The Mushroom Hour Podcast

Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we are honored to be joined by Geoff Williams PhD, International Sentinel Network Coordinator for the US Forest Service. Geoff studies the social dimensions and microbial ecology of host range expansions and geographic range expansions of forest trees, their fungal pathogens, and their insect herbivores. Geoff just moved to Oregon from West Lafayette, Indiana where he studied the role of the microbiome in Thousand Cankers Disease of Eastern black walnut in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. Prior to that he has worked and lived in Idaho, Arizona, Mexico, and Chicago, originally hailing Ann Arbor, Michigan. In his current position he is gathering information on forest insects and pathogens across the world. The ultimate goal is to build networks of cooperation and information exchange with international collaborators to help protect native forest tree species in the US and all over the world from the next highly destructive or devastating insect or fungal pathogen that could be introduced through trade and travel. The opinions expressed by Geoff in our show to do not represent policy stances of the US government.   TOPICS COVERED:   A Winding Path towards Forest Pathology   Fungal Phytopathogens   Community Assembly in Forest Ecosystems   Novel Pathogenic Interactions in the Age of the Anthropocene   Proactive Approach to Managing Forest Pathogens   Complex Social Impacts of Forest Pathogens    Interconnectedness of Forest Ecosystems Across Continents    Global Forest Health Crisis   Interplay of International Trade Agreements & Natural Resource Protections   Sentinel Tree Network   Urban Forest Management   “Invasive Species” & Invasion Biology Framework   Invasive Species vs Invasive Populations   Citizen Scientist Role in Monitoring Forest Pathogens   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Geoffrey Williams Website: https://geoffreymwilliams.weebly.com/   Thousand Cankers Disease: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/plant-pest-and-disease-programs/pests-and-diseases/thousand-cankers-disease/thousand-cankers-disease   Geosmithia morbida (fungal pathogen): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosmithia_morbida   Juglans nigra (Eastern Black Walnut): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans_nigra   Laurel Wilt Disease: https://www.fdacs.gov/Agriculture-Industry/Pests-and-Diseases/Plant-Pests-and-Diseases/Laurel-Wilt-Disease   Sentinel Trees: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10340-018-1041-6   Cortinarius violaceus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_violaceus

