Song Ba Jiang Cuo, principal of a local boarding school, and his two sons head for the meadow in search of cordyceps.

From early May to late June all schools in Yushu prefecture, Northwest China’s Qinghai province, give a special “cordyceps vacation” so that teachers and students can join in the picking of cordyceps, a worm-like fungus regarded as a valuable herb by the Chinese. A Tibetan family, including a grandfather, parents and their two sons, share harvest season with us.