them to harvest nettle. They're strong enough to cancel out any stinging.

It was the first time I took them to the forest, and now they were gone. I was bummed out, I had plans for those gloves, I wanted to experience building a home wearing them, and I wanted them back. I only realized they were gone late afternoon. And also, I had at that point worked for several days in a row, and struggled with severe exhaustion; my physical and mental health was bad, and I knew if I woke up the next day and biked all the way to the forest to look, I would have to stay in bed for a long time to recover.

Still, I went. I wanted the gloves back.

I went over the same route I did the day before, thinking intensely on where could I have dropped them without noticing. I had been foraging for mushrooms, but I got a few chestnuts as well. I knew I had them on while entering the forest, and from that point on, I couldn't remember what had happened to them. I would notice if they fell off my hands. Which meant, I probably subconsciously took them off while foraging, and then was preoccupied with whatever I had found, to notice them falling to the ground. With this hypothesis, I visited every spot I found a mushroom on, or a chestnut, which led me to climb all the way to the top of the hill – and there they were. Both of them at my chestnut foraging spot, lying down on the leaves, untouched by anyone. Satisfaction and completion flooded my senses, I had my gloves back, house building plans are back on.

Since I was already in the forest, I took a moment to gather more chestnuts, to take some pictures, to waddle-daddle and look for more mushrooms. By the time I was done, I was barely standing upright. I was worried I wouldn't be able to bike back home from how exhausted I'd gotten. All of my limbs hurt and I was dizzy and losing my ground.

On my last leg, I managed to get back home. I collapsed to the floor as soon as I entered my apartment, thinking how unwise of a venture this had been, but hey, at least I had the gloves, and all was well. Until. I checked the pockets of my jacket. My phone. It wasn't in them.

A wave of panic. I quickly checked my bag, my pants, all of other pockets. My phone – the new phone which could take quality photos was gone! I had just gotten it as a gift and it was a miracle for me to have it and I could never afford it and I had already lost it? This cannot be happening. Pure adrenaline had me running back to my bike, jumping on and rushing outside – had I lost it in the street? Did it fall out of my pocket without me noticing, because I was exhausted?

I raced back to the forest, which is a long ride, looking at the street frantically, analyzing people to see if any of them looked as if they've found a phone lying around. They didn't though, everyone looked the same grumpy as usual. I kept thinking, even if there was traffic, and I was exhausted, I would have heard a phone that big crashing onto the pavement, right? I would have noticed the noise. There's no way I wouldn't. There was only one location where the phone could fall without me noticing, where the noise would be so soft it would not even register. It had to fall somewhere in the forest. I remembered where I took the last picture, and the phone had to be between that spot, and where I exited the forest, or I would have heard it.

Ironically, the last place I went was a hill that I had to climb again. I ran up it frantically trying not to slip on the leaves, looking left and right, my heart beating loudly in my chest, knowing this was the last place to look, and if it wasn't there, then—

And I found it. Lying on the forest floor, just as I deduced it would be. I grabbed it, laughed, and collapsed to the ground. I kept lying there for a long while, holding my phone in my hands, unbelieving in what I just went trough. Why did I put the phone in that jacket pocket? It was too big to keep in a pocket anyway. I was playing with luck, and look where it got me. Gasping for air on the forest floor, grateful to still have the phone. How would I even get home now that adrenaline rush has faded?

I don't remember how I got home, but I think it was very, very slowly. I put the phone in my bike basket so I could look at it all the way. I came home with my phone and my gloves back. I think I was physically in shambles, but eventually I recovered. I never lost my phone after that! It was never put in any kind of pocket ever again. Isn't it funny that I lost it looking for my lost gloves? It felt like some sort of a lesson almost, watch where you put your important things! Or maybe sew a better pocket, that seals so your phone cannot fall out. I wouldn't say I learned anything except not to put phones in pockets, and to put gloves away before foraging. I'm happy I got my stuff back!

[fatpikachuu]

bawktober day 9. Mushrooms

[apocynaceaeoleander]

i took petunia on todays walk

[chiropteracupola]

a wee dormouse perkins for @aranov!

[mumblelard]

eeeggs or a can of numbskull and a ticket to the outer colonies

[lindagoesmushrooming]

Macrolepiota procera

[ratporridge]

Beaver, bear, and big ol elk

[rexmaggedon]

Everyone please look upon the little guardians of my dinner tonight

Also look upon my dinner which I have decided shall henceforth be called snail's treasure pasta

[foundfeast]

Baby chantys

ID: Chanterelles FOUND: Pennsylvania

[balkanradfem]

So I found this glass bowl outside.. in the trash. I thought it was an oven-safe glass container, in which I could potentially make a casserole, or something equally delicious. It has this interesting flat rim that I haven't seen on glass containers before, and usually these have engraved some sort of logo or brand name on them, but I couldn't find anything like that on this one. Studying it carefully, I only found the letters '22' lightly inscribed on the rim. I compared it to my other oven-safe container, and they're about the same thickness.

Then my roommate came home and I showed it to her excitedly, and first thing to leave her mouth was 'oh it's the washing machine thing!' and I stared at her, then at the bowl. Then I went to the washing machine, and compared them.

It's almost a complete match. I can't believe this. The found one is a bit smaller, but there are smaller washing machines. The more I looked at it, the more I was sure that it is in fact, a piece of a washing machine. I really found a piece of washing machine outside in the trash?? The number 22 maybe referred to the size of it?

Now I'm pretty sure that it is a piece of a washing machine.. but the curiosity is killing me.. could you still make a casserole in it? I know not all glass containers are the same, and if you put not-oven safe glass in the oven, it could explode, and I do not want to clean glass out of my oven, or deal with the potential consequences. Is there anyone smart enough to know, can this be done? Is it just glass and it can be used in an oven?

If it's not fire-safe, I can still use it as a salad bowl, with added amusement that its original purpose was to enable me to look at the washing machine whirling the laundry around.