Hey Blog! An appropriate topic considering we had cream of mushroom soup at lunchtime…
At the moment I am doing an online course with The Home Ed Institute on “Folklore and Funghi”. In each class we start with some folklore about funghi. For example, the ancient Greeks thought mushrooms appeared when Zeus was using his lightning bolt and it hit the earth. The reason for this was that to them, funghi was so complicated that it could only be a gift from the gods! The amazing thing is that if you look at the mycelium, or hyphae under the surface, they look very similar to forked lightning! Later in the classes, we learn about funghi. One activity was to making a wheel with the seasons which mushrooms grow in on one side, and the habitats they live in on the other.
Autumn is a great time for funghi, as it is moist, not too cold, and this year seems to have been a good year for it. In fact, it’s so good a year that we have mould in the bathroom where we’ve never had it before… Outside, we’ve found plenty of funghi on walks, including some we’ve identified (not without difficulty), such as Fly Agaric, Candlesnuff, Sulphur tuft, and possibly Destroying Angel. That last is DEADLY POISONOUS, so be careful!
A few fun facts are: did you know that funghi can sing? And all orchids rely on different types funghi to be able to survive? And they don’t grow extra cells to make a mushroom, they just expand the others with water? And that they are another kingdom of life, alongside plants and animals? Funghi are seriously cool!!
