With the 2012 season finally coming to a close, let’s take a look back on all of this year’s happenings. As usual, Amateur Mycology was extremely busy with all of our usual projects this summer. We were also booked most of the season with Mycotours, our sister company, that provides private guided mushroom foraging with expert guides in beautiful locations across the United States. On these tours, guests learn to identify and use wild mushrooms and plants, all while exploring these outdoor locations. These hikes usually range from a walk in town, to a strenuous hike through the mountains, with an emphasis on the ecosystem’s flora. We also offer cook and tastes and lunch on a private chef basis. For more information on our tours, or to schedule an expedition, visit Mycotours.com.

Amateur Mycology attended the 2012 Telluride Mushroom Festival again this year, and all of our seminars were a major success. Bert Matthews, James Weiser, and I gave hands on demonstrations in our mobile laboratory  and did several classes about various sterile lab techniques. This also included cloning many of the mushrooms from the identification table as well! Bert also exhibited his Pleurotus mushroom sculptures to all of the class attendees. I gave a lecture entitled, “Mycophagy: the culture of eating fungi” in the Elks Lodge this year. I covered several interesting topics including information about many of the different types of edible mushrooms from around the world and their cultural uses, as well as delved into the many aspects of fermentation with fungi. We talked about fermentation with the fungi molds, but also talked about using the macro fungi to ferment food products as well (I will be writing an article about this topic soon). We also discussed the many meanings of the word ‘culture’, and how ‘cultures of fungi’ have shaped many human ‘cultures’ across the world.  Lecture attendees also got to look at various fungi growing on petri dishes that I brought with me that are used to ferment food products. These included Aspergillus oryzae (koji/miso/sake), Penicillium roqueforti (blue cheese), Rhizopus oligosporus (tempeh), and Penicillium camemberti (brie/Camembert). Mycotours also competed in the Annual Mushroom Chef Cook-off with our Porcini Sushi Roll with Porcini sauce. It was mentioned in Alisa Geiser’s blog article ‘The Curious Ways We Find Eachother: Day Two at the Telluride Mushroom Festival’ on elephantjournal.com. You can read more about the mushroom cook-off at TellurideInside.com or The Telluride Festivarian. For more information on this year’s Telluride Mushroom Festival, or for info about the event in 2013, visit shroomfest.com. You can also listen to an interview with Scott, the director of the festival on the new radio show I am working on called ‘A Fermented Affair‘! You can find it here, on BlogTalkRadio.com. You can also find Telluride Mushroom Festival and A Fermented Affair on Facebook!

I also presented at Syntonic Music Festival that featured over 40 different electronic music artists and about 20 workshops. I gave a lecture entitled ‘Introduction to Fungi’ where we discussed how mushrooms can be used for more than just a great side dish in a meal, they could maybe help save the planet!! For more information about the 2012 Syntonic workshops or the music artists visit their website at syntonicfest.com.

As always, stay tuned for more pictures and video of these events and information to the upcoming events Amateur Mycology is working on.

This quick update will cover our recent project with Dr. Rytas Vilgalys, Professor of Biology at Duke University. Dr. Rytas was kind enough to do some PCR DNA and get an ITS sequence of some of our various collections of Pleurotus that were found growing on pine wood.

Over the past 2 years, James and I have been on the hunt for an oyster mushroom that grows on pine. To explain, I should first give a little background about these particular fungi. They tend to favor deciduous wood, especially poplar trees in Colorado. To most fungi, pine wood isn’t something easy to eat. Coniferous trees contain natural resins that tend to contain chemicals that are quite anti-fungal. This does not mean that fungi cannot eat coniferous wood, it is just quite difficult for them to do. However, Pleurotus are special fungi. They have discovered a quite efficient method of decomposing their substrate, excreting powerful digestive enzymes able to breakdown many different types of freshly cut wood. There is even a type of Pleurotus that can grow on cactus skeletons! The Pleurotus that James and I had found were growing from the cut stumps of pine trees and a spruce log growing at 10,000′ in elevation. These were cultured in our lab in Denver and were eventually sent to Dr. Rytas. He was interested in them because of their unique habitats they were found growing in and was wondering, as we were, if they were a possible new species of Pleurotus. He also received a few control collections of Pleurotus pulmonarius from various locations in the state, growing from cottonwood trees. These were tested against the mushrooms that were found growing on conifers. This testing is basically done by taking known sets of genes from a specific species of fungi and testing samples of DNA against those genes to see if they are similar enough to be the same genetic group (hopefully that wasn’t too over simplified?). Much to our surprise, every specimen came back as P. pulmonarius! It is well documented that P. pulmonarius grows occasionally from conifer, but these specimens also had unique morphological features that were distinctly different, even with indoor grown mushrooms in a controlled environment! Just goes to show that morphology sometimes can tell you very little about what type of fungi you have. We now know that our cultures of oysters collected from these conifer habitats are P. pulmonarius, but have somehow developed a unique set of digestive enzymes to deal with the oils in the wood that tend to inhibit fungi.

