CHATFIELD, Minn. — Recreating coral shapes using yarn put Lydia Hansen on a path to learning mycology, the study of fungi. That interest is now literally along a Minnesota hiking path.
Hansen, a fiber artist, installed her latest works, crochet replicas of Minnesota mushrooms, along the Lost Creek Hiking Trail in Fillmore County near Chatfield, Minnesota. She was installing a recreation of a false turkey tail mushroom onto a standing dead evergreen tree Sunday, June 2, 2024. Hansen wanted the piece at eye height or a bit higher.
After securing some of the 12 items that make up the piece, Hansen was in over her head — the piece was too high for her to staple without help. She beckoned for one of her installation assistants, her brother, Levi Hansen. ADVERTISEMENT “It’s part of why I brought you — you’re tall,” she said.
“I feel so appreciated,” Levi said. Her brothers Levi and Jonah Hansen and her friend Odin Simon hiked with her to install the Lost Creek Fungi Hunt pieces Sunday. A real turkey tail mushroom would grow on a similar dead evergreen.
Using dead trees, longs and stumps doesn’t hurt any of the living trees. She also installed each of the mushrooms on or approximately at places people would encounter them in the wild. “I’m keeping it as accurate as I can with my limited knowledge,” she said.
Where she could, Hansen installed most of the mushrooms a bit higher on standing trees for visibility and to keep the mushrooms out of the elements. Th.