TD 1
Bill O’Dea The questions come thick and fast for
Bill from an informed and enthusiastic group: “If you bruise a bolete and it goes blue is it ok to eat?” “It depends, some such as the porcini are. I think this might be the inky bolete. I don’t think we’ll eat it,” responds Bill. Inevitably, we come across some magic mushrooms, an Amanita muscaria in this instance. “These are psychoactive and will also make you sick which isn’t a good combination,” says Bill. “Best dry them first and make tea.” Sean chips in to tell us about the origins of the word berserk. “The Viking vanguard army comes from a group of volunteers who would take these at great quantities, have a sweat lodge, go completely beserk and then go into battle as a vanguard. Imagine 300 long-haired warriors screaming, coming at you and stoned out of their heads on this stuff.” I counted last night and SWELTR will be my sixth band. Sixth and final band! – Noel Dempsey of SWELTR 20 The conversation moves on to the The Sámi tribe, urine, the origins of the phrase ‘getting pissed’ and flying reindeer. We leave these aside, cook up our edibles and safely disband. Future mushroom hunts include one at Larchhill, Kilcock, Co Kidare on Saturday October 21, €80. More will be added over the coming weeks. mushroomstuff.com Opposite: Glen Anderson