Magic in the Forest

The Magic of the Forest

May 28

childhood Wonder

Morels

Morel mushrooms are a delicious delicacy that are highly sought after and expensive to buy. There is a particular magic about finding them on your own, however, not only because they are easy to identify without too much danger of poisoning yourself (false morels can trick a novice, but are simple to rule out if you know what you are looking for) but also because they are so elusive if you are not paying attention.

They pop up from under the leaf litter of the forest and are so uniquely camouflaged that it is like “Where’s Waldo” to actually see one, and when you do, you feel like you just found a wondrous treasure (and really you did!)

Once you find one, you quickly realize there are usually many within about 20 feet of that first one that you just didn’t see. The only way to “see” them is to get down low to the forest floor and really “notice” all that is going on beneath your feet (or you will squash them)

It is a unique opportunity to really slow down and be present in the forest (with the lure of these delicacies if you do)

Look on forests floors where there is lots of leaf litter from deciduous trees, and very little grass growing. Often these fruiting bodies of the underground mycelium will pop up where there was a disturbance on the surface.
Possibly toward the edges of a path, along a deer trail, by a fallen log, or where there has been a fire. I found an abundance along the edges of the path to the Circle of Trees this year, and it was likely because I disturbed the earth in the making of the path there a year of 2 ago.

One thing is certain, they are not totally predictable, but once you are tuned into the magic of Morels, you will start to recognize their likely spots to be found.
Soon you will begin to tune into a sort of Morel “intuition” that you did not know you had. You soon begin to sense when you need to get low and look closer, and sure enough you will see them when you “listen”

That is when you begin to see the magic of the forest.

“And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul.”

— John Muir

Creating space for imagination for children and connection to the natural world is essential to foster that sense of wonder into adulthood.

Childhood Wonder

My concept of Magic in the forest began when I was a young child, and I think it started with this book

While at a neighbour’s, Mrs. Mathews introduced me to this book, which had me totally entranced, and she gifted it to me at the end of our visit. This book is now 66 years old, and is still a treasure of which I hope to pass on the magic to my grandson. Mrs. Mathews will never know what a treasure this book has been to me and the magic of imagination it instilled in me. It was the definitely imprinted in my subconscious when I created the enchanted forest on my property, and I am sure it is part of the magic I feel whenever I encounter mushrooms in the forest like little fairy toadstools in the book, even though I am now 60 years old as I write this.

You are never too old to believe in magic and wonder, and I think it is a sad day if we ever begin to think we are.

What magic do you see in nature? When and where do you think it came from?