Discover the world at your feet

On your next hike through the forest look down - way down and discover a new world at your feet. Along with the amazing array of textures and colours you'll find plants, flowers, moss and mushrooms invigorating the forest floor.

In this project I wanted to explore the fungi living on and transforming the forest. Without fungi the forest would collapse. In addition to helping decompose matter (and returning nutrients to the soil) many mushrooms have a symbiotic relationship with trees. Unlike plants mushrooms can't synthesize their own food from light. The mushroom helps the tree extract minerals and water from the soil; in exchange, the tree supplies the mushroom with sugar compounds. 

So take a moment to enjoy these forest dwellers the next time you're on a hike and admiring the beauty of the trees around you.

Thought for the Day

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” Leonardo da Vinci