MycoWizards

And just like that! WE ARE BACK! We have a lot of plans for the future of the Mycowizards Podcast and we are stoked to unroll it all slow and low like Texas style smoked meat! There are whispers in the Buck65 wind spreading rumors of @heymikevance and @shroomsodoom getting into a van with a carefully curated suitcase straight out of Fear And Loathing to scramble senses from farm to farm like bats out of doom, dead set of filming and recording the entire mycological insanity. Think 1990's firework wars on the highway straight out of Thrasher magazine #phelperforeverforeverphelper … but with a proper mycological focus…after all Harvard still throws better parties than Amherst! (someones not gonna like that one!)  … But until then, here is the long-awaited Episode 22 of the Mycowizards Podcast featuring Andrew and Adam of @smallhold … I made a wild rip down to the Big Apple to catch up with the Smallhold crew to see what they were working on and in the process we got to recording a nice couple hour conversation on the when and the where of their mycological journey. So sit back and enjoy or get to knocking while you listen! Stay insane myco wizards of the world and stay tuned in while you drop the F$#* out!

In another life, Dunk and I most likely crossed paths or perhaps we just ripped on two wheeled death traps up and down the same rugged streets of towns north of Boston. While he was running wild in the outlaw motorcycle scene, I was documenting and painting clandestine poets up and down the North Shore. There is a common thread that brings people to mycology and it finds its origins in the brains of those not interested in following anyone else's life rules or rhythms. That break from socially acceptable directions has led a lot of wonderfully interesting people into this independent obsession with mushrooms. Maybe it's that it takes us out of the world of people and into the world of our heads and the fifth kingdom. Many of us amateur mycologists are not what one would call “people pleasers”...there is a lack of patience in the drama of humanity where there is an abundance of patience for discovery, study and documentation. William Dunkerly has been building upon his myco-obsession ever since the day the mushroom-bug bit him and his journey has taken him in wild directions from basement growing to a commercial facility to value added frozen mushroom meals…one thing's for certain when speaking to and about the folks of the MycoWizard World, not one of them ever expected to be where they are today!

BONUS EPISODE ALERT!Maine Fungi Fest will be happening in Portland on May 14th, 2022. That's coming up really fast! Tyler Crawford and Erik Lomen will be presenting a talk on commercial cultivation techniques and systems with a Q&A section. This conversation was recorded with the festival's organizer Jonathan Leavitt. Jonathan is an artist, a performer and a really talented musician who also has a long standing history that left a truly positive impact on Maine's medical cannabis community. I learned a lot about Jonathan from his interview on In The Trees Podcast and it is worth hearing the whole tale from that side of the early 2000's for some insight into why he is the right human for the organizational efforts of all things Fungi. All in all, Maine Cap N' Stem is inspired by this mushroom boom and we are excited to share what we know to help sustain the growth of decentralized farms around the world. So come visit Tyler and Erik in the flesh the day of the festival! See you all there!

Aron Gonsalves and I go back to the beginning in this conversation. We recorded one evening at his farm house in southern Maine, almost empty and fully packed up, as he and his wonderfully kind wife Laura were about to embark on a journey to their new home with new beginnings in mind, down south away from the frozen north. Aron is a hustler, a gear grinder, a motorhead and a nerd on a lot of levels kin to myself. When I first heard a mycologist from Hawaii was coming to Maine, my young myco-entrepreneurial feathers were ruffled and it sort of gave me a kick in the ass to hustle harder and faster and really it was for good reason as you'll come to discover in this episode. Aron has a fire in him that is admirable and after a decade of talking mycology constantly (and motorcycles not frequently enough) i realized how rare it is to communicate with comrades in the same industry as yourself day in and out and just how much forward momentum can be achieved from working closely together in a growing industry. Our friendship and working relationship was and is without a doubt a primary motivator for this podcast and I hope it inspires you and your fellow mycophiles to communicate and build momentum together like more than one magnetic weight on a true wheel barrowing down the dawn with fire, grit and teeth aglow!

