See, I always try to harvest the conks responsibly. I process most of it on the tree and always leave the part of the trama intact that roots into the mycelium inside the tree. Conks and mushrooms play a very important role in the ecosystem, so I try to just take a bit in order not to kill it off. On the other hand, this is a very resilient conk. You will learn why in a second...
The polypore was growing on a tree that only but recently, some years ago, had been felled by the storm. The conk, while still maintaining its trama at the root, also had developed a rather thick trama on the underside in order to adapt to the new position.
So I left a sensibly thin layer on the conk and cut off the rest. After removing the callous on the underside I was still left with a thick layer of nearly perfect trama.
Needless to say, by the way, that I am doing this on private ground, with permission. Also, all of the conks I harvested through the years have grown back. Please do forage with common sense (I am convinced you will. ).
The stuff is simply fascinating. What I would really love to do is make myself a hat or clothing from it, but there is still a learning curve to be had. Which definitively is a fun thing.
Really looking forward to the next pieces to the puzzle.
