Be a Fun-guy!

A Mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus.  Mushrooms are typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source.

The four types of mushrooms are saprotrophic, mycorrhizal, parasitic, and endophytic.  There are many different types of mushrooms within these categories and not all of them are edible. Some may be poisonous or hallucinogenic so it is important to be careful if you try to pick mushrooms in the wild. 

Mushrooms are classified as vegetables but technically they are not plants. They are part of the kingdom called fungi. Mushrooms are low in calories.  They have virtually no fat and no cholesterol.  They are very low in sodium.  Mushrooms are rich in the B vitamins of riboflavin, niacin, and pantothenic acid.  The combination of these three vitamins helps protect heart health. Riboflavin is good for red blood cells and niacin is good for the digestive system and for maintaining healthy skin.

The consumption of wild mushrooms may result in severe illnesses in humans and can even cause death.  The most common dangerous mushrooms are those called death cap mushrooms.  They contain toxic compounds called amatoxins which damage liver cells.  These mushrooms are white with an umbrella-shaped top and they have a cup at the base of their stem. 

Mushrooms with white gills, or those with a ring around the stem and those with a volva are often poisonous.  The volva, a cup-like structure at the base of a mushroom, is often underground so it is important to dig around the base of a mushroom to look for it.  Mushrooms with a red colour on the cap or stem are either poisonous or strongly hallucinogenic.

Touching a mushroom is harmless.  The harmful toxins in mushrooms must be consumed in order to harm you.  Collecting mushrooms for consumption is unsafe.  Even experts have died from picking the wrong mushrooms.

These are the sayings on the bookmark called Advice from a Mushroom.

• Be Down-to-earth

• Sprout New Ideas

• Keep a Low Profile

• Know When to Show Up

• Stay Well-rounded

• Start from the Ground Up

• Be a Fun-guy!

These are my comments about each of these sayings. 

• Be Down-to-earth - Be practical and realistic.  Take action rather than just discuss theories.

• Sprout New Ideas - But forth new ideas and be willing to try new things.

• Keep a Low Profile - Don’t purposely draw a lot of attention to yourself.

• Know When to Show Up - Be on time.  If you arrive when the meeting starts you are late.

• Stay Well-rounded - Develop skills and knowledge in a lot of different things.  Keep a balanced life. 

• Start from the Ground Up - Get involved at the very beginning and learn the basics before trying to complete a project.

• Be a Fun-guy! - Great pun - Fun-guy! for Fungi.  This made me smile. 🙂  

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving.  Know when to show up and be a Fun-guy! This Thanksgiving Weekend.

# living life abundantly   # published author   # travelling tuesdays