The following article is from radicalmycology.com and is a written report all about the recent Radical Mycology Convergence 2011 that was held in Concrete, WA in early September. Amateur Mycology attended the event giving presentations on ‘Green Mushroom Cultivation’ and ‘Forest Floor Cultivation’ techniques. Very soon we will have video clips of the event as well, here at amateurmycology.com, so stay tuned!

-September 14th, 2011-

 Over 200 people gathered in northern Washington state this past Labor Day weekend to learn about the many uses of the fungal kingdom at the world’s first Radical Mycology Convergence. For four days, people gathered from several countries and various cultural backgrounds to teach and learn together about mycoremediation, the use of fungi as a tool to help combat mass pollution and ecological degradation. In an age when so many human caused disasters are occurring throughout the world, the fungi are beginning to be seen as a strong option for tackling some of these great problems long thought impossible to solve.

WHY RADICAL MYCOLOGY?

Access to mycological information is not easy. With a cultural view that fears fungi, a schooling system that undervalues them, and only a small number of courses on advanced mycology worldwide, it is easy to see why the fifth kingdom is so disregarded and misunderstood. As one of the youngest natural sciences, mycology (the study of fungi) has largely been kept in the hands of professionals since its development with much of the official work focusing simply on taxonomy and species edibility/toxicity. However, in the last few decades (and really just the last few years) the greater fungi have started to gain more acceptance and familiarity to those outside of academia as their uses beyond the dinner plate are starting to be realized.

It is surprising to note that most people do not realize that fungi are not only on, in and a part of all living (and once-living) things but that they play an extremely important role in the life cycle of plants as well. Acting like stewards of the forest, certain fungi create complex networks of “mycelium” (that white stuff you see when you pull back a decaying log) underground that serve to channel nutrients and water between plants and to help maintain the health of entire ecosystems. The fungi are also responsible for the decomposition of all woody material, turning dead plant matter in to fresh soil for new plants to thrive in. Without the fungi the world would be piled high in dead trees with no new ones growing.

In the last decade or so, mycologists have discovered that the same enzymes that fungi naturally produce to digest their food can also be used to break down toxic pollutants and petroleum products. Species have been discovered that can digest plastics, disposable diapers, motor oil, DDT, and Agent Orange as well as sequester and concentrate heavy metals out of polluted soil for later disposal. This emerging field of “mycoremediation” has only barely gained a foundation from which to grow on as in-depth research and experimentation in the last few years has been scant at best and suppressed at worst. As such a powerful ally in the fight to save the planet before ecological collapse, the fungi are now more worthy of investigation than ever before*. Thus, the RMC was formed to foster a community of people interested in developing and implementing mycoremediative techniques to provide a resource for peer learning and encouragement.

Through the use of fungi to enact change, we are attempting to radically challenge assumptions about the importance of the fungal kingdom in an effort to help shift our relationship to the Earth toward greater harmony.

WHY A CONVERGENCE?

The intent of the organizers of the RMC in forming the event was three fold: 1) To share mycological information in an accessible manner using the simplest techniques and a minimal amount of equipment 2) To promote the use of mycoremediation techniques & 3) To build an all-inclusive & non-hierarchical network of amateur & professional mycologists. We feel we were quite successful in our efforts to a degree beyond any expectations.

Despite a full schedule all weekend, the RMC went off without a hitch. Workshops included sterile and non-sterile cultivation methods, mycopermaculture/mushrooms in the garden, mycomedicinals, mushroom paper and dye making, and fungi and lichen identification. There were also presentations on ethnomycology in Mexico by professional mycologists from Baja California. Folks from the Amazon Mycorenewal Project spoke on their work to clean up oil spills in Ecuador using oyster mushrooms. And a representative from the Mushroom Development Foundation spoke to their work teaching Indian farmers to grow mushrooms from agricultural waste. All this took place on a communal farm with nightly group fires, a raging talent show and raffle, and great swimming holes. Add in a general sense of commonality and you get an inspiring weekend of learning and building a community where one had not existed before.

Many presenters demonstrated techniques they had developed on their own to reduce the use of fossil fuels and expensive equipment from cultivating mushrooms. James from Amateur Mycology in Colorado stated that he hadn’t thrown away a piece of paper for 2 years as he was turning it all into mushrooms. James also spoke of successes in using mushroom beds as living mulch in a greenhouse to increase plant yields. Another workshop demonstrated tissue culturing in open air using only hydrogen peroxide and alcohol to sterilize your equipment. A big take away message from the weekend was that there is so much yet to be discovered about mycology–and so few people doing it–that it will take the work of amateurs to increase understanding.

