Mushrooms, fungi….and things to find in the forest

It’s mushroom season in the Czech republic.

Well technically it’s mushroom season from July- November but it’s especially good picking after it’s been warm and then rains, like now.

When I first started dating my husband over 10 years ago I was surprised when he took me ‘mushroom’ picking with his family in the Czech forests.  At that time I was deep into clubbing and experimenting with the odd illegal substance so naturally I thought it was foraging for the hallucinogenic kind.  I soon realised that this wasn't the case.  

Years late when we lived in the UK, friends were FREAKED OUT when my husband picked a wild mushroom from Epping forest and then offered it up as a delicacy, people visably backed away. We are conditioned as children DO NOT PICK MUSHROOMS AND NEVER EAT THEM.  

It’s quite the opposite here.  

‘Shroom picking is a national pastime for Czechs.  So much so that mushroom are a part of the national curruriculm.  

I kid you not.  

My son’s maths book contains questions like, ‘if there were X type of mushrooms in the basket and X of this other type (which is a poisonous one) how many edible ones would be left?’  They are taught how to draw mushrooms in art classes, AND they are required to learn the 120 varieties off by heart as part of their studies.

According to Stats:  7 out of 10 Czechs pick mushrooms and a whopping 25 million kilograms are harvested from the forests a year.   It’s serious business.  And if you’re a serious mushroom picker you rise at a 6am with your basket and never ever let your destination known to others – it's always kept as a guarded secret.

Hubby was home for the weekend (hurrah!!) and on the way to a local castle we stopped at a forest just outside of Prague where we found lots of broken & picked stalks where we'd obviously arrived too late...

I did find one mushroom, but is this poisonous? don't ask me!

the kids also caught a few things!

















Here's one castle that had survived and another one in ruins

And finally - I couldn't resist taking this picture of a guy on the metro (by the door) who'd obviously just come back from mushrooming...can you imagine seeing this on the underground?!