Foraging, Fungus, and Oneness
~ currently seeking beta readers ~
This book covers how to forage for mushrooms, and more importantly, why. Foraging means much more than gathering wild food. It’s the secret to enlightenment, the essence of our humanity, and the passport to peace on Earth. And it’s a whole lotta fun.
For most of us, life is a struggle. We have to compete. We have to fight to survive. Life, in short, is a nightmare.
The forager lives in a different world. Here, there is plenty for everyone, even eight billion of us. Here, beneath the thin veneer of civilization, is a benevolent universe. The forager sees the nightmare of civilization for what it is: just a dream.
Here, just off the eaten path, is the ultimate in home-land security. Here, all around us, is heaven on Earth. We may have left The Garden, but The Garden has never left us.
Foraging means taking things as they come. When you forage, life is one big Easter egg hunt. To the forager, everything is leela, “divine play.”
The key to liberation lies in seeing the world and everyone in the world as just another part of yourself. When you see that we are always on the same side, you feel safe enough to be openhearted. Unafraid of tomorrow, you’re free to love today.
Humanity has an Eden disorder, and nothing reveals it more than fungi. Wild mushrooms are no harder to tell apart than vegetables in the store. We’ve been eating them for five million years BC (Before Costco). And the only field guide we’ve ever needed is one with two legs.
With over 1000 pages, 1400 illustrations, and hundreds of anecdotes collected over thirty years, Leela brings find dining to a starving world. Pleasure, leisure, joy, and compassion all come naturally when we cast off the competitive mindset of a domination-based culture. When you forage, it’s not just the food that’s wild and free.
Foraging is a treasure hunt, for the real takeaway is never in the basket. Going back to Nature, we go back to our true nature as loving beings. We welcome Life with open arms, and we find that She has been waiting for us all this time: for us to come home.
Alan Muskat, stand-up alchemedian and fungal fugleman, is the founding director of No Taste Like Home, the largest foraging education organization in the world.
I can’t decide if this book is more packed with wisecracks or wisdom, but I’d recommend it for either one.
Alan has a wonderful personality, and he is a great mycologist!
Paul Stamets (Fantastic Fungi)
Alan Muskat takes us back to where we came from: to Nature, the world of earth and water and plants, and also to our own true nature.
As Muskat shows, we can be civilized human beings, living in a complex technological culture, and remain connected with our roots at the same time. Having lost that connection is the source of much illness; re-establishing it is a path to health.
Dr. Gabor Maté, author, The Myth of Normal
If you must limit yourself to only one foraging book this year, choose this one by Alan Muskat. He’s like family. I wouldn’t trust anyone else. After all, if you can’t trust family, how did you get this far?
Gary Lincoff, author, Audubon Guide to North American Mushrooms
innovative, innervating, and informative
Dr. James Duke, author, The Green Pharmacy
delightfully conveys the joy and enthusiasm of hunting wild mushrooms
Leon Shernoff, editor, Mushroom, The Journal
very readable, especially for newbies
Britt Bunyard, editor, FUNGI
very interesting… a great interpretation
Dr. Tom Volk, mycologist
incredibly well written… has everything a new forager needs to know
Aurelia Kennedy, founder, Nantahala Outdoor Center
well-written, clever, informative and entertaining; I laughed out loud…
Deborah Morgenthal, Editor in Chief, Lark Books
brings a quick, constant humor and accessibility to a fascinating subject.
Michael Metivier, editor, Chelsea Green Publishing
friendly, thorough and entertaining… so much more than a field guide. Written in such a charming manner… accessible to a large range of people with different backgrounds. I love everything, including the illustrations. The best I’ve read yet.
Kimberley Cameron, literary agent
wonderful material… very clever! I am mightily impressed.
Lisa Ekus, literary publicist
I cannot begin to express how phenomenal this book is. It’s nutritional, political, comical, spiritual… it’s more multi-faceted than a diamond.
Rosiland Whiteley
It’s so good, like changing-my-outlook-on-life good. I found a ton of dandelions in my yard. My neighbor was like, “why are you putting weeds in a bowl?” She looked at me like I had absolutely lost my mind. I feel like I’ve found it!
Heather Eckert
This is the book I’ve been dreaming of since the moment Alan first plugged me into the “woods wide web.” Every page captures the mushroom guru Alan is, the Lorax who speaks for the fungi. One of my most delightful memories is of Alan reciting mushroom poetry in the pouring rain, and this book brings that moment to life.
Whitney Dane