Harvesting Hen-Of-The-Woods Mushroom Recipe

A few weeks ago, our mushroom foraging friend, Rick advised our son, Will to keep an eye out for hen-of-the-woods mushrooms at the base of oak trees. Will, who is quite good at spotting things, eventually found a truly enormous one growing from the base of an oak tree at his grandma's house next door.

So we went for a walk in the woods to retrieve it a few days ago.

It was a beautiful, warm afternoon filled with the golden light of Fall. I am not at all religious but find it impossible to think about autumn's riotous colors and silent beauty in anything other than reverent terms - glorious, holy, hushed, brilliant, burning...

I wore my rain boots because they give me the illusion of invincibility - like I can go anwhere…