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/.