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mushroom hunting, cultivation, mycoremediation, and nature journalism

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I met Alex Milan Tracy at the Radical Mycology Convergence 2012 last week. He was documenting the event. This is a great short he put together which sums up the experience quite well. I’m also interviewed toward the end (heehee!) Enjoy!

Tags fungi mycology mushrooms radical port townsend washington video alex milan tracy RMC

 Source alexmilantracy.com

Reflections on the Radical Mycology Convergence 2012

Tues, Oct 23, 2012, reflections on the event: Hey myco-folk! I’ve just returned from the Radical Mycology Convergence in Port Townsend, WA and am hanging out in Seattle drinking coffee. I’ll be back in California later today to soak in the warm San Francisco culture.

First off, what was the Radical Mycology Convergence? Over two hundred myco-minded individuals congregated to the northeastern point of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula for a five day conference in Port Townsend to discuss mycology, remediation, and ecology. Visitors from coast to coast shared knowledge in mushroom cultivation, bioremediation, farming, medicinal mushrooms, event organization, and many other stimulating subjects! This was the second annual Radical Mycology Convergence, and the organizers are interested in expanding next year’s convergence to cater to a larger number of individuals. The location is yet to be decided.

Port Townsend was cold and sometimes wet, but spirits were high and excited. The cost for attendees was based on a sliding scale. Attending the event did not require paying a specific fee, and the organizers asked only for a donation of $10-50.

(Attendees wait in line for mid-day lunch break. Yummy food was provided three times a day for all attendees)

One of the intentions of the convergence was to empower and educate other individuals who are interested in creating their own convergence or mycology group in other parts of the country. Using a mycological metaphor, we became spores of knowledge intending to spread across the land and establish our own mycelial networks.

The Radical Mycology Convergence was a complete success, and from talking to the organizers, I’m convinced they felt the same way. I want to thank the organizers and all the presenters for assisting me with my recordings of the RMC workshops and with impromptu interviews. The organizers established a place for all of us to camp, fed us hot, healthy food at least three times a day, and provided yerba mate, coffee, and gallons of mushroom tea!

To all those with whom I shared a connection, I hope to see you blossom in your future. Please contact me: joe@mushroomjoe.com and spread that mycelial network.

Personal notes: I was surprised at the amount of people who were interested in a resource for further documentation of events like these. I hope my audio and video documentation can be an endless resource for all who attended and for those who could not attend. Because of the number of workshops held at RMC2012, several workshops were held at one time. I did my best to record the workshops which I felt both piqued my visitors’ interests, and as a springboard for my own future investigations and endeavors.

Here is a quick list of workshops and interviews I documented:

  • Understanding Medicinal Mushrooms (wowy!)
  • Radical Mycology 101
  • How to Identify Mushrooms: a Basic Introduction to Characteristics and Stature Type
  • Defending the Forest (a group discussion)
  • Reading the Land, aka applying fungi and bacteria to an unhealthy terrain
  • Soil Basics
  • Truffling, aka How to Find Truffles in the Pacific Northwest
  • How to Create Your Own Radical Mycology Group
  • Bioremediation (aka “Earth Repair”)
  • Medicinal Lichens (which, by the request of the presenter, will only appear on the RMC2012 website, more updates when that arrives)
  • Joining and Creating a Community Lab
  • Closing Notes by the Organizers
Look forward to seeing and hearing these events in the near future!


There were many more workshops which I was unable to attend. Some of these other workshops were recorded by other individuals. Hopefully through collaboration all of the documentation will make its way back to the RMC website. I’ll make announcements as the media rolls in. For comfort, we’re looking at about a couple months before all of the documentation is completely cleaned, organized, and uploaded, though expect them to trickle in one at a time.


On mushroomjoe.com: Which, by the way, brings me to another point. I realize the current state of mushroomjoe.com is fairly limited. Currently, mushroomjoe.com is a linear blogging site, and as such is limited in its potential to organize and present media and information. I’ll soon be making an announcement concerning the future of mushroomjoe.com. I’m excited! I hope you are, too! mushroomjoe.com will be stretching beyond simply mushrooms, and will be capturing the larger picture of which mycology is simply a branch.

On what I learned: I’ve always felt the community of myco-minded folk are the most eclectic, diverse, interesting, and intellectual of all communities of which I’ve been a part. These feelings concerning this community were confirmed after this event. RMC2012 drew together scientists working on their doctorates, curious-minded folk just out of high school, urban foragers, college students working toward a more environmentally friendly future, and urban and rural farmers, young and senior, to name a few. Everyone connected and gained from one another. The mycology community is extremely generous, and I want to thank everyone for their endless hospitality and generosity.

I also learned that understanding mycology is just a small, itty-bitty piece of a much larger puzzle toward understanding our natural world, and especially understanding bioremediation. After RMC2012, I’m interested in learning more about bacteria, soil, composting, and a host of other branches that belong to the larger ecological issues. The presentation I documented on bioremediation by Leila Darwish will reveal a more extended list of skills and knowledge to be gained.

On a separate, but related endeavor: Another subject that came up during RMC2012 was the need for a central online location of documenting hands-on do-it-yourself bioremediation techniques, case studies and anecdotes of the effects of medicinal mushrooms, and an index and central resource for remediation and cultivation techniques, and a wiki to boot. I’m excited to be part of a project which will hopefully become an invaluable resource for earth-friendly folk across our planet.

Tags mushrooms mycology fungi bioremediation port townsend washington olympic radical convergence bacteria ecology nature earth mycelium mycelia

Mycoporn, on cultivation: The mycelium of Coprinus comatus, Shaggy Mane, expands across agar in a petri plate. Somebody brought a fresh specimen of Shaggy Mane into the San Diego Fungus Fair, held by the San Diego Mycological Society. When the fair ended, I took the specimen home, cut into it and placed a chunk on this agar, cloning it. 

In the top of the second picture you’ll see several specimens of Shaggy Mane displayed at the Wild Mushroom Show sponsored by the Puget Sound Mycological Society.

(San Diego, California, March 29, 2011)

(Seattle, Washington, October 16, 2011)

Tags fungi mycelium mycology mushrooms cultivation puget sound seattle san diego california washington

Mycoporn: In the first photograph, the Blewit, Clitocybe nuda, is a tasty dinner treat. It grows from decaying leaf litter and can be found in many habitats that have any form of decaying organic plant matter. Its lustrous purple cap, purple gills, and lack of veil or volva are some of its characteristics. As well, it remains purple when sliced and cooked. Some describe its scent as “frozen orange-juice concentrate.” Blewits create a light white to pale pink spore print. (How to make a spore print.)

There are some purple look-alikes, notably poisonous Cortinarius species, as illustrated in the second two photographs. The most alarming trait of a Cortinarius species is its spider-web like veil, or “cortina.” Unlike Blewits, Cortinarius species leave a rusty-brown spore print.

When in doubt, throw it out.

(First image: Laguna Mountains, California, January 4, 2011) 

(Second image: San Juan Mountains, Colorado, August 17, 2011)

(Third image: Olympic National Park, Washington, September 29, 2011)

Tags fungi mycology mushrooms wild nature olympic laguna mountains california washington

Mycoporn: Latex drips from a Lactarius sp. found in Olympic National Park. Lactarius and Russula mushrooms generally look similar, yet Lactarius are differentiated by their ability to “lactate” a milky substance. Depending on the species, some bleed white, some blue, some orange, and others red. Notice how I sliced the mushroom to cause its reaction. (Olympic National Park, Washington, November 11, 2011)

Mycoporn: Latex drips from a Lactarius sp. found in Olympic National Park. Lactarius and Russula mushrooms generally look similar, yet Lactarius are differentiated by their ability to “lactate” a milky substance. Depending on the species, some bleed white, some blue, some orange, and others red. Notice how I sliced the mushroom to cause its reaction.

(Olympic National Park, Washington, November 11, 2011)

Tags fungi fungus mushrooms mycology lactarius mycoporn olympic nature wild washington

Mycoporn: The delicate gills of Russula brevipes rise from its short base. Although emerging pale white, R. brevipes can bruise a tan brown. Its chalky stem will explode when thrown against a tree. Common in the fall in the Pacific Northwest, R. brevipes would be considered less than spectacular except for its very important role: it is one of two hosts that transform into the highly prized and delicious Lobster Mushroom, Hypomyces lactifluorum, via a parasitic mold. Links one, two, and three.  (Olympic National Park, Washington, October 10, 2011)

Mycoporn: The delicate gills of Russula brevipes rise from its short base. Although emerging pale white, R. brevipes can bruise a tan brown. Its chalky stem will explode when thrown against a tree. Common in the fall in the Pacific Northwest, R. brevipes would be considered less than spectacular except for its very important role: it is one of two hosts that transform into the highly prized and delicious Lobster Mushroom, Hypomyces lactifluorum, via a parasitic mold. Links one, two, and three. 

(Olympic National Park, Washington, October 10, 2011)

Tags fungi mushrooms fungus mycology russula brevipes Hypomyces lactifluorum mycoporn lobster mushroom olympic washington wild nature

Mycoporn: A brilliant young cluster of Chicken-of-the-Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, emerges from a felled tree. At this stage they are edible and delicious (with a caveat: few individuals have been known to react poorly to this mushroom, however their reaction could have been a result of the mushroom growing past the point of edibility). With a neon orange top and a bright-yellow pored bottom, they are easy to identify, and considered one of the safest for amateurs to explore. They are best picked while young and vibrant. Chicken-of-the-woods have no gills and grow solely from dead wood. They are often dressed and barbecued like chicken. I found this cluster on the Hoh Rain Forest Trail in the Olympic National Park, considered acoustically the quietest area of the lower forty-eight. It served my appetite well! (Olympic National Park, Washington, October 9, 2011)

Mycoporn: A brilliant young cluster of Chicken-of-the-Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, emerges from a felled tree. At this stage they are edible and delicious (with a caveat: few individuals have been known to react poorly to this mushroom, however their reaction could have been a result of the mushroom growing past the point of edibility). With a neon orange top and a bright-yellow pored bottom, they are easy to identify, and considered one of the safest for amateurs to explore. They are best picked while young and vibrant. Chicken-of-the-woods have no gills and grow solely from dead wood. They are often dressed and barbecued like chicken. I found this cluster on the Hoh Rain Forest Trail in the Olympic National Park, considered acoustically the quietest area of the lower forty-eight. It served my appetite well!

(Olympic National Park, Washington, October 9, 2011)

Tags fungi nature wild mushrooms edible laetiporus washington olympic quiet

Mycoporn: Lobster Mushrooms, Hypomyces lactifluorum, sell for nearly $25/lb in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Lobster Mushrooms are especially delicious and especially rare. Their brilliant color is the result of a fungus growing on a developed mushroom, either a Lactarius or Russula mushroom. That’s right, two fungi in one! These mushrooms are considered mycorrhizal, meaning they grow symbiotically with trees. They can’t be cultivated (at least not yet).  (Seattle, Washington, September 2, 2011)

Mycoporn: Lobster Mushrooms, Hypomyces lactifluorum, sell for nearly $25/lb in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Lobster Mushrooms are especially delicious and especially rare. Their brilliant color is the result of a fungus growing on a developed mushroom, either a Lactarius or Russula mushroom. That’s right, two fungi in one! These mushrooms are considered mycorrhizal, meaning they grow symbiotically with trees. They can’t be cultivated (at least not yet). 

(Seattle, Washington, September 2, 2011)

Tags fungi mushrooms seattle edible pike place market mycoporn lobster mushrooms washington hypomyces lactifluorum

Mycoporn: Daniel Winkler discusses the amazing variety of mushrooms at the 2011 Wild Mushroom Show sponsored by the Puget Sound Mycological Society in Seattle. Daniel Winkler is best known for his studies on Tibetan foraging of Cordyceps sinensis,  ”Caterpillar Fungus,” which literally grow from caterpillars. C. sinensis is highly medicinal and highly valued, too, selling for extremely high prices at auctions and marketplaces. I met Daniel Winkler when he came to the San Diego Mycological Society to give a lecture on Cordyceps sinensis. He gave me the first wild mushroom I ever ate, the “Blewit,” Clitocybe nuda, after we went foraging in the Laguna Mountains of San Diego. Thanks Daniel! (Seattle, Washington, October 16, 2011)

Mycoporn: Daniel Winkler discusses the amazing variety of mushrooms at the 2011 Wild Mushroom Show sponsored by the Puget Sound Mycological Society in Seattle. Daniel Winkler is best known for his studies on Tibetan foraging of Cordyceps sinensis,  ”Caterpillar Fungus,” which literally grow from caterpillars. C. sinensis is highly medicinal and highly valued, too, selling for extremely high prices at auctions and marketplaces. I met Daniel Winkler when he came to the San Diego Mycological Society to give a lecture on Cordyceps sinensis. He gave me the first wild mushroom I ever ate, the “Blewit,” Clitocybe nuda, after we went foraging in the Laguna Mountains of San Diego. Thanks Daniel!

(Seattle, Washington, October 16, 2011)

Tags mushrooms wild mushroom show pugent sound mycological society seattle washington fungi daniel winkler cordyceps sinensis blewit clitocybe nuda caterpillar