The Mushroom Hour Podcast

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 Culture
• Fungi 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 Ecologies
• 100+ 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   

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of being joined by Prof. Toby Kiers - Professor of Evolutionary Biology and University Research Chair at Vrije Fryy Universiteit Universitight Amsterdam. Her lab uses nanoprobes and high-resolution imaging to map the nutrient flows and architecture of plant-fungal networks. She is globally recognized for her scientific work in the evolution of symbiotic trade, and her public outreach activities, including a 2019 TED talk. Kiers won an Ammodo Award in 2019 for “unfettered science”, was awarded the E.O. Wilson Award for Natural History in 2021 and won an IMPACT award from the Dutch science foundation in 2021 for founding the non-profit SPUN - the Society for the Protection of Underground networks.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Morel Memories  & Research in Panama   
• Refining Definitions of Symbiosis and Mutualism    
• How Ecosystems are Shaped by Competitive and Symbiotic Dynamics   
• Symbiosis and Mutualism without Altruism    
• Competition within Mutualisms    
• Biological Market Theory   
• "Decisions" vs. Genetic Strategies   
• Quantum Dot Technology & Visualizing Fungal Networks   
• Mysteries of Bi-Directional Nutrient Transport & Molecular Motors     
• Fungal & Plant Market Manipulations   
• Can Understanding Fungal Market Economies Help Us Predict the Stock Market?    
• How Do We Quantify Flows in Real World Forests?   
• SPUN – The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks    
• Shifting Conservation Priorities to the Unseen   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Toby Kiers Website: https://tobykiers.com/   
• SPUN Website: https://www.spun.earth/   
• Ronald Noë (Biological Market Theory): https://sites.google.com/site/ronaldnoe/RN-home?authuser=0   
• Rhizophagus aggregatus (fungus): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=241619   

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”  
• Merck Index: https://www.rsc.org/merck-index  
• Phallus impudicus (AKA Stinkhorn): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus_impudicus  

Today on Mushroom Hour we the privilege to get to know mushroom cultivation artist Kiat. Kiat is the founder of Bewilder, a Mycological Design Studio based in Singapore. As the one-man R&D team behind this project, Kiat knows his science! For him, growing mushrooms is an intense and carefully tuned process that also blends in a fair bit of artistry and intuition. Before founding Bewilder, Kiat worked on a local farm cultivating mushrooms out of waste substrates. These years of experience and experimentation formed him into the self-taught mushroom cultivator he is today. As he explores ever more mysteries of growing fungi, he continues to bow his head humbly to the ways of nature.   

TOPICS COVERED:

• Childhood Love of Nature Becomes a Mushroom Addiction   
• Mycophobia and “Success Culture” in Singapore   
• Showing What's Possible, Asking Questions    
• Mushrooms as a Tool for Doing Good   
• Founding Bewilder Design Studio   
• Communities vs Competition in Myco-Entrepreneurship   
• Myco-Composite Materials   
• Government Control and Separation from Nature     
• Seeking Out Native Strains for Food & Mycomaterials   
• Mycelium Lampshades   
• Being Humble, Recognizing Our Place in Nature   
• Relinquishing Control, Reconnecting to Greater Consciousness   
• Importance of Making Mistakes   
• Bewilder Commercial Projects and Research Areas   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Bewilder SG Website: https://www.bewildersg.com/   
• Bewilder IG: https://www.instagram.com/bewildersg/   
• Terrestrial Fungi (Inspiration): https://www.instagram.com/bewildersg/   
• Ganoderma weberianum (fungus): https://www.mycobank.org/page/Name%20details%20page/name/Ganoderma%20weberianum   
• Filoboletus manipularis (fungus): https://singapore.biodiversity.online/species/F-Basidomycota-000035   
• Mycena chlorophos (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycena_chlorophos   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are graced by the presence of mycologist and musician Andy Overall. Andy has had a fascinating journey from the Blue Zoo and pop stardom back through the hedges and woodlands when he became interested in mushrooms back in the early 1990’s. He realized he needed something else, another interest other than his involvement with music. Growing up as a boy during the 60’s in the English, market town countryside, of Braintree, Essex he nurtured an interest in nature…And then along came David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and everything changed course for a while! Later in life his rekindled interest in fungi evolved into obsession as he began to see an infinite variety of fungal species appearing before him and he wanted to get to know them all. Since his obsession began, Andy has published magazines, countless articles and in 2017 his first book all about fungi -  “FUNGI-Mushrooms & Toadstools of Parks, Gardens, Heaths and Woodlands”. He is the fungi recorder for the London Natural History Society and a Group Leader in the London Fungus Group. I’m excited to learn about the mycological journey of a culture creator, artist and naturalist and his explorations into what he so poetically dubs, “the jewels in nature’s crown”   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• From Wilderness to Ziggy Stardust   
• Birth of Blue Zoo   
• Shifting from Pop Stardom to Mycology   
• Evolution of the Amateur Mycology Community   
• Professional Surveying for Fungi    
• Insights from Biodiversity Databases   
• Making Better Decisions About Forest Management   
• Role of DNA in Fungal Surveys   
• Heathrow Airport Cortinarius    
• Contributions of Amateur Naturalists   
• Tips to Making Better Observations   
• Process of Mushroom Spotting & Identification    
• Ethnomycology Travels in Oaxaca, Czech Republic, Australia   
• Published and Unpublished Works of Gaston Guzman   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Andy Overall Website: http://www.fungitobewith.org/   
• London Fungi Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/LondonFungusNetwork/   
• British Mycological Society: https://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/   
• Blue Zoo Website: http://www.bluezoo.org.uk/   
• Roger Phillips (Legend): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Phillips_(photographer)   
• Marcel Bon (Mycologist): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Bon   
• Mark Spencer (Botanist): https://markspencerbotanist.com/   
• GIGL: https://www.gigl.org.uk/londons-open-spaces/   
• Cortinarius heatherae (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_heatherae   
• Laetiporus sulphureus (AKA Chicken of the Woods): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus_sulphureus