As a culmination to the weekend, we implemented 2 small remediation projects at the host farm to put theory to practice. We set up 2 beds of King Stropharia mushrooms to help decompose the humanure produced at the farm. We also installed various burlap sacks inoculated with Blue Oyster mushrooms around the farm’s spring to help filter the water or possible runoff from a nearby road as well as prevent erosion to the surrounding hill side.

Through the RMC we created an environment that encouraged skill and knowledge sharing by embracing diversity and working toward the greater goal of a healthier planet and way of life. With the advances being made over the last few years, working with the fungi has never been easier than now, at a time when their capabilities are of greatest import. This information deserves to be in the hands of those who want it and the Radical Mycology Convergence was one step among several toward reaching that goal.

NEXT STEPS

On the final day of the convergence an open discussion was held to reflect on the RMC and to discuss ideas for future gatherings as well as how folks plan to implement this information in their local communities. The consensus showed that those present were excited to begin the process of developing a web-based forum or wiki to enable cultivators and experimenters to share techniques and experiences in relation to low-tech cultivation and remediation work. Similarly, free publications will be produced that teach these techniques and demonstrate case studies of the work people are doing with fungi. Also, a decentralized formal network will be created of groups of people doing this work so as to stay connected, organize future/regional RMCs, and to collaborate as desired.

A truly unique event, the first Radical Mycology Convergence was a huge success drawing in all types of people to live and learn together. The RMC demonstrated the power of a shared concern for the future of the planet to overcome personal differences in political or worldviews and the need to embrace novel ideas for tackling some of the world’s problems. We found that out of their backyards and garages, people are developing novel ways to work with the fungi to reduce their waste streams, filter their water, produce food and potent medicines easily, as well as work to clean up their local landbases thru remediation work.

The meme of radical mycology is only just developing. Time will tell how common this information and these techniques will become in the future. For now we invite those interested in learning more to follow the links and articles at www.radicalmycology.com.

In sporidarity,

The Radical Mycology Convergence organizers

radmycology@gmail.com

* This is not to say this information addresses the problem of eliminating the manufacturing of these products. Rather it provides a way to actually deal with existing problems alongside efforts to stop their proliferation.

PHOTOS BY Charlotte RMC

James and I just got back on the 7th of September from the Radical Mycology Convergence 2011. One of the organizers of the event got on the local short wave radio station, KOWA, in Olympia, WA yesterday to talk about the RMC and plans for the future. Check out the interview below. A written report of the RMC to come soon. Stay tuned.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Visit http://radicalmycology.wordpress.com/ for more information!!

The Colorado Mycological Society has kindly asked James and I to do a foray for the club this Sunday. We will be searching for the often difficult to find Morchella esculenta, popularly known as the Golden or Blonde Morel. This year has been a very interesting year for weather for the front range of Colorado, and due to our great but late rains, the morel season so far has been very hit and miss. Some of the only areas we are finding them held their moisture during the drier part of early May. It is our assumption that this is why they were only in a few areas this year. However, Michael Kuo has a very good section of his book Morels about what he refers to as ‘Morel Theorizing’ where he pokes fun at much of morel hunter ‘science’ and discusses some of the leading ‘theories’ and morel know-how. If you haven’t already, purchase a copy of his book; it is a wealth of information. So, to make a long story shorter, we have no idea if we are going to see blonde morels this weekend. But I know we will have fun looking for (and theorizing about) this amazing fungi.

If you would like to attend this foray, we will be meeting in the Safeway parking lot on 28th and Arapahoe in Boulder Sunday May 22nd @ 9am. If you are a member of the Colorado Mycological Society the foray is free, non-members must make a $5 donation to Colorado Mycological Society. It is well worth it! Support your local mycological society!

The Great Nebraska Mushroom Hunt was a success again this year, with many people attending finding a good number of blonde morels. We would like to thank everyone who volunteered their time to make it such a wonderful event, especially Linda, for all her time and energy she dedicates each year to host the hunt. She also donates much of the proceeds towards the American Cancer Society in memory of the person who started it. Thanks again Linda!

After the Great Nebraska Mushroom Hunt, James and I headed towards Indian Cave State Park for camping and more morel hunting. Stay tuned for more pictures as well as the Nebraska Morel episode of Amateur Mycology Video Magazine featuring all of our morel adventures! On that same note, the editing of our trip to Texas is almost complete! It should be online in the next couple weeks!

