Ep. 143: Wild Mushroom Education, Intentional Communities & Breaking the Binary (feat. Jules Amanita)

Today we are joined by the magnanimous and adventurous Jules Amanita. Jules is a self-taught amateur mycologist with a passion for demystifying fungi and combatting mycophobia. They are a 26-year-old avid mushroom photographer, artist, and chef who identifies as queer/nonbinary. Living at Twin Oaks Community, an egalitarian commune in central Virginia they live an outdoorsy, DIY lifestyle that is highly aligned with values of social justice and sustainability. Jules creates pictorial, text-based, animated, video, musical, and interactive content aimed at educating the public about mushrooms. Common themes include identification, field guide literacy, conservation, cultural history, accessible science, cooking, and general appreciation of fungi. They also lead virtual and in-person workshops on mushroom identification, as well as teaching a weekly Forest School to a group of children between the ages of 2 and 10. I’m excited to learn more from someone who unabashedly celebrates fungi in their myriad forms!   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Shaggy Manes, Indigo Milkcaps    
• Autodidactic Mycology Journey    
• Foraging Resources   
• Finding & Cultivating Foraging Community   
• Online Foraging Culture
• Fungi as Non-Binary, Mycology as a Queer Discipline   
• Redefining Human Narratives    
• Twin Oaks Egalitarian Community   
• Realities of Starting and Running a Commune     
• Chores, Income & Relationship Dynamics in Communes   
• How Communes Interact with Broader Social Ecologies
• 100+ Species of Mushrooms Eaten?!   
• Life Narrative Entwined in Mycology    
• EMDR & Foraging as Trauma Therapy   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Jules Amanita Website: https://www.mushroomqueer.com/   
• Jules' IG: https://www.instagram.com/jules.amanita/   
• Jules' Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jules.amanita?lang=en   
• Mushroom Expert: https://mushroomexpert.com/   
• The Bolete Filter: https://boletes.wpamushroomclub.org/    
• Federation of Egalitarian Communities: https://www.thefec.org/   
• Twin Oaks Intentional Community: https://www.twinoaks.org/   
• Lactifluus Genus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactifluus   
• Lactifluus volemus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactifluus_volemus   
• Lactifluus hygrophoroides: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactifluus_hygrophoroides   
• Lactifluus corrugis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactifluus_corrugis   
• Leotia lubrica (Jelly baby): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leotia_lubrica   
• Exsudoporus frostii (Frost's bolete): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exsudoporus_frostii