My friend is having a baby which is not only a gift from the heavens but also one that demands some, before skin even touches the air. Living a life entwined with the world of fungi, the obvious gift is a mushroom, one that in my fungal opinion, would make the best toy. Tiny fingers curled around a beautifully crafted wooden mushroom, made from an off-cut of a mushroom grow log, the shavings being used to grow new mushrooms, creating a worthy little circular eco-nomy. This mushroom, steadfast in its ability to endure not only the warm, cozy crib but also cold nights out in the rain and wind, placed there lovingly by those small hands, was meant to come into existence.

Turns out that a mushroom seldomly comes along on it’s own, but rather in a family of mushrooms, as they most often do occur: mother, father and child. These mushrooms are turned on a machine called a lathe, which makes for a lovely, mesmerising and at times frightening exercise. After weeks of consuming YouTube tutorials, courage was finally summoned to put all of the knowledge gained to the test, and surprisingly the application went much better than expected. As layers upon layers of wood are removed by cutting away at a piece of wood spinning at ridiculously high speeds, one falls into flow-state and interesting thoughts and insights start to surface.

I can’t help considering where this piece of wood came from, the interactions it had with life, the storms weathered and the time it took to reach those heights. Humbled, I take solace in the fact that the shavings will produce a new batch of mushrooms, feed someone and then return to the soil to nourish a new tree.

Chuckling to myself that the baby mushroom was the first of the three to see the light of day, I had to chose a species resembling this trio of human beings, but in this case the choice miraculously came to mind easily. Boletus edulis - commonly known as the Porcini mushroom, popped into my head, accompanied by visions of jumping fences on a foggy morning in Mpumalanga, beckoned by tracts of Chestnuts planted in faraway times by farmers needing to line their driveways with guardian trees. Under these trees they grow, stout in stature, rooted deep in relationship with their surroundings, offering their delicacy to anyone in the know, and in abundance! For a beginner woodturner, the Porcini’s general shape is a forgiving one, leaving space for a mistake or two to be rectified with relative ease. And so this mushroom family started to take shape, each cut from the same substrate, embodying a very intimate and visceral lesson in mushroom anatomy, and a new understanding of how a mushroom develops from primordia to fully mature fruiting body. With each delicate pass of the tool over the workpiece a new layer of beauty is exposed, unbeknownst and hidden within the confines of this dense material, revealing character, flaws and surprises. Every woodworker will understand the mix of satisfaction and pride in finishing an object made of solid wood, working up the grits in sandpaper to achieve the smooth to the touch surface before applying the final finish with a special oil. Only then does the true beauty of the wood show itself , and it is always well worth the time and effort.

And this is the thing that enthrals me most about working with fungi and of course wood - most fungi’s primary source of nourishment, by the way. I thought turning a mushroom out of a discarded piece of a tree would be just that - woodworking. It turns out that fungi’s connection to us reaches far further than just interacting with them in the Myco-lab, cultivating mushrooms or hunting them in the woods. The sense of connection to the humans these wooden mushrooms were intended for became crystal clear, in a way that is difficult to describe. But I can try to describe the character of this communication. It is one of kindness but with a sense of discipline. They relate to us through beauty and ultimate design. They speak to us through wonder, pride and sacrifice. And they know it can all only be achieved together.

I’ve always felt an undeniable sense of connection and a transfer of wisdom and insight from these mostly unseen and intelligent living beings. They are a force that strengthen relationships across all boundaries, unite all life in ways we can not yet comprehend and teach us in ways nature wants us to learn - by understanding the power of diversity and accepting differences, by reconnecting us with the the earth under our feet and most of all seeing beauty in the simple things - like making a wooden mushroom for a friends new-born.

Share Afrifungi

Subscribe now