On Saturday I met my
friend Helena in Cesky Krumlov and walked with her over Dubik hill
along the old pilgrim's way through the forest to Kajov. It was a
slow affair, as we stopped to admire nature and the scenery, and of
course to look for mushrooms. I had thought that there would be lots
of people with mushroom baskets, but no the woods were empty apart
from a child with her mother and they had no basket.
Helena explained that
September had been a fabulous month for mushrooms. The summer here
has been very dry, indeed there had been a drought, so it wasn't
until the rains came in September that the woods exploded with
mushrooms. You apparently couldn't move for fungi. Last week there
had been frosts – earlier than usual – and they had put paid to
many mushrooms. We found the blackened remains throughout the forest.
“I know my Zoe will
find mushrooms,” said Helena with an optimism I did not share.
The first edible
mushrooms I came across were amethyst deceivers. Not great mushrooms
but better than nothing, they went into the basket. I remember my
friend Hannah showing me them, when first I learned to identify
edible mushrooms. Without her guidance I would never had got up the
courage to forage. My son and his girlfriend are going on a day's
workshop about hunting mushrooms. I am delighted they have taken an
interest, but a side of me wonders how much one can learn in a day.
The only way to learn is to go repeatedly into the woods at different
times of year with someone who knows what they are doing.
Up a path that branched
off the main track through a plantation of fir trees we came across
yellow-legged autumn chanterelles, hedgehog mushrooms and the normal
chanterelles. All favourites of mine. Now as we walked along the
track nearing Kajov we picked more chanterelles, and even some
boletus which had been sheltered from the frosts by mosses. The
basket wasn't full when we got to Kajov, but there certainly were
enough mushrooms for at least two meals, plus some put down in the
freezer.
