Invisible To Us

By Sue Van Hook, Board President

July and August were dry on the mountain at MFFC. Too dry in fact to find fungi during the mushroom workshops we held. We managed to dig in the wood chip piles to find the white mycelium of the oyster fungi being used to remediate trails and parking lots into soils. I asked children, and later the adults, to walk on the wood chips adjacent to the perennial garden and find the spongy places – those areas that felt like walking on a trampoline or waterbed. Once we found those spots, we all knelt and brushed aside the top layer of wood chips to reveal the white fans of mycelium exploring the substrate for food. Even when there are no visible mushrooms above the soil surface, we can rest assured the microscopic fungal threads are at work below deck, decomposing dead organic matter and supplying plant roots with vital nutrients and water as mycorrhizae (fungus-root relationships).

Likewise, visitors to MFFC continue to spread their mycelia among other people and in communities of all sorts on and off the property while remaining invisible to us. During the second day of depauperate mushrooming, the participants had time to connect more with one another. The sweetest thing I learned that day was that one of the couples in attendance comes every year at this time to celebrate the start of their union. Their marriage proposal took place atop Mt. Antone. It made me wonder just how many proposals have occurred in this beloved piece of the world. I took a guess at what other significant events might have occurred here too. I know I’ve planned a few of my own milestones for times I’ve stayed at one of the cabins.

Invisible to us and yet so deeply connected to this place, generations of families keep coming and going. They explore, they rest, they learn, they share, they go inside themselves, especially when it is really dry at the surface. We would love to hear more about the special life events you’ve experienced at MFFC. I am certain there is a long list. Do drop us an email and let us know, unless of course, you’d rather remain invisible.