The reason James and I are extremely interested in pine loving oysters is because the Rocky Mountains are plagued with a pine eating beetle that is destroying our forests by the entire mountainside. The general way to deal with this problem (due to the extreme fire danger it creates) is to cut down the infected trees and pile them in large piles. They are used mainly for fire wood, but the pine loving  mushrooms would decompose the wood much faster, creating larger soil depth. Paul Stamets has a discussion in his book, Mycelium Running, about the honey mushroom and its method of creating a deeper humus depth. Many of these plagues, whether they be a fungus or an insect, may look very disastrous to the environment to humans. This is only because of our perception of time. The trees that once stood as a forest are now decomposing, increasing the potential of the forest to create more life. As soil depth increases, the forest can house more and more plants. We would like to make these Pleurotus part of the solution to this large problem we are facing today.

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 31st Telluride Mushroom Festival, a celebration of all things fungal and entheogenic, was an amazing success this year, with more people attending than in any year previous. Paul Stamets, Valerie Mojeiko, David Arora, Michael Beug, Linnea Gillman, Ron Spinosa, Bill Adams, Gary Lincoff, Larry Evans, along with many others, made this an absolutely amazing event. Amateur Mycology did 2 presentations entitled ‘How to Capture Your Wild Mycelium with Sterile Culture’ that turned out to be a huge success. We brought our portable sterile lab with us and showed everyone at the seminar how to clone a wild mushroom in a sterile environment. It was also available for any of the mycologists that were presenting as a service, so that they could clone their own specimens of fungi to take with them home. The whole event was so very well put together, and we would like to thank Art Goodtimes, ‘the shroompa’, for all of his hard work in putting this monumental collection of fungal allies together, all in one place. Stay tuned for photos of the event, along with a link to the official schedule for this year, and info on how to go in 2012.

The first annual Radical Mycology Convergence is September 2nd-5th! Just in case you were wondering, it is a free, volunteer-run gathering of mycologists, hobbyists, and Earth healers coming together to share skills and information related to  the benefits of the fungal kingdom in terms of remediative properties as well as human uses. This weekend-long event will culminate in a remediation project to put theory to practice and will also be a unique chance to build community with like-minded mycophiles (aka mushroom lovers) from around North America. Amateur Mycology will be presenting on the event, as well as helping with the mycoremediation project that will end the event. We can’t wait to be out in Washington State, hunting mushrooms and making mycelial connections with all of these amazing people. We will keep you posted on what happens, otherwise see you there!! For more information about the Mycology Convergence, visit their website at http://radicalmycology.wordpress.com/.

James and I have been incredibly busy recently with our many, many projects. Unfortunately for you guys, that means we have been MIA from our blog! Well, don’t worry. That is all about to change. While searching for black morels, which have been mostly non-existent this year, we stumbled into some very interesting fungi growing along the snowbanks.

Now for all of you who have never been to the Rocky Mountains looking for mushrooms in June, many unique fungi appear during this time of year around 9,000-10,000 feet in elevation. As our early summer temperatures skyrocket, snow begins to melt quite rapidly, creating many seasonal streams and tons of water runoff. This is also the period in which black morels begin to show up, soaking up all of the water rushing down the mountains. However, this year was abnormally cool in our upper elevations, causing the spring season to progress slowly. The aspen trees, which leaf out when morels like to fruit, have already been showing their leaves for almost 2 weeks now. This is true all the way up to 10,000 feet in elevation. However, Calypso Orchids, strawberries, Osha, and other ‘signal’ plants are barley beginning to grow. Bill Windsor, who is a long-time member of the Colorado Mycological Society and a Colorado black morel expert, informed many at the recent foray about these issues. These signal plants show to many of us who hunt morels that the ground temperature stayed too cool for too long. Bill mentioned that his black morel spots are barley fruiting if at all, and that in many areas of Colorado, the window of opportunity to find morels is coming to a close.

As I mentioned above, June is when our snow begins its melt off period, and even if we don’t have many morels in June, this moisture bank that comes surging down the mountains sustains many types of interesting fungi. The pictures below this post were all taken this year, and show the mushrooms that I am about to talk about.