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by the fungal trifecta behind Umbo Medicinal Mushrooms – Rashad Evans, Jake Plummer and Del Jolly. Rashad Evans is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion who intimately understands the connection between mind and body, and the importance of having both in sync. He credits mushrooms for that one-two punch of focus + energy in training and competition, and then easing the transition from fighter to daily life. Rashad is passionate about transforming sports nutrition and transforming access to education so that others can have the same opportunities that he did.    Jake Plummer is a Pro-Bowl NFL Quarterback who spent 10 years in the league earning a reputation as a natural leader. He inspired his teammates to believe in themselves and in each other – personal excellence for the sake of the team. This ethos is what drew him to natural medicine, eager to learn what mushrooms can do for each of us individually and how we can pool that collective power to help make a better world for all.   Focused on shifting the cultural narrative, Del Jolly worked as part of Decriminalize Denver and Charlotte’s Web CBD before co-founding Unlimited Sciences, a psychedelic research nonprofit partnered with the likes of Johns Hopkins University. He believes functional mushrooms have just as much, if not more, potential than psychedelics and is committed to exploring and unearthing everything he can.    TOPICS COVERED:   UFC, NFL and Medicinal Activism - All Roads Lead to Mushrooms   Introduction to Queendom Fungi     Athletes and Functional Mushrooms   Preaching the Mushroom Gospel to NFL and UFC athletes   Functional Mushrooms More Impactful than Psychedelics?!   Role of Psychedelic Mushrooms in Team Sports   Sparring & Microdosing   Fungally-Expanded Perspectives on Achievement and Dominance   We are all Actors   Mushrooms & Masculinity   Rites of Passage   Formation of UMBO & Entering a Limitless Future   The Power of Intention   Making Medicine Accessible to All   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Umbo Website: https://getumbo.com/   Umbo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getumbo/   Unlimited Sciences Website: https://unlimitedsciences.org/   MycoLove Farm Website: https://www.mycolove.farm/   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by mycological ally, cultivator and community creator Olga Tzogas of Smugtown Mushrooms. Her journey with Fungi and plants started over 15 years ago. She began working with these allies when foraging in both urban & more wild settings as she learned to identify species for food and medicine. Olga, alongside her community, established Smugtown Mushrooms to satiate their need for mushrooms & growing supplies, workshops, events & community-based science where they are based on traditional Haudenosaunee land, in the so-called city of Rochester NY. While learning more & embracing the never-ending, unlocked potential mushrooms & fungi have to help heal both people, planet & soul. Olga teaches workshops throughout the continent about wild mushroom identification, medicinal mushrooms, biology, and mushroom cultivation. She was a core organizer for the 2016 Radical Mycology Convergence and the MycoSymbiotics Festival from 2015-17. In 2018, Olga help co-create the New Moon Mycology Summit, a justice-focused, mycology centered event, linking many disciplines extending throughout the living world.  Olga is a member of the Rochester Area Mycological Association, CPAMC, WPAMC & the West Virginia Mushroom club. Annually, Olga guides small groups immersing in land based and traditional knowledge of Northern Greece, highlighting the fungi and plants there.  I’m excited to learn from a legend in mycology who seems to bring the teachings of fungi into every aspect of her life.   TOPICS COVERED:   Lifelong Love of Mushrooms   Forests and Mushrooms in Greece   Hosting Forage Trips in Greece   Mycology Reaching Across Disciplines & Cultural Barriers   Story of Smugtown   Grappling with Oligarchy   Are We Allowed to Just Exist?   Are Currencies, Corporations and Governments the Answer?   Starving for Natural Connection    Mushrooms Remediating Social Ecologies      Evolution of Mycological Community   Solutions Inspired by Mushrooms   Smugtown Shifting Focus to Community Building   Building Networks of Solidarity and Support    EPISODE RESOURCES:   Smugtown Mushrooms Website: https://www.smugtownmushrooms.com/   Smugtown Mushrooms IG: https://www.instagram.com/smugtownmushrooms/   Smugtown Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smugtownmushrooms/   New Moon Mycology Summit: https://www.facebook.com/newmoonmycologysummit   2021 Indigenous Peoples Day Event in DC: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/10/12/native-american-protesters-hit-by-sonic-weapons-in-dc/   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are excited to chat with internationally renowned wild foods expert, author, and public speaker Miles Irving. Miles has worked with some of the world's best chefs and has been a pioneer in the Wild Food Renaissance. In 2009, he authored The Forager Handbook, hailed by many as the 'foraging bible'. Through communicating with people around the world and delving deep into the environmental - and emotional - issues facing us, he has sought to bring together traditional ecological knowledge and those hungry for land-based connection, community, and culture. Reconnecting with the life-giving wild land which has long sustained us is key. There is not only a way forward but a wildly different way of looking at the world.   TOPICS COVERED:   Exploring Nature with Father & Grandfather   Connection with Nature Starts with 1 Species   Become a Recovering Weirdo   Activating Powers of Observation & Pattern Recognition   The Forager Handbook   Pulling Down the Neoliberal Regime   Greenwashing   Guiding a Lost Society Back to Nature   Going Deeper into Ecology through Wild Foods   Traditional Ecological Knowledge   Common Edible Plants   Nettle and The Umami Equation   Working with Acorn Flour   Porcini’s GABA-induced Happiness?   EPISODE RESOURCES:    World Wild Website: https://www.worldwild.org.uk/   Goldcrest (bird species): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldcrest   Mark Lewis (inspiration): https://prn.live/its-all-about-food-mark-lewis-chmachyakyakya-8000-year-crops-07-26-16/   Chamaenerion angustifolium (AKA Fireweed): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaenerion_angustifolium   Braiding Sweetgrass: https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass   The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-wild-wisdom-of-weeds/   Tending the Wild: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520280434/tending-the-wild   Dark Emu: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401526-dark-emu   Boletus edulis (AKA Porcini): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_edulis