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of being joined by Dr. Kevin Boyce, Professor of Geological Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Boyce's research is focused on the biological and environmental impacts of the evolution of plant structure, development, and physiology from the Paleozoic colonization of land through the subsequent radiations of land plant forms up to and including the Cretaceous radiation of flowering plants. This work involves both living and fossil plants and a wide variety of approaches: developmental and physiological investigation, climate modeling, comparative study of morphological diversity, and cell and tissue-specific analysis of elemental, isotopic, and organic chemistry. These tools have been applied to three connected areas of research that each inform wider questions concerning the evolution of terrestrial environments: 1. the evolution of leaf morphology, development, and physiology with feedbacks to climate and primary productivity, 2. the evolution of cell wall biochemistry and its influence on organic matter burial as a sink in the carbon cycle, and 3. the establishment of early terrestrial life and ecosystems encompassing the complete biota including animals, fungi, and microbial communities in addition to the plants. I’m excited to learn about the coevolution of plants and fungi, prototaxites and how we learn about organismal evolution and community assembly from the ancient past.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• The Path into Paleontology
• Geobiology & Defining Geological Eras   
• Fungal & Plant Fossil Records   
• Absolute Time & Relative Time   
• Evolution of Plant Physiology   
• Coevolution of Plants, Bacteria, Fungi and Animals   
• Stochastic "Rules" of Community Assembly   
• Geochemistry   
• Genetic Tools and Phylogeny Changing Paleontology   
• Prototaxites   
• Biochemical Signatures of Heretrophs and Autotrophs   
• Piecing Together a Paleozoic Landscape    
• Lifestyle, Physiology and Growth Rate of Prototaxites   
• Future Work into the Cenozoic   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Dr. Kevin Boyce Academic Website: https://biology.stanford.edu/people/kevin-boyce   
• Dr. Boyce Paper on Prototaxites: https://awarticles.s3.amazonaws.com/Boyce2007.pdf   
• Prototaxites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites   
• Geologic Time Scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_time_scale   
• "Wonderful Life" by Stephen Gould: https://wwnorton.com/books/Wonderful-Life/   
• Lycopodium (clubmoss genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopodium   
• "Stinkhorn" Mushrooms: https://www.mushroomexpert.com/stinkhorns.html   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are graced by the presence of one of my favorite biophiliacs and artists -Jon Ching. Jon grew up steeped in natural beauty on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, which formed the foundation of his deep fascination with the natural and wild world.  A self-taught painter, Jon’s devoted art practice and detailed realism is inspired by the interconnectedness of nature.  While dedicated to the minute idiosyncrasies of flora and fauna, Jon’s work is a surreal imagining of what limitless wonders and combinations nature can produce.  New creatures and symbioses emerge in his meticulously rendered oil paintings, exemplifying the endless potential of life on Earth.  His work is often driven by his personal desire to find balance between the human and natural worlds, exploring themes of symbiosis and searching for connections, physical and metaphorical, across nature’s kingdoms. Highlighting man-made threats to the natural world are a regular theme in his work to raise awareness of and evoke compassion for the kingdoms of life. Jon’s ultimate hope is to inspire love and admiration for the universally unique beauty and intrigue of our world.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Childhood in Hawaii as Inspiration   
• Unlocking Biological Imagination   
• Powers of Observation   
• Impact of Becoming a Father   
• Slowing Down   
• Communicating Ecological Messages Through Artwork   
• Fungi Finding Their Way onto the Canvas   
• Navigating the Professional Art World   
• Gallery Shows   
• Materials, Process and Timeline of Creating Paintings    
• From Paintings to Murals   
• Future Projects   
• WTF NFTs   
• Finding Equilibrium with Natural Systems   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Jon Ching Website: https://jonchingart.com/   
• Jon Ching IG: https://www.instagram.com/jonchingart/   
• Jon Ching FB: https://www.facebook.com/JonChingArt   
• Jon Ching @ Beinart Gallery: https://beinart.org/collections/jon-ching   
• Hericium erinaceus (AKA Lions Mane): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hericium_erinaceus 

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of interviewing Professor Vera Meyer from the Technical University of Berlin. Professor Meyer’s career has seen her as a visiting scientist to the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London (2003) and to the department of Fungal Genetics and Metabolomics at Leiden University in the Netherlands (2005 - 2006). In 2008, Professor Meyer was appointed assistant professor for Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology at Leiden University, a position she held for three years. Since 2011, she has been professor at the Institute of Biotechnology and head of its department for Applied and Molecular Microbiology at the Technical University of Berlin. Her scientific work in the field of fungal biotechnology has been published in more than 100 publications. Vera also works as a visual artist, using the pseudonym V. meer. She puts a strong emphasis on sculpting and creating objects from chance finds like forest mushrooms, decaying wood and scrap metal. Inspired by her scientific work with fungi in microbiology, she combines these materials in the sense of a found object. Through her artwork, she wants to enhance the awareness for fungi and their potential in biotechnology and for a sustainable bioeconomy in general.   

TOPICS COVERED:    

• Childhood Fascination with the Invisible   
• Fungal Biotechnology   
• Seeing Fungi as Friends and as Foes   
• Importance of Multi-Disciplinary Approach    
• Open Science Movement   
• Aspergillus niger, Citric Acid and the Origins of Modern Biotechnology    
• Primary and Secondary Metabolism
• Modulating Metabolic Processes of Aspergillus in Making Products   
• Synthetic Biology   
• BioReactor Cultivation & Ecology of a BioReactor   
• Mycelium Materials   
• Building a Mycelium Materials Database   
• Transdisciplinary Collaboration   
• Reconciling Biotechnology with Conservation and the Precautionary Principle   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Vera Meyer Academic Page @ TU Berlin: https://www.tu.berlin/en/vcard/vera.meyer   
• Vera Meyer Art (V.Meer): https://www.v-meer.de/   
• Vera Meyer IG: https://instagram.com/v.meer_/   
• Art Lab Berlin: https://artlaboratory-berlin.org/de/forschung/mind-the-fungi/   
• TU Berlin - Natural Building Lab: https://www.nbl.berlin/   
• "Beauty of the Morbid" Article: https://fungalbiolbiotech.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40694-016-0028-4   
• Aspergillus niger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_niger   
• Fomes fomentarius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomes_fomentarius   
• Macrolepiota procera (AKA Parasol Mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrolepiota_procera   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are excited to chat with Connie Green founder of Wine Forest Foods and author of “The Wild Table”. Since 1979, Connie has been providing chefs like Thomas Keller, Cory Lee, Michael Mina, Traci de Jardins and many more with mushrooms of unparalleled quality. As one of the very first pioneers in the American wild mushroom business, Connie has filled a key role in educating chefs and the public about the wild foods now so widely loved in American cuisine. Over the decades, she has cultivated a network of great mushroom pickers has been woven across the West, Canada, Alaska, Mexico, and even Europe. Hand and hand with this wild life with wild mushrooms is a love and respect for the forest ecosystem from which the mushrooms flow. Connie has always preached principles of sustainability in harvesting and hopes that, in her own words, “commercial mushroom hunting can give a living back to loggers and make our forests economically more valuable in the long term left standing than converted to board feet of lumber”. What a privilege to speak with a culture creator and pioneer in wild mushroom harvesting.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Fields of Chanterelles & Beginning of Commercial Foraging   
• Putting in the Miles in the Forest   
• Scouting Habitat and Making Good Observations   
• Northern California Chanterelle Habitat   
• Ukiah, Oregon - The Town Morels Built    
• Fire & Ecological Transformation in Northern California   
• Tan Oak Destruction    
• Economic Value of Forest Fungal Productivity vs Board Feet of Lumber   
• Regional Fiefdoms of National Forest service    
• Symbiosis of Amateur and Professional Foragers   
• Foraging Sustainably, Cultivating Forage Grounds   
• Commercial Foraging Networks   
• Wild Food Regulation   
• Advice to Enter the Business of Wild Foods   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Wine Forest website: https://wineforest.com/   
• "The Wild Table": https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Table-Seasonal-Foraged-Recipes/dp/0670022268   
• Ukiah, Oregon: http://www.cityofukiahoregon.com/history.html   
• Cantherellus californicus (AKA California Golden Chanterelle): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantharellus_californicus   
• Notholithocarpus densiflorus (AKA Tan Oak): https://calscape.org/Notholithocarpus-densiflorus-()
• Morchella tomentosa (AKA Gray Morel): http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_tomentosa.html   
• Craterellus tubaeformis (AKA Yellowfoot Chanterelle): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craterellus_tubaeformis   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by the distinguished and prolific George Poinar, Jr. PhD. George received his Ph.D. in biology from Cornell University and spent most of his career in the Department of Entomology at the University of California at Berkeley before moving to Oregon State University, where he is a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology. His interest in the tropics, along with a passion for paleontology, culminated in the book The Amber Forest, co-authored with his wife, Roberta, and published by Princeton University Press. He is also the author of other books, including Life in Amber. In addition, he is a founder of The Amber Institute. He is a pioneer when it comes to studying associations between invertebrates and other organisms in amber. One of his projects was recently all over the news as he discovered a new genus and species of fungal entomoparasite growing out of a fossilized ant – the older mushroom growing from an ant that has ever been found!   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Young Naturalist Inspired by Walden and Thoreau   
• Entering Entomology   
• Research Tours through Southeast Asia
• Insect Vectors of Disease-Carrying Parasites in Africa   
• Insect Diseases in Russia   
• Pivoting to Vertebrate Parasites in France, Germany & Holland   
• Ancient History of Insect Pathogens and Their Parasites   
• The Basics of Amber Preservation   
• Preparing and Cutting Amber for Examination   
• Determining the Age of Specimens in Amber   
• Phylogeny and Ancestry in Family Cordycipitaceae
• Extracting Genetic Information from Amber Specimens   
• Meeting Michael Creighton and Jurassic Park Inspirations   
• Evolutionary Insights from Ancient to Modern Fungi   

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• George Poinar Jr PhD: https://science.oregonstate.edu/directory/george-o-poinar-jr   
• Family Cordycipitaceae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordycipitaceae   
• Richard Korf (Inspiration): https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/28593   
• Rhinoceros Beetles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastinae   
• "Laboratory Guide to Insect Pathogens and Parasites": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4288060-laboratory-guide-to-insect-pathogens-and-parasites   
• Hermitage Museum (Russia): https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/   
• Hymenaea (Tree Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenaea   
• Paleoclaviceps parasiticus (fungus): https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=310964   
• Allocordyceps baltica (fungus): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1878614621000799