´Shrooms hike with the mad one;-)

Kai called the other day and was being bored, and I cannot allow for Kai being bored, so I made him fetch me and we drove out into the woods;-) to get us some mushrooms and herbs. As is, we cracked the jackpot and found a piece of woodland brim full with those tiny licce creatures, bay boletus, red caps, boletus and birch boletus.

Funny were those two little fellows growing out of the same mycelium.

Don´t have a clue what those are, but they were very purple;-). We tried to define them with a book, but were crap at it, so we left them be. Any suggestions as to what this might be?

I also wanted to share this vibrantly red maple leaf with you... I love those colours of autumn. It is as though nature is exploding in colours, as if every bit of energy is spent into a vibrant grandeur. Makes me want to do the same in my old age, for I have always thought autumn to be a metaphor for human life´s old age.

There was an abundance of fly agaric. Those are valuable hints, because they are often growing near boletus and other related shrooms.

...and they are beautiful...

...looks like egg and tomato with remoulade...;-)

...or Santa;-) flying through the air....never drink reindeer urine, or else you end up high as a kite *ggg*.

We came across this slightly deranged comfrey. Comfrey is a very valuable plant in organic gardening, bettering the ground balance and fertilizing, the leaves and blossoms serving as an antiseptic and for ointments. In fact, comfrey is reputed to even have a healing effect on bone fractures, and medieval doctors even stated that " cut meat which is cooked in a pot with comfrey, will mend". If you want to use it, however, NEVER use it internally, and never prolong the use over four weeks in a row.

Kai enjoying a drink in the sunlight-enchanted woods.

...and beautiful were the light, golden and vibrant and yet mild.

Kai found some ´shroom... big brute, tiny ´shroom, I say*ggg*.

Ah, yes, and I HAVE NOT anything going on with fly agarics. I simply love the colour. Really. I do.*ggg*

On the trail, we came across this harvesting machine. I am not overly fond of the term "Harvesting when trees are concerned, no, Sir, not at all. But as is, we live in an area where forests are cultivated. The storm "Kyrill" may have taught the forest management over here a thing or two about the resilience of monoculture, but other than that, there are still too many monocultures around if you ask me. A matter of time (or the next tempest, if you so will;-)).

Then we visited this lordly spruce tree. Under its roots were a load of bay boletus. I paused a bit and spared some thoughts for it, and we raced on through the thicket, just for the fun of running through the underbrush and practicing our getaway prowess;-). There would me more tales to tell still, and every step in the woods tells a story, but those ones we found most interesting:

Owl or other bird of prey cast. This is the other side of autumn, and of nature in itself-the neverending cycles of the hunt, the feast, of life and of death, of joy and sorrow. The strong prey on the weaker, until they get stronger or learn to be more cunning-but all are provided for.

We got to the car with a load of mushrooms and many strong impressions, we had a lot of good-natured talk, and shared a lot of joy and sorrow. Thanks, bro, it was a great outing, and I wish you the very best for the weeks to come!