The last Saturday in April in the small Nebraska town of Peru, there is a gathering of people from across the country all hunting for one mushroom… the elusive culinary delight, the Blonde Morel! James and I have plans to visit this festival, film our trip there and back, and plan on hunting the Morel the whole way! Our trip will start here in Colorado, but we plan on driving there because we will be following the Platte River almost the whole way there! For those of you who haven’t hunted Blonde Morels before, that means we are driving past Morel habitat during the entire drive! If you would like to visit the Great Nebraska Mushroom Hunt visit their website, www.nebraskathegoodlife.com for a schedule, driving directions, as well as any other information about the festival. And if you can’t make it and wish you could, check back soon for a full episode of Amateur Mycology Video Magazine all about this trip. Hope all is well out there, and if you are in Colorado and haven’t already, get out there and start looking! There is fungal life about!

Our trip was a blast. It was very nice to be looking for mushrooms so early in the year compared to what we are used to out here in Colorado. However, the drought conditions in Texas made searching for them a little more difficult than in years previous. We learned that last year’s Morel season was the best they had seen in 15 years. Had we known this, we would have probably waited to go out to Texas until a different year to look for Morels specifically. So we switched gears and searched for city mushrooms in heavily watered areas. This technique gave us some good success. We found quite a few different genera most all a little past their prime, but there were a good handful of edible and living samples that we brought back and cultured on Thursday of this week. I will give you a better summary of the mushrooms we found in the next article.

If you would like to see some of the samples of fungi that were found in Texas last week, make sure you attend the Colorado Mycological Society meeting this coming Monday at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The meetings start at 7pm and usually wrap up around 9pm. We will be displaying dried samples of Ganoderma, Pleurotus, various Polypores, Earthstars, Lentinus, Lactarius and a few others that were found last week in Austin, Athens, White Oak, and San Antonio. We will also be displaying a few fruiting grain jars of Pleurotus columbinus as well as bags of oyster mushroom spawn made with green techniques.

On another note, our Pink Oyster mushrooms came from Kauai Fungi yesterday for our project that we are doing at a few botanic gardens. Kauai Fungi was kind enough to donate a spawn bag of their tropical variety of Pleurotus djamor to our project. We plan to do a fungi demonstration inside a tropical conservatory. We also just acquired a culture of the Golden Oyster, Pleurotus cornucopiae. I think the two fruiting together would be stunning.

The bags of oyster spawn we made before we left for Texas are starting to form primordia! (primordia are baby mushrooms) This means they are already eaten through their substrate and are starting to want to fruit! We expanded them 12 days ago, so this says to me that our ‘Cold Pasteurization’ concept works just as fast as standard pasteurization methods! Stay tuned for a detailed description of this project, from start to finish, within the month! The bags of spawn are destined for Jackie’s Farm for expansion and fruiting, and if you take one of our seminars this summer, coming to a backyard near you!

The Olympia Mycelial Network is happy to announce plans for the first (inter)national Radical Mycology Convergence. A fungi-human relations congress of sorts, this convergence will be a unique opportunity for humans to build stronger connections with our fungal allies. They hope to create space for inspiring discussions on the future of radical mycological efforts and their implications. Proposed workshops include Do-It-Yourself mushroom cultivation, mushroom identification, and mycopermaculture. There will also be opportunities to put theory to practice by working on a mycorestoration project in a damaged habitat. But really, it will be what we all make it. Plus, this event is scheduled for September 2nd-5th, 2011 in Cascadia (aka the Pacific Northwest), one of the best times and places in the world to see mushrooms.

Amateur Mycology will be attending this conference. James and I will be giving two presentations, ‘Green Mushroom Cultivation’ and ‘Applications for Mycelium Beyond Mycophagy’. We hope to see you there!

The Olympia Mycelial Network is currently looking for general helpers, organizers, workshop facilitators, presenters, workshop leaders, cooks, and anyone else with an inclination towards fungi. If this sounds like you, please contact them via email at radmycology@gmail.com to let them know.

In conjunction with the Colorado Mycological Society, Amateur Mycology is pleased to announce our first annual morel hunts of 2011. James and I have the itch early this year so we have reached out to some of the other fungi folk in warmer climates than Colorado. We have been speaking to McCartney at the Texas Wild Mushrooming Club and Chad and Jude at ediblemushrooms.org in Oregon about planning morel forays. Both of these trips are in the early planning/ discussion stages right now and we are the assessing the interest of others who may want to attend. We will more than likely do a road trip to our destination and then camp or cabin when we get there.

If you:

1. Are interested in attending morel forays.
2. Have good out of state mushroom contacts (in particular TX & OR)
3. Are interested and have transportation (particularly RV’s or vans)
4. Have ideas or suggestions about regional places to check out.

Please contact:

james@amateurmycology.com or graham@amateurmycology.com

Oregon forays are scheduled for third week of May, Texas the first week of April. For more information, watch the youtube video by McCartney about Texas morels below, or check out the 2011 Morel forays at ediblemushrooms.org.