!Oyster mushrooms
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agk's diary
7 November 2023 @ 14:15 UTC
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written on iPad Air 4 (2020)
while daughter and roommate make coffee
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We tromped through trailless fall woods, Evy,
daughter, me, Mr. Chris, dog Ender. We tromped fast
over the ridge, down towards the folds in the land,
down down down daughter sang, down into the holler.
We disturbed oak leaves around deadfall. Found some
puffballs, but they'd already went to spore. Some-
thing spindly & yellow also, but not safe to eat.
Endless woody turkeytails, colorful and banded as
the insides of agates.
Down down down, the streambed dry, down down down
til there was cold mud underfoot. When briars and
twigs hit her in the face, daughter yells Oh no!
Sticks! Down down down to some pools of water,
trees downed in some storm, bark still on, bridging
the tight holler around the stream, a few busted
down into the streambed.
Daughter splashed barefoot in the cold water,
heaved rocks, floated dead leaves. She likes to
sing these things:
A great big wind is coming through the woods, it's
going to blow *all* the people off the earth!
Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!
Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to
make my bread!
A tree, bark still on, busted down into a small
pool of water on the slate stream bed. Its newly-
dead wood wicks moisture up from the stream to a
shady spot by the soil it leans down from. Nestled
in there, an earthy-smelling cluster of oyster
mushroom fruiting bodies for us to cut and take
home to eat.
Down down down, but before we got out of oak into
sycamore, another little stand, the same way, on
a downed tree with its bark still on, broken down
into the streambed where it wicks water up to its
delicious saprophytes.
The way out was a little bloody with briars as we
kept a ridgetop between us and the firing range,
but deep in those woods I shook down persimmons,
sweetly shriveled and orange on the otherwise bare
branches of their tree. Simmons! daughter exalted,
and we shared the honeyed fruits.
At home I sauteed some of the oyster mushrooms in
butter, added diced onions and garlic, kale and
soaked, pressure-cooked garbanzo beans, smoked
paprika and soy sauce. A little kimchi on the side.
Nice and spicy, daughter says.