Today we are honored by the presence of the legendary Dr. Dennis McKenna. Dr. McKenna has conducted research in ethnopharmacology for over 40 years.  He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute, and was a key investigator on the Hoasca Project, the first biomedical investigation of ayahuasca.  He is the younger brother of Terence McKenna.  From 2000 to 2017, he taught courses on Ethnopharmacology and Plants in Human affairs as an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota. In 2018, Dr. McKenna conceived the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy to explore modern and traditional practices, ideas and technologies that foster the understanding of nature, consciousness, the cosmos and their interweavings with humanity. The Academy’s mission is to be a catalyst for the transformation of global consciousness, through educational experiences that interweave our collective intelligence, science, and ancestral wisdom.   TOPICS COVERED:   The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss   The Experiment at La Chorrera   Ethnopharmacology   Tryptophan, Tryptamines & 5HT2A ReceptorsPsychedelic Biochemistry   Messenger Molecules & Signal Transduction   Psychedelic CommunicationsNeural Gating & The Reality Hallucination   Future of Psychedelics in Modern, Western Culture   Psychedelics Sourced from South America – Short-Term Extraction, Long-Term Symbiosis?   Nature Wave Zero   Humans as an Endangered Species   Undiscovered Psychedelic Compounds   The McKenna Academy   EPISODE RESOURCES   McKenna Academy: https://mckenna.academy/   McKenna Academy IG: https://www.instagram.com/mckenna.academy/   "The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss": https://www.amazon.com/Brotherhood-Screaming-Abyss-Terence-McKenna/dp/0878396365   "Botanical Medicines: The Desk Reference for Major Herbal Supplements": https://typeset.io/papers/botanical-medicines-the-desk-reference-for-major-herbal-2df0ifn7xz   5-HT2A Receptors: https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/5-HT2A_receptor   ESPD55 Website: https://espd55.com/   Stephen Harrod Buhner: https://www.stephenharrodbuhner.com/books/   Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide: https://www.amazon.com/Psilocybin-Mushroom-Growers-Handbook-Enthusiasts-ebook/dp/B00BOE16V8   

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of interviewing Professor Jonathan Schilling from the University of Minnesota. Jonathan has been on the faculty at the University of Minnesota since 2006, and is currently a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology in the College of Biological Sciences. In addition to teaching and researching all things fungal, he is the Director at the Itasca Biological Station & Laboratories in northwestern Minnesota. This field station for science is tucked into thirty-two thousand acres of old growth boreal forests within the second oldest State Park in the United States. The station also sits next to a lake, Lake Itasca, which is known as the headwaters of the Mississippi River. He assumed that position in 2018. Adding these duties to his job was, in his words, "a reflection of my deep connection and commitment to nature that was forged in the mountains of West Virginia as a kid, along the entirety of the Appalachian Trail as a young adult, and among family and friends in a Saint Paul neighborhood who have shown how important community is to conservation.   TOPICS COVERED:   Drawn into the Boreal Forest   Role of Fungi in Forest Acid Deposition   Basics of Wood-Rotting Saprobic Fungi   White Rot, Brown Rot & Soft Rot Fungi   Historical Contingency and Succession in Wood Rot   Fungi in the Carbon Cycle   Jonathan’s Lignin Uncertainty   Patterns in Distributions of Wood Rot Fungi   Pre-White Rot Fungi Coal Formation Hypothesis   Wood Rot 2 Step - Fungi Throwing Dynamite & Avoiding the Blowback   Itasca Research Station   Community Science & Assembling the A Team   Advice for Pursuing Studies in Mycology    Decomposition Builds Character   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Jonathan Schilling Academic Page: https://cbs.umn.edu/contacts/jonathan-schilling   Itasca Biological Research Station: https://cbs.umn.edu/itasca   PLOS ONE Research Article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0120679   Frontiers of Microbiology Research Article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01646/full   Fomitopsis pinicola (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomitopsis_pinicola   Fomitopsis betulina (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomitopsis_betulina   

