In what ’s ordinarily a dry season , Kentucky is keeping unfeigned to the 2018 weather theme of rainwater , rain and more rain . Hot , humid weather has very few redeeming qualities in my playscript . However , it is beneficial for breeding mushroom .
So when a Quaker told us he ’d spotted a affluent ofchanterelles — the darling of the foraged - food existence — Mr. B and I localize out to do some mushroom hunting . Rachael Dupree
Disclaimer : This is not a story about how we made an awe-inspiring gourmet feast from our own secret stash of homestead - develop chantarelle . We did n’t find one chanterelle . ( Well , I did find one teeny bantam mushroom-shaped cloud thatmighthave been a chanterelle . )
This is also not a tale about how we sought chanterelles and instead come home with another evenly delicious edible mushroom . We did n’t even learn the names of the mushroom-shaped cloud set up .
No , our lives are n’t that complicated . Rachael Dupree
This is a simple story about a kinsfolk of three traipsing through the woodland on an overcast Sunday morning . It ’s about letting the Din Land apportion its mystery .
Rachael Dupree
A Welcome Wander
Since we moved here , it ’s more and more difficult to find a balance between productivity and whimsy . Like any farm , ours has a never - cease to - do list . We constantly strive to be as effective as potential , and with everything we do , every spare-time activity we pick up , we look toward its electric potential .
“ What can it do for us ? ”
Often , this is to our hurt , not allowing ourselves to simply be immerse in andenjoythe beauty that we can detect all around . And goodness , if you get down and look — I mean really look — this place is awesome ! What adept way to delight in fanciful notions than to strike the mushrooms ( toadstools , fairy perches , gnome umbrella ) tucked into every corner and cranny of the forest?Rachael Dupree
Rachael Dupree
A Visual Feast
We spent two unconnected hours meandering around trees , climbing over log and peeking under leafage . While this did n’t knuckle under us so much as a snack , let alone a meal , we simply savour that clip together . We gasped in wonder at the number of different size and cast and gloss of mushrooms we could spy , get under one’s skin an up - close - and - personal glimpse at constitutional matter working ferociously to regenerate land that had once been home to cattle fields . Rachael Dupree
The short one , hanging on pa , seemed content to gaze around at the trees , a stick in one hired hand and a leaf in the other , get under one’s skin on the priming occasionally to audit a nut or dig through the dirt .
One could debate we could have expend the time doing something “ fertile . ” But what serious is productivity on a farm if you are n’t also relish the landscape painting with those you care about most?Rachael Dupree
Perhaps it ’s a reaching to say that this picky mushroom hunt taught me something . The lesson here had been on my idea for days , if not workweek , leading up to that morning in the woods .
It ’s that our to - do listseverything .
Not every so - called “ accomplishment ” must be something we ’re great at . Our every action does n’t need to yield a yield at the goal of the day or season . As I go on to meditate this notion , I look forrard to the dangerous undertaking of finding more ways to add that little pinch of whimsy to daily liveliness . Rachael Dupree
Rachael Dupree
Rachael Dupree
Rachael Dupree
Rachael Dupree
Rachael Dupree