The fungi that is pictured at the top of the post as well as below, is the very common, but none the less beautiful, Guepiniopsis alpinus, also known as the Golden Jelly Cone. This unique fungi can be found fruiting from dead wood, and like the other fungi, is found in areas where a snow bank has just receded or next to a snow bank where the water is melting into the ground. Their jelly like texture and bright golden color make it easy to identify.

The next photo is the largest of the snowbank fungi. Hygrophorus alpinus is a stately mushroom with bright white flesh. It has gills that are decurrent (running down the stem) and a mucus-like veil when young. Their stem tends to be rather bulbous at the base. This fungi is also an edible mushroom! It is actually one of the only Hygrophorus in Colorado that is known to be an edible species. James and I cooked some of them up just in butter and olive oil, salt and pepper. They had a very unique flavor, but to me, a slightly slug-like texture. I think if you cooked them until they were crispy, they would actually be quite delicious.

The last picture is of the very common Caloscypha fulgens. It is distinguished by its fairly uniform, cup-like shape, its ‘hunter orange’ hue, and the blue staining around its underside. These fungi tend to be found growing in conifer duff in open areas. They are so bright in color that they almost look like trash at first glance.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos of these strange fungi. Check back with us soon for pictures of our Pink Oysters that have fruited beautifully, as well as our standard Pleurotus pulmonarius that has fruited quite nicely as well.

We will be hosting a foray this weekend with our friends from the Arkansas Valley Mushroom Club on Saturday, June 12th. The fearless leader of AVMC, Irv Broudy was kind enough to ask us to lead an expedition into the high country to look for snow melt fungi and hopefully find some black morels! We will be gathering at the campground at the top of Kenosha Pass at 10 am and will be driving to our final hunting grounds. If you live in the Salida area, meet at 8:00am at Stop and Shop parking lot in town. For all the folks out in Buena Vista, meet at 8:30 at City Market in case there are people there who need a ride. Since it is a pretty long distance to Kensosha Pass, let’s try and maximize carpooling and chip in for gas for those who drive. If you are coming from Denver and would like to carpool or need directions to the meeting spot, shoot me an email at graham@amateurmycology.com and we will coordinate from there.

Weather conditions have been dry, so it’s likely that we will be looking for shrooms near or at the snow-melt zone, so dress accordingly and bring a lunch. James and I have recently found a few black morels, oysters, and many other snow melt fungi. We have been scouting and will select a specific location to hunt by Saturday. Hope to see you there!

While I was working on expanding mycelium I got an excited phone call from James. He said, “You can probably guess why I’m calling…” and I said, “Are you standing in front of some morels?”. “Black morels! About 30 of ‘em!” he said, and before I knew it, I was driving up into the mountains to go see them. I arrived to the spot and hiked up the stream into a grove of aspens. There was James and Clem standing there with big smiles on their faces. We went down to the stream and James sent me down to find them on my own. What was amazing to me is that they were growing right in the middle of the creek about halfway underwater! When I had first read in books that the Native Americans called morels ‘land fish mushrooms’, and I could never quite understand why until I saw these beautiful specimens swimming in the creek like trout. Even though they were soggy, with a little drying out they made a delectable cream sauce over barbecued chicken. But the most amazing part to me was that when they were fresh they smelled like fresh trout! Amazing! Suddenly the name ‘land fish’ begins to make more sense. So the first report of black morels has arrived in Colorado, and with it tons and tons of rain. We may have had a rough blonde morel season but that doesn’t mean no morels for us Coloradans. So keep your eyes peeled if you are around 9,000′ in elevation and are seeing moist aspen groves, especially if the leaves are just starting to come out, you might get lucky and spot some of these gorgeous little morsels! Check back soon for dates to the Amateur Mycology black morel forays, as well as more pictures and HD video of the whole experience. Happy hunting!

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!

As far as we know… which of course isn’t a whole heck of a lot (you are visiting Amateur Mycology after all) we are the first to find blonde morels in Colorado this year. We have video evidence for those of you who do not believe, which we will be posting soon along with pictures! They were found at about 5,000-5,500′ in elevation yesterday. The soil temperature was ranging from 49-53 degrees F in the areas they were found (we for some reason can’t remember exactly where). We are using fairly cheap digital candy thermometers to read the soil temperatures around the general area, as well as directly in the vicinity of the mushrooms. So for all of you in Colorado, hope for a little rain and get out there looking! I think we got a little rain this afternoon….