The forest is used for logging, but it's also a public recreational area. There are lots of scout troops (uniforms like SWAT teams!) who go camping and orienteering. There are hiking and mountain bike trails. I don't think hunting is allowed, but I understand that citizens can "harvest" things that grow naturally inside the forest.

What this translates to here is many families heading out at the crack of dawn on Saturday or Sunday to go mushroom picking. Seriously. Crack of dawn. You gotta get there early, before everyone else.

There are many different types of mushrooms, and children are trained by their parents early to identify and locate the family's favorites. Apparently mushrooms are creatures of habit... they like to grow near certain types of trees or fallen logs, and sometimes they hide under leaves. It takes real skill. Ask any person and they will tell you "I can find three different types"... "I can only find two different types"... I've seen photos of their Saturday bumper crops.

Sometimes the mushroom are taken home and eaten that night. But often they are preserved to eat during the winter.

I asked the Polish teachers if any of the mushroom are psychedelic or hallucinogenic, and when I get that quizzical look I explain about Psilocybin and how they grow on cow poop ... but no one will cop to knowing anything about any psychedelic mushrooms in Poland.