Cory Nellissen of HiFi Mycology has unbounded devotion to the exploration of his mycological endeavors. The study and systematization of mushroom cultivation demands patience, a quality one must possess in spades to make a go at the commercial cultivation game. Some days it feels like competition is closing in and other days it feels like you are in an oasis all of your own creation and you have brought the manna machine to the people! But the myco-machine requires constant analysis and maintenance to crank out the new age “flavor-aid” that is gourmet mushrooms. There is a kinesthetic motion once must maintain for a semblance of control over biological organisms and this requires no time to even entertain the ideas of defeat…remove that word from your vocabulary and soldier on. Dive back into old grow-logs, identify with the struggle of shroomery usernames and recognize the fight will be constant if you can't achieve a balance in working with these single celled organisms! If you make it this far, you'll know just where Cory is at, just where most masters of mycology are at and you will be a MycoWizard maintaining a myco-manna-machine all your own.   

Andrew Collier Reed: I'm fascinated by these radical myco-cats know by 3 names and there are a few...I know it's largely a facebook phenomenon, but every time I heard his name mentioned, years before we had a solid back and forth, I heard all three names, like an ancient elder-futhark chant of sorts...and Andrew, he is an ancient soul, glued to runes and science fiction and their large projections on a immensely imaginative universe that's conclusive in its own right and dedicated to the mission, no matter how mysterious it may seem when uttered out loud. Andrew and his myco-family have built a wildly interesting and successful system with their Mossback Syndicate. They generated the ultimate in low-tech methods to facilitate their associates' growth and have allowed support and growth of other companies around them to impact their sustainability in a positive way. Andrew's Mossy Creek team might single handedly bring about substantial changes in the areas of phenotype development with their breeding programs and investment in liquid culture. While we don't talk about it a ton in this conversation his King Blue strain has become so popular that it's shadowed long standing phenos myco-farmers have depended on for decades...and that fact is true innovation at the microscopic beginnings of this entire world of mycology. 

I'd assume Satchmo was one hell of a zen-calm yet lively jazz-wizard roaming the Americas and Europe like a madman on the horn through the 30s and 40s making myths in all the world's clandestine clubs and dark alleyways, where spirit infused music spilled into the streets like smiles and wine. If I were to try to express who Josh Saul is to me and what he embodies as a mycologist, I'd have to say it's a feeling similar to what one gets from soaking in the very early ear-candy jazz recordings, all crackle, pop and fuzz of the man himself, Satchmo. There is something about musicians getting into mycology; there is a mastery over the complexities of theory that requires much determination and deep study: experimentation and analysis on constant repetition. But after the mastery erupts a sort of Jazz in motion...and to me what Josh has done with Play Of Sunlight embodies the jazz of mycology. When you can live free-form in the chaos of a spore to store operation you can certainly attain this level of myco-jazz-wizardry, but I think it's rare...rare enough to quote the late great Hunter S. Thompson, "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." 

Only one Instagram account can rival @dunksmushrooms in fungal beauty and that's @bluffcityfungi . For Scott Avery Lisenby it's a family affair and the sincerity at the heart of his farm is alive and well in every way imaginable. Scott's got the drive and the focus of all great fungi-wizards, building his Memphis farm from the ground up inspired by innovation and pure hustle. In our couple hour conversation you'll find all the stories that generate the myco-myths, originating from the gentle and yet wildly tough spirit that is the Scott. It's one thing to call yourself a mushroom farmer and it's another to be genuinely skilled at the cultivation craft. This mushroom family is tuned, honed, talented and stoked, so enjoy the wild tale of Bluff City Fungi!

Brendan Linnane started Foggy Dew Fungi with a similar sentiment to most emerging mycologically minded business owners. It comes in stages, first as a spark, the visual and written volumes of seemingly ancient information available on an entire kingdom you never learned about in school appearing like an apparition one day and turning into an obsession overnight. You chase down new texts and old, searching out the dusty, tiny “mycology/mushroom” sections in every used book store within driving distance. You get sucked into the abyss of the Shroomery late into each night. You begin foraging, taxonomically identifying and then swiftly eating rare and sought after fungal phenotypes from the forest floors and trees. By the time you've solidified in your mind the 3-4 sure ways to identify and devour Chanterelles, winter falls and as the wilds retreat you explore grocery stores for imports, dried options and freshly cultivated varieties. You identify the farms that are growing mushrooms you have only read about and soon you have a flow hood, agar and a Presto or All-American in your closet...If this describes you, you are sunk, you are Brendan, you are all of us, the ones who caught the dangerous combination bug that blends an endless thirst for mycological knowledge with a genetic predisposition for working for yourself, working for the Foggy Dew Fungi!

