i wish i knew, a walk in the forest

a few weeks ago i posted on craiglist farm & garden( my obsession) the following; would like to go mushrooming, looking for an experience forager. I received many responses, but most if not all where offering to "do mushrooms"! as you know i live on about fifty acres but surrounded by ten thousand acres of state forest. On my long walks, wi th the dogs, horses or on my own i started to notice how many different mushrooms they where on the floor of the forest.

Today knowing that the exploration of all the mushrooms might pass me by, i gathered a few things, a basket, gloves, small garden fork and my camera and headed out for my adventure. I call it adventure because as i started to gather mushrooms i was filled both with a little fear, not like i was going to eat them right there & then but knowing that they might be poisonous had me a bit nervous and then a bit of regret - a guilt came over me as i plucked them from a mulch of pine needles and leaves i wondered did i have the right to take them if i would not eat them or if they were not edible just for a photograph?

.. as my basket started filling with such different textures and colours i knew that i had gotten over it so much so that i got lost a little of a trail unto another one without even knowing. after re-tracing my steps i started to look up, how i love the sun piercing through the foliage , i noticed tiny spider webs and dried up leaves that reminded me of bats i also found moss cushions and put those in my basket as well, now if i only knew if i had something edible!