It rained last night... the football field is sprinkled with mushrooms...
... I enjoy these hats poking through grasses... flowers of the fungal underworld...
... or, as Stephan Harding calls IT, the forgotten kingdom...
Fungi are all around us, they are everywhere. In some habitats, says Harding, such as forest soils, fungal biomass often reaches 90% of the combined biomass of microorganisms such as bacteria and other small animals. They are responsible for recycling, they deliver food to the weak, and maintain health of the forest.
Fungi have been HERE much longer than plants and animals. And, in partnership with bacteria, they have created conditions for this lavish and ornate world we call nature... thus,
... we must pay them due honour, for without their secret labours there would be no forests, no grasslands, no heathlands, no savannahs, nor any of the great animals that roam in those wild realms. Without fungi, the earth's land surfaces would be nothing more than exposed rocks...
STEPHAN HARDING, Animate Earth
... as I stand amongst them, I wonder if they can sense my footsteps... and my thoughts...
