Golden Queens of Autumn

There are still edible mushrooms lingering even though the leaves are yellowing, the cold is beginning to beg me to put on a light jacket, and the advice of foragers is that the prime season is already over.

Yet, I found many pounds of chanterelles yesterday, foraging in the forest with my Sweetie. They poked their heads up out of the sphagnum and feather moss like little apricot tiaras.

If the king bolete is perhaps done for the season, at least there was this treasure trove of golden queens.

Aspen leaves got the better of me more than once as I called out, "Hey, there's a beauty!" only to find the curcled, yellow, sawtoothed leaf of my friend the aspen.

By day's end, there were so many that I had no more basket space, so I began to forage into my cap.

I guess if permaculture is about multiple functions, well then, my cap is good for sun, rain, and mushrooms.

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