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the opportunity to speak with Maurizio Montalti. Maurizio Montalti is a designer, researcher, educator and entrepreneur. Working at the junction of design and biotech, he is one of the early pioneers committed to the study and development of wide-ranging mycelium-based technologies and products. Maurizio is Chief Mycelium Officer, Chairman, and co-Founder of SQIM, the (bio)technology company developing innovative processes and products by unravelling the potential of mycelium as key biofabrication agent and technology, for application and use across different industries, as fundamentally rooted in the valorisation of residual materials’ streams by means of microbial fermentation. As (bio-)technological holding, today SQIM serves its two verticals/brands: MOGU (biomaterials/products dedicated to interior design and architecture) and EPHEA (biomaterials/products dedicated to fashion, automotive, etc.). Maurizio’s work has been honoured with multiple awards, widely featured in the global media, and exhibited worldwide in prestigious musea, galleries, and institutions, including Museum of Modern Art (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Design Museum (London), Triennale (Milano), MAXXI (Rome), and MAK- Museum of Applied Arts (Vienna), among others.   TOPICS COVERED:   Into the Spiraling Vortex of Mycelium   From Degradation of Waste to Regenerative Materials   Mogu Acoustic Collection   Selecting Fungal Species & Strains as Materials   Standardizing Unpredictable Myco-Materials   Can Organisms Retain Agency when Enlisted to Human Scientific and Economic Endeavour?   Wild Genetic Variation within Fungal Species   Fungal Strains SQIM Collaborates With   Becoming Fluent in the Language of Fungi    Living Buildings & Autonomous Biowelding   “Ephea” Leather and Fabric Product Lines   Scaling SQIM & Modular Mycelium Production   Circular Production Processes, Seeing Waste as a Resource   Fungi in Space   EPISODE RESOURCES:   SQIM Website: https://www.sqim.bio/   Mogu Website: https://mogu.bio/   Mogu IG: https://www.instagram.com/mogumycelium/   Fungal Architecture Project: https://www.fungar.eu/   Officina Corpuscoli: https://www.corpuscoli.com/   Schizophyllum commune (AKA Split Gill Mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophyllum_commune   "Braiding Sweetgrass": https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass   "Designs for the Pluroverse": https://www.dukeupress.edu/designs-for-the-pluriverse   "Mushroom at the End of the World": https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691220550/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world   

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 CultureFungi 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 Ecologies100+ 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   

Prof. Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biology professor, discusses the evolution of symbiotic trade and the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks. Topics include fungal networks, mutualism without altruism, biological market theory, and understanding the stock market through fungal market economies.

Today on Mushroom Hour we are graced by the presence of woodland spirit Fergus Drennan aka Fergus The Forager. Fergus has been gathering and learning about wild plants, seaweeds, and fungi for over 40 years. His journey begun on Wimbledon Common, aged 3 years, collecting dandelions for the family’s pet tortoise. Since those early days, and through much creative and experimental exploration he has continued his foraging practice, not only as a means to understand and to discover the practical relevance that foraging has in the modern developed world, but also in terms of what it means to be an environmentally conscious human in relation to the natural world. “Can foraging ever be considered a truly sustainable practice, and if so how?”, is a question that always orchestrates his foraging activity. So too does a pursuit of foraging’s playful and creative possibilities. Truth be told, Fergus just loves being outside, admiring nature as part of nature, living in touch with her reassuring seasonal cycles, awake to her sensuality, her surprises, opportunities, and endless gifts, in pursuit of the good life.   TOPICS COVERED:   Trips with Mom to Wimbledon Common   Tortoise Teacher, I Spy Insects   Play, Creativity and Foraging    Brambles, Pine Pollen & Jelly Ears   Foraging “Nose to Tail”   Foraging as a Subversive Act   Life Stacking   Avoiding Neurosis & Being Saved by Others   Reciprocal Dialogue with the Natural World   Developing a Relationship with Local Open Space   Complicity in Industrial Systems   Amanita muscaria Workshops   Amanita muscaria as Food & Medicine   Foraged Books & Making Paper from Mushrooms    EPISODE RESOURCES:   Fergus the Forager Website: https://fergustheforager.co.uk/ Fergus IG: https://www.instagram.com/fergustheforager/ Pine pollen: https://nutrawiki.org/pine-pollen/ Auricularia auricula-judae (AKA Jelly Ear): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auricularia_auricula-judae Plantago major: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major Pascal Baudar: https://www.urbanoutdoorskills.com/ Fergus Henderson (author): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whole_Beast  Jason Hickel (author): https://www.jasonhickel.org/  Katy Bowman: https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/  Fomitopsis betulina (AKA Birch Polypore): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomitopsis_betulina  David Arora article on Amanita muscaria: https://williamrubel.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/rubel_arora_muscaria_economic_botany3.pdf&#8221  Merck Index: https://www.rsc.org/merck-index  Phallus impudicus (AKA Stinkhorn): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus_impudicus