You look at the woods differently when you hunt for mushrooms. Your whole vision changes. You see the exact same things as, say, a hiker, but you process it ent

You look at the woods differently when you hunt for mushrooms. Your whole vision changes. You see the exact same things as, say, a hiker, but you process it entirely differently. It's a gamified experience of the wilderness, too, in some ways. It provides many people a connection to their culture and ancestry. It's a literal connection to the earth. Besides the amazing health benefits of mushrooms, I'm sure your microbiome gets a boost. Mushrooms and herbs both have plenty of potent phytochemicals that have impressive effects on the body, often for good, sometimes not. When I gather mushrooms or herbs for my own consumption, I have complete control over the supply chain and am confident that I'm consuming reasonable subclinical doses. I have a healthy distrust for supplements of mushrooms and herbs in the US; they're poorly regulated, the supply chain is totally opaque; rarely can you know anything about the age, quality, harvesting conditions, etc., or even if you really have the herb or dried mushroom claimed, much less the actual dose of any chemical in there. Sure, I don't know the actual chemical contents of my blue vervain or turkey tail or whatever either, but I also know I'm not grinding it up and chowing down on a concentrated dose. Of course accurate identification of the plant or mushroom is important, as can be understanding of how growing conditions affect the plant and how preparation should be carried out (Kentucky coffee tree seeds are nice legumes if boiled a couple times, can kill cows if just left in the water trough in the sun; amanita muscaria can be boiled several times and eaten or pickled then eaten).