I never saw it coming when Mama asked if I had checked on the chicken.
"No, has it flown the coop? I asked.
She laughed and told me this chicken didn't need deboning or defeathering. Just pluck it from a dead tree.
"Are you kidding, Mama? I've never heard of that."
She frowned. "I thought I had taught my children to identify plants. Chicken of the Woods is a mushroom."
Chicken of the Woods is fan-shaped and has an orange and yellow colors. It grows on dead trees.
I gave Mama a puzzled look. She put on her straw hat and grabbed a basket.
"Come child," she said with her honey voice. "We'll gather some Chicken of the Woods Mushroom and make a salad for supper."
I learned an important botany lesson that day. A chicken is not a bird!
by: Brenda Kay Ledford
