When the Maine hermit was picked up by police, after 27 years of living in the woods, one of the things he said he had done in recent years was watch a mushroom growing outside his tent.
He also meditated on an upturned bucket while looking at the sky. He knew where all the local eagles nested.
When I heard that story, I have to admit I felt a flash of envy. Fungus-watching had a sudden appeal, though the sleeping in a tent through the dead cold of winter for nearly three decades held a little less charm – apparently he never lit a fire in case he was detected, and thoroughly camouflaged his site. Though I don't know much about mushrooms, I started to wonder what variety he had watched. And if it had been edible, or psychotropic, or just big and floppy and unappetising. The sad thing, though, is that his mushroom now goes unwatched. The hermit has been removed, his camp dismantled and a way of life, at least temporarily, terminated.
Of course, it wasn't his mushroom-watching that was the problem; it was his other foraging habits. The Maine hermit, it turns out, wasn't just content with picking berries, nuts and mushrooms. By breaking into homes he collected other items: packets of meat, toilet paper, tools, shovels and even the occasional wristwatch, the fruits of civilisation. Naturally the locals were relieved to see him caught. People like Dave Proulx didn't like the repeated burglaries, the plundering of fridges. They saw him more as an everyday thief, rather than an anti-social forager with a surprisingly eclectic taste.
Among the haul from his tent was a couple of Nintendo Game Boys. It's a reminder that mushroom-watching isn't always enough. Occasionally you need a game of Super Mario.
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