Today on Mushroom Hour we are privileged to get to speak with Orion Aon, founder of Forage Colorado. Orion is a Colorado transplant with a lifelong passion for the outdoors and anything there is to do in them. He loves to hunt, fish, forage, camp, wander and wonder, look at trees, you name it! Orion grew up in Santa Fe, NM where he first started mushroom hunting with his family looking for king boletes, chanterelles, and hawk's wings - like a treasure hunt in the woods that got him hooked. In 2008, he moved to Colorado to attend CSU where he would study Natural Resource Management and Fisheries Biology. In 2015 Orion started Forage Colorado as a place where he could share his passion for Colorado foraging with others. His first big project was writing a series about Colorado morels, which has helped a lot of people who didn’t even know there were morels in Colorado to find their first ones. He now offers private foraging classes and does talks, events, and leads forays for his local mycological society. 

Topics Covered:   

• Family Tradition Becomes a Passion for Foraging  
• Colorado Mycological Societies  
• Unique Mushroom Habitat of the Southwestern US  
• Mysteries of Colorado Morels  
• Finding Mushroom Spots on the Rocky Mountain range  
• Foraging as a Source of Connection  
• Wild Food Sustainability  
• "Forage Colorado" Passion Project  
• Cooking with Foraged Finds  
• Educating Through Social Media  
• Studies in Natural Resource Management  
• Career with Colorado State Seedling Nursery  
• Treatise on Dandelion  
• Foraging Books and Future Plans  

Episode Resources:   

• Forage Colorado Website: https://www.foragecolorado.com/  
• Forage Colorado FB: https://www.facebook.com/foragecolorado/  
• Forage Colorado IG: https://www.instagram.com/foragecolorado/?hl=en  
• Colorado Mycological Society: https://cmsweb.org  
• Fort Collins Mycological Society: https://www.facebook.com/FoCoMycoClub/  
• Pikes Peak Mycological Society: pikespeakmyc.org  
• Colorado State Seedling Nursery: https://csfs.colostate.edu/seedling-tree-nursery/  
• Samuel Thayer Website (Inspiration): https://www.foragersharvest.com/  
• Briana Wiles (Inspiration): https://www.instagram.com/rootedapothecary/?hl=en  
• Erica Davis: https://wildfoodgirl.com  
• Mushrooms of the Rocky Mountain Region (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Rocky-Mountain-Region-Timber/dp/1604695765  
• Rocky Mountain Mushrooms by Habitat (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Guide-Mountain-Mushrooms-Habitat/dp/0252081463