Comments on: Taking the Plants and Fungi for Granted

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 03:15:18 +0000

I love this post I’ve been drawn to fungi since I was a teenager, and am always looking for mushrooms wherever I go. There are a lot of them growing on the farm where I live, and in the fall I can spend hours out there roaming the woods looking for them, noting where they grow and their individual variations. We have a handful of edible varieties, and some deadly poisonous ones (Amanita virosa grows here) but I love them all They have taught me a great deal about decay, and symbiosis, and spontaneity.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 03:53:14 +0000

You have some really interesting ideas on this. I don’t think I’ll ever think about my incense and herbal medicine in the same way again. Perhaps there is a need to acknowledge and thank the spirit of the plants when I use those things.

I think people find it so hard to identify with the spirits of plants, fungi, etc. because they operate on a different level from animals. I don’t doubt they have awareness of some sort, but I get the feeling it’s more of a communal awareness. Plants are also much slower than we humans are, especially trees, which makes it more difficult to connect with them.

By: Sunna Blalock

Sunna Blalock — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:34:14 +0000

“I had a bit of a chuckle thinking of how disappointed some people might be when searching for “mushrooms” and “totem”, and getting thoughts on a rather choosy, wrinkled edible rather than stories of far-out psilocybin trips.”

I got and get a good laugh at this as well – I’ve been working with fungi as totems for over a decade now and I still get people who think that mycology = tripping out in the woods. Here in WV we have several different species of fungi – naturally including Morels – and my favourites to work with are the Polypores, specifically Dryad’s Saddle, Cracked Cap, and Tinder. We also get a very healthy colony of Glistening Inky Caps around an old White Ash stump every fall – sometimes hundreds of them if the conditions are good. I got a few shots from the 2011 fruiting here on my blog: http://fungifan.blogspot.com/2012/05/glistening-inky-cap-coprinellus.html

Been enjoying your fungi-related posts!

By: elinox

elinox — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:27:42 +0000

Not that there’s anything wrong with working with plants or animals that are charismatic, just that we shouldn’t also forget the ‘little’ guys.

“Dude, your biases are showing!” – I can see that catch-phrase catching on!

By: greycatsidhe

greycatsidhe — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:16:21 +0000

This this this! Wonderfully put and thank you for writing it.

By: Zeeth Kyrah

Zeeth Kyrah — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:21:37 +0000

Now I’m thinking of a lemon on a little old sailboat floating just off-shore, talking to fungal spores in the wood.

By: therioshamanism

therioshamanism — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:27:29 +0000

You are most welcome

By: Perlandria

Perlandria — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:02:11 +0000

I and my plans for a lemon tattoo thank you.