When Joe Weber started his Chicago based farm, Four Star Mushrooms, he held a deep fascination and interest in naturally occurring ecological systems, with their dialed in intricacies holding fast in this disposable world. The development of man-made-machines with algorithmic methodologies syncopated to deep human observations into naturally occurring organizations have bred some of the most stable, vertically integrated food systems possible in this fast growing world. Joe has been building these sentiments and frameworks into his business from the beginning, using computerization and controls to allow for further exploration, development and information gathering from the ecological systems at hand to assist in the growth of sustained food systems for the world at large. The humble and casual nature of Joe and his dedication to the nerd factor in mycology is apparent and embraced in this industry. 

Season 2 Episode 2: A lot of artists, musicians and farmers have a common thread in their development of place and space and the construction, deconstruction, expansion and contraction of many 4 walled rooms to fill very particular roles in the generation of their creations. Norman Fetter of Woodland Jewel seems to fit in this category of a person who delineates space for multi-potentiality from Music to Mycology and in that personality you find an old soul dedicated to the focus of their crafts and the creations at hand. With growth in this industry comes the need to reimagine and self-develop the spaces which you have at your disposal for cultivation and it seems to be a fascination and focus at Norm's PA facility and home. 

Season Two Episode One: Tyler Crawford, the Wizard of Spawn production at Cap N Stem has been with us for quite a few years now. Hailing from Connecticut or Canada or Both, you'll most likely find him expressing his wildness hiking the highest peaks of New England and Beyond like a young Frater Perdurabo inbetwixt mycological research and development at the Shroom Of Doom Headquarters here in Maine. If you've talked with Tyler you know how well informed and methodological this mycomaster is, so as part of this 2nd season of The MycoWizards Podcast we would like to announce the audio/visual production of MycoWizard Deep-Dives soon to be available at www.capnstem.com where Tyler Crawford and Erik Lomen will be covering single topics in conversational episodes from sterilization techniques to growing medias, production processes, fruiting techniques, facility layouts and much much more. So keep an eye and an ear out as this season of MycoWizards commences!

TR Davis of @earthangelmushrooms hustles and his enthusiasm for this specialty gourmet mushroom industry is as strong as ever. Over the last decade I've had the pleasure of watching TR grow Earth Angel Mushrooms starting with his early days on the scene of CMGN, an exclusive network of Commercial Mushroom Farmers dedicated to this craft. It's hard to describe how much TR has helped to propel this industry forward because it's still growing at a rapid rate, but his constant documentation, willingness to share information, share strains and keep close connections to the myco-farms spread across the world is an inspiration not unnoticed in the least! Check out his YouTube channel to absorb all of the knowledge he has accumulated and is willing to share! 

Michael and Liz Nail of Mile High Fungi are one of those amazingly connected couples that has been able to power through the development and growth of a mushroom business with a finely focused scope that holds true to the ebb and flow between hard work and enjoying life by keeping their mycological enterprise seasonal. Now with a kiddo in the picture their field of vision has widened up a bit and they seem as focused as ever and excited to continue on with farming fungi while raising their daughter Charlie Jade to be as tough and old school as a human from the mountains of Colorado needs to be to survive and thrive in this wild world! So go check 'em out if your in the Denver area and follow this radical family on their mycological journey!

Alex Winstead of Cascadia Mushroom is a steadfast gourmet mushroom cultivator from way back! A true myco-nerd and hero in the world of traditional mushroom setups, employing the use of ribbon mixers, pneumatic baggers, autoclaves and semi-complicated environmental controls from the era before House Of Hydro and InkBird.  I have personally been 'stalking' the progress of Cascadia since ~2011, as Alex had several quality youtube mini-docs out about his farm around then that truly inspired a lot of up and coming self proclaimed mycologists. So check them out, follow them online and if your in Washington State, go say hey!

Brooks Worden is an old soul survivor of the New England winter turned West Coast dweller. His fascination for mycology has brought him to the reaches of this weird planet since the early 2000's. Brooks and I just missed one another back around 2010 in the Southwest of the States as I was departing Arizona and he was cruising into Aloha Medicinal's internship program. At that time social media hadn't kicked into top gear but the clandestine spore slingers of the 2000's were just starting to become aware of one another in the emerging connective digital-sphere. These days Brooks works for the fine folks at Far West Fungi and still seems 100% stoked on that West Coast MycoMania! If you're in SoCal go pay the homie a visit at FFF!

Lisa Pixley is an immeasurably amazing human. She is a