Get your tickets now for "THE FUTURE IS FUNGI" Event on 6/26/21:https://ffungi.org/eng/the-future-is-fungi/   Today we are joined be two powerful advocates for queendom fungi, Giuliana Furci and Nathalie Kelley. Giuliana’s journey began at the age of 19, looking for native foxes in a forest on the Island of Chiloé when she came across a fungus that changed her course. Giuliana believes that fungi choose you, and she heard that call. She did not find field guides on fungi in Chile, so she decided to write one in 2006. She studied Aquaculture and went from studying algae and studies on the negative impacts of salmon farming, to leaving everything and starting the Fungi Foundation – the world’s first NGO dedicated to fungal organisms.  Nathalie Kelley was born in Peru and raised in Australia by her Indigenous mother and grandmother. After working with street children in São Paulo, Brazil and Aboriginal inner-city youth in Redfern, Australia - she began her degree in Social Science and Policy at the University of UNSW. Not long after she started to work as an actress in film and television US, with notable roles in shows like Unreal, Dynasty and most recently as the star of ABC’s The Baker and the Beauty.  Despite this change of course she remained inwardly mindful of her privilege and responsibility to her indigenous heritage and people. She has become an advocate for Indigenous peoples, regenerative agriculture, the soil and the undervalued but invaluable role of fungi in our ecosystem. She is now committed to using her story telling skills to be a voice for the voiceless - creating narratives of hope around the power of nature to regenerate and heal and the integral part humans have to play in this process. Nathalie is on the board of Kiss the Ground and the Fungi Foundation.   TOPICS COVERED:   How Nat Discovered Queendom Fungi  Giuliana & Nat Connection with Divine Timing  Fungi Foundation’s Origins in Chile  Growth of the Fungi Foundation & Evolving Global Mission   Documenting Ancestral & Traditional Indigenous Interactions with Fungi  Indigenous Technologies will Yield the Biggest Future Discoveries in Mycology  Importance of Consent when Working with Indigenous Communities  Examples of Indigenous Communities Using Fungi  Indigenous Communities’ Responses to the Program  Fungi Foundation Transcending Its Foundress  Future of Fungi Event  Lineup of Inspirational Presenters  How to Get Involved with the Fungi Foundation  EPISODE RESOURCES:"Future is Fungi" Event: https://ffungi.org/eng/the-future-is-fungi/   Fungi Foundation Website: https://ffungi.org/   Fungi Foundation IG: https://www.instagram.com/fungifoundation/   Giuliana Furci IG: https://www.instagram.com/giulifungi/   Nat Kelley IG: https://www.instagram.com/natkelley/   Calostoma (Genera): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calostoma   Alloclavaria purpurea (Fungus): http://www.mushroomexpert.com/alloclavaria_purpurea.html

Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we are joined by Dr. Michael Perlin, Professor in Biology at the University of Louisville. Dr. Perlin’s interests drew him to study host/pathogen interactions at the University of Chicago and his PhD work centered on the evolution of bacterial resistance to certain classes of antibiotics/antimicrobials. As he was near to completing his degree, a friend of his stopped by the lab and introduced him to a different microbial system: a fungal pathogen that infects flowering species in the Carnation family and replaces the pollen of the flower with fungal spores. From that point he was hooked. Over the years he has continued to work on bacterial resistance, but in the last 10 years, he has shifted the focus of his lab exclusively to that on fungal plant pathogens, with projects encompassing three different types of pathogens on different hosts and the use of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model tool in the exploration of some questions more easily investigated in this well-developed system. Dr. Perlin has roughly 70 peer-reviewed scientific articles in reputable journals, including Nature; mBio; BMC Genomics; Genes, Genomes, Genetics (GGG); Fungal Genetics and Biology; Journal of Bacteriology; Eukaryotic Cell; and Molecular Microbiology. As a member of a number of scientific organizations and a prolific teacher and mentor, Dr. Perlin has a far-reaching influence on his field and has directly played a role in the careers of many PhD students. I’m excited to learn more about how fungal phytopathogens that have a massive impact on human culture.   TOPICS COVERED:   Journey into the Life Sciences   Influence of Dr. Stephen Lerner   Antibiotic Era & Understanding Microbial Evolution in Preventing Antibiotic ResistanceFungal Phytopathogen Interactions   Emerging Disease from Fungal Plant Pathogens as Primary Threat to Modern Human Society   Physiology and Life Cycle of Smut Fungi  Systems Studied Over Three Decades of Research at University of Louisville  Extrapolating Insights from Fungal Pathogens to Other Systems  Dimorphic Switch from Benign Yeast Form to Infectious Filamentous Form  Signaling Pathways in Cells Triggering Dimorphic Transformation  Precautionary Principle in Science   Protein “Effectors” Produced by Pathogens that Manipulate Hosts   Perlin Lab and Collaborative Science   Studying Mitochondria Inheritance in Model Fungal Systems   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Dr. Perlin Website: https://louisville.edu/biology/faculty/perlin   Stephen Lerner (Inspiration): https://photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/db.xqy?one=apf1-10357.xml   Microbotryum violaceum (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbotryum_violaceum   Ustilago maydis (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut   Coccidia (pathogen): https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/coccidia   Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis   

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of speaking with Darren Springer AKA Darren Le Barron. Darren Springer is an educator, researcher and event organizer based in the UK. Known around the world for his Shroomshop Master classes he is a keen mushroom cultivator and teacher and has been growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms for the last ten years. By day he is an Organic Horticulturist and Food Enterprise tutor and has translated his home growing experience into a social enterprise. Darren is the mycologist in residence at Somerset House, one of the largest communities of arts and creative enterprises in the UK. He is also a qualified Permaculture teacher and facilitator and supports businesses and communities to create sustainable working systems and environments. He is a member and presenter at the London Psychedelic Society, and is a chair and Breaking Convention committee member. Collectively his work aims to inform and empower individuals from diverse backgrounds to cope with social challenges and contribute to community development as well as self-improvement in an innovative, creative and culturally-aware style.   TOPICS COVERED:   The Kid Who Questioned Everything   Reconnecting with African Culture   Influence of Kilindi Iyi   Knowledge of Psychedelics within Traditional African Culture   Diaspora from the African Continent   Benefits of Reconnecting with Indigenous Ancestry   Psychedelic Plants & Fungi as Technology to Speak with the Ancestors   Rediscovering Who You Are, Where You’re From and Where You’re Going   Checking in with Indigenous Cultures Before Moving Forward   Creating New Systems vs. Petitioning the Old to Change   Growing Plants & Mushrooms is a Revolutionary Act   Shroomshop Classes & Mushroom Cultivation   Ancestor Project 3-Week Course & UK Mushroom Academy   Unlocking the Organic, Crystal Technology Inside the Human Body   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Darren Le Baron Website: https://www.darrenlebaron.com/   Darren Le Baron IG: https://www.instagram.com/darren_le_baron/   Psychedelic Emancipation Course Collaboration with The Ancestor Project: https://www.theancestorproject.com/psychedelic-emancipation   Shroomshop Master Classes: https://psychedelicsociety.org.uk/mushroom-cultivation-for-beginners   Jamaican Mushroom Growing Retreat w/ Silo Wellness: https://www.silowellness.com/retreats-programs/19/mushroom-growers-workshop-retreat/   Kilindi Iyi (Inspiration): http://babakilindi.com/

 Today on Mushroom Hour we are graced by the presence of wild food expert and author Robin Harford. Robin is a plant-based forager, ethnobotanical researcher and wild food educator. He has published numerous foraging guidebooks and established his own wild food foraging school in 2008. His foraging courses were recently voted #1 in the UK by BBC Countryfile. Robin is the creator of Eatweeds which is listed in The Times Top 50 websites for food and drink. He has travelled extensively documenting and recording the traditional and local uses of wild food plants in indigenous cultures. His work has taken him to Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and the USA. Robin regularly appears on radio and occasionally on television. His work has been recommended in BBC Good Food magazine, Sainsbury’s magazine as well as in The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph among others.     TOPICS COVERED:   Childhood in the Wilds of the Devon Countryside   Finding Freedom, Questioning Big Brother   Reconnecting with Nature as Somatic Healing   Sensory Method of Plant Identification    Power of Contemplative Practice & Bio-Individualism   Developing Relationship with Wild Plants as a Form of Activism   Finding Perspectives on Anger and Love   Foraging as an Act of Reverence   Processing Trauma & Addiction Through Somatic Experience with Plants   Living Wild Food Tradition of the Roamer Communities in England   In Search of Nomadic Hunter Gatherer Communities   The Oceanic Moken People & Anthropological Diversity   Getting Started Foraging & Preparing Wild Plants   Joining the Eatweeds Community   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Eatweeds Website:  https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/   Eatweeds Facebook Community:  https://www.facebook.com/foragingcourses   Frank Cook (Inspiration):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_C._Cook_IV   Hildegard of Bingen (Inspiration):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen    Laurel Luddite Paper:  https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/laurel-luddite-this-is-anarcha-herbalism-thoughts-on-health-and-healing-for-the-revolution    Latcho Drom (Film):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latcho_Drom    Moken Culture:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moken    Against the Grain (Book):  https://www.amazon.com/Against-Grain-History-Earliest-States/dp/0300182910    Botanyeveryday:  http://www.botanyeveryday.com/  

Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Matt Kasson, Associate Professor of Forest Pathology and Mycology at West Virginia University. Dr. Kasson received his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the Pennsylvania State University where his research focused on using a native fungus, Verticillium nonalfalfae, as a biological control of the invasive tree, Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven). He also holds an A.A.S. from Paul Smiths College and a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Maine. His current research areas include fungal-arthropod interactions, biological control of invasive plants and pathogens, and the biology and ecology of historic and emerging diseases of forest trees. Dr. Kasson is currently the Director of the International Culture Collection of (Vesicular) Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM) and currently has research focused on the metabolites associated with interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and their plant partners. Dr. Kasson teaches undergraduate courses on general plant pathology and forest pest management and offers special topics courses for graduate students including advanced plant disease diagnostics.  TOPICS COVERED:   Origin as a Young Naturalist in Susquehanna  Overview of Forest Pathology and Fungal Pathogens  Chestnut Blight, Dutch Elm Disease, Laurel Vascular Wilt  Reproductive Strategies of Pathogenic Fungi  Fungal Pathogens as a Bio-control Agent  The Precautionary Principle  Changing Environments & the Emergence of Pathogenic Disease  Adaptive, Facultative Capacities of Fungi  Massospora Fungi & Zombie Cicadas  Discovery of Psilocybin & Amphetamine in Massospora-Infected Cicadas  Future Research into Massospora Effects on Cicadas  Fungus Feeding Millipedes as Biodiversity Hotspots  Meeting the Team in the Kasson Lab at West Virginia University  Sage Advice for Academic Pursuits into Mycology  EPISODE RESOURCES:   Matt Kasson WVU Profile: https://www.davis.wvu.edu/faculty-staff/directory/matthew-kasson  Matt Kasson Twitter: https://twitter.com/kasson_wvu  Tree of Heaven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailanthus_altissima  Verticillium nonalfalfae (Fungi): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verticillium_nonalfalfae  Colletotrichum (Fungi Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colletotrichum  Cryphonectria parasitica (Fungi): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_blight  Massospora cicadina (Fungi): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massospora_cicadina  Brachycybe lecontii (Millipede): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachycybe_lecontii  Neonectria (Fungi Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonectria  

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by magnanimous mushroom mogul Britt Bunyard. Britt is the founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of the mycology journal Fungi. Britt received a Masters in Botany from Clemson University and a PhD in Plant Pathology from Penn State University. He has worked academically (and played very amateurishly) as a mycologist his entire career, writing scientifically for many research journals, popular science magazines, and books. He has served as an editor for mycological and entomological research journals, and mushroom guidebooks. A popular evangelizer on all things fungal, Britt has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, National Geographic Magazine, PBS’s NOVA television program, and in 2016 was made Executive Director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival. He’s given talks on mushrooms ranging across so many different subjects, I’m excited to learn what he’s focused on now and what he sees as the future of mycophile culture.    TOPICS COVERED:   Childhood Foraging Morels in Ohio & Clutching an Audubon Guide  Dynamic Interplays of Entomology & Mycology  Insect & Macrofungi Symbioses  Flies, Yeasts & Mushrooms  The Birth of Fungi Magazine  Traveling the World Seeking Mushrooms & Stories  Most Popular FUNGI Magazine Issue about Genus Psilocybe  Explosion of Mycophilia Across the Western World  Promising Future of Mycoremediation Research  Revolution of Listening to Nature  Origins & Future of the Telluride Mushroom Festival  From Britt’s First Telluride to Becoming Executive Director of the Festival  Fungal Solutions Accommodating Human Population Growth  The Future for Britt & Fungi Magazine  EPISODE RESOURCES:   Fungi Magazine Website: http://fungimag.com/   Fungi Magazine Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/43995545858/   Drosophila melanogaster flies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosophila_melanogaster   NAMA Website: https://namyco.org/   The Mycologist Journal (Inspiration): https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Mycologist-0269-915X   The Beginner's Guide to Mushrooms (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Mushrooms-Everything-Cultivating/dp/1631599119/   

Professor Simard's must-read first book "Finding the Mother Tree" is OUT NOW:https://suzannesimard.com/finding-the-mother-tree-book/   This book will change how you see forests and how you understand the relationships between trees and fungi.Today we have the humbling opportunity to speak with the incomparable Professor Suzanne Simard. Suzanne is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she’s been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is both dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (think James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. We’ve had the chance to read an early copy of her first book “Finding the Mother Tree” and have been mesmerized by how Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates vital truths – that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks full of mycorrhizal fungi by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities and living communal lives not that different from our own.   TOPICS COVERED:   Simard Family Origins and a Life-long Love with Old Growth Forests   “Free-to-Grow” Policies   Competition vs. Cooperation Views of Forest Ecology   Discovering the Mycorrhizal Network   PhD Research – Transfer of Carbon between Trees via Mycorrhizae   Groundbreaking Research Published in “Nature” in 1997   Women in Forestry   How Do Trees & Fungi Benefit from Their Mycorrhizal Relationships?   Mapping a Mycorrhizal Network   What is a Mother Tree?   Benefits of Uniting Anthropomorphic Epistemologies and Scientific Research   Aboriginal, First Nation & Indigenous Systems of Knowledge   An Intimate View of Suzanne’s Life to Humanize Scientific Endeavour   “The Mother Tree Project”, Future Plans & Future Research   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Suzanne Simard Website: https://suzannesimard.com/  "Finding the Mother Tree" (Book): https://suzannesimard.com/finding-the-mother-tree-book/  The Mother Tree Project: https://mothertreeproject.org/   Sir David Read (Inspiration): https://royalsociety.org/people/david-read-12152/   Dr. Teresa Ryan: https://indigenous.forestry.ubc.ca/profiles/teresa-ryan/   Prof. Susan Dudley: https://www.biology.mcmaster.ca/component/comprofiler/userprofile/sdudley.html?Itemid=1027

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by mycophagy legend Larry Evans. Larry Evans is a mushroom hunter, teacher, cultivator, song writer, and cook. He has been instrumental in organizing forays, festivals, and workshops in Colorado, Montana, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Bolivia, and now Jamaica. He is a founder of the Western Montana Mycological Association, wrote a field guide to mushrooms of the Amazon, and appeared in Ron Mann’s come-documentary Know Your Mushrooms. His vast body of work includes detailed accounts of burn morel tracking throughout the Western US, explorations of jam-packed fungal jungles in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador and evangelizing audiences about means of fungal digestion, how fungi remediate contaminated soils, and what the process of mushroom making is all about. Time to laugh and learn with a real-life fungal pioneer.    TOPICS COVERED:   “Know Your Mushrooms”   Changes in Soil Carbon Throughout Earth’s History   Fungal Peroxidase Enzymes & the Carbon Cycle   When it Comes to Wood, Bury Not Burn!   Fossil Water, BCR & Soil Carbon Implications on Wildfires   Fire-following Fairy Cups   Understanding Soil Carbon in Land Management   Trophic Levels of Wood Resources   Mycoremediation & Fungal Adsorption   Protein Production in the Developing World   Mycofiltration   Demystifying Human Fictions of Money & Property   Creating New Value Systems   New Models of Human Organization Inspired by Self-Balancing Systems   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Larry Evans Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrMushroomlarry   Larry Evans IG: https://www.instagram.com/mushroomlarry/   Western Montana Mycological Association: http://wmma.wildsoil.com/   "Know Your Mushrooms" Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWf7fM5iLYc   Soil Carbon Cycle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_carbon   Daldinia concentrica (mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daldinia_concentrica   Geopyxi carbonaria (mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopyxis_carbonaria 

Today on Mushroom Hour we are blessed by the presence of Reggie, activist, mycologist and founder of Oakland Hyphae. Reggie studied political science at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and now has over a decade of political campaign experience ranging from local and state-level races to 3 Presidential races to working with the New York State Democrats, the DCCC, and the DNC. On the West Coast Reggie worked on a local level to replace police in schools with guidance counselors for the Black Organizing Project in Oakland. Inspired by early-life transformative experiences with psilocybin-containing mushrooms, Reggie has had a lifelong passion for mycology and now consults with the largest mushroom cultivators in the world. He has worked with the largest cultivators in The Netherlands and is currently advising in the establishment of the largest commercial mushroom farm and state of the art testing lab in Jamaica. He also has over 10 years of domestic experience in the US cannabis industry. Reggie is a member of the Advisory Board for Decriminalize Nature and an avid activist for police reform and an ally of The Movement for Black Lives. TOPICS COVERED:  Reggie’s Introduction to Psilocybin & Travels to Europe  Activist Work for Political Change & Racial Equality  Psilocybin Mushrooms as an Ancient Spiritual Technology  Formation of Oakland Hyphae  The First “Psilocybin Cup” April 2021  Combining Passions for Mushroom Cultivation & Plant Medicine BIPOC Activism   Process of Testing Compounds in Psilocybin Mushrooms  Importance of BIPOC Leadership in Psychedelic Spaces  Future of Oakland Hyphae  Next Psilocybin Cup & Oakland Psychedelic Conference 9/20/21  Lessons Learned from the Cannabis Industry  Oakland as a Leader in Equity in Plant Medicine  Colonization of Psychedelics in Jamaica  Influence of Big Money on Emerging Psilocybin Mushroom Marketplace  EPISODE RESOURCES:   Oakland Hyphae IG: https://www.instagram.com/oakland_hyphae/  Oakland Hyphae Website: https://www.oaklandhyphae510.com/  Spring 2021 Psilocybin Cup: https://oakland-hyphae.teachable.com/p/oakland-hyphae-psilocybin-cup-spring-21  The Ancestor Project: https://www.instagram.com/theancestorproject/   Negus in Nature: https://www.instagram.com/negusinnature/  Twisted Tree Nursery: https://www.instagram.com/twisted_tree_nursery/  Pacific Substrates: https://www.instagram.com/pacificsubstrates/  Diaspora Psychedelic Society: https://www.instagram.com/diasporapsychedelicsociety/  Kilindi Iyi: http://babakilindi.com/  Darron le Barron: https://www.instagram.com/darren_le_baron/  Decriminalize Nature: https://www.instagram.com/decriminalizenature/  SF Psychedelic Society: https://www.instagram.com/psychedelicsocietysf/

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of speaking with Jeff Lowenfels. Jeff is the author of the Award-winning books “Teaming With Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide To The Soil Food Web”, “Teaming With Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition” and “Teaming With Fungi: The Organic Grower’s Guide to Mycorrhizae”. Jeff Lowenfels has become a leader in the organic gardening/sustainability movement because of these best-selling books. His “Guide to the soil food web” has been hailed as one of the most important gardening books in the last 25 years. His talks have converted tens of thousands of gardeners at venues throughout North and South America to follow the path of organic gardening. Jeff hosted Alaska public television’s most popular show, “Alaska Gardens with Jeff Lowenfels.” Most importantly for him, Jeff is the founder of the national program “Plant A Row for The Hungry.” This program is active all 50 states and Canada and has resulted in millions pounds of garden produce being donated to feed the hungry every year.    TOPICS COVERED:   Transformation from “Chemical Head” to Organic Gardener   Discovering the Soil Food Web   Teaming with Microbes  Nematodes, Protozoa, Fungi and the Rhizosphere   Testing for Soil Health   Teaming with Nutrients   How do Plants Eat?   Biological Processes of Plant Cells   Roles of Mycorrhizal Fungi   Humans Controlled by Microorganisms   Spiritual Microbial Ecology   Chemical Agriculture & the Soil Food Web   Our Future Depends on Soil   Planting a Row for the Hungry   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Jeff Lowenfels' Column: https://www.adn.com/author/jeff-lowenfels/   "Teaming with Microbes": https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131   "Teaming with Nutrients": https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Nutrients-Gardeners-Optimizing-Nutrition/dp/1604693142/   "Teaming with Fungi": https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Fungi-Organic-Mycorrhizae-Gardeners/dp/1604697296/   Rudolf Steiner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner   Dr. Elaine Ingham: https://www.soilfoodweb.com/   Microbiometer (Test your soil biomass!): https://microbiometer.com/   Plant a Row for the Hungry: https://gardencomm.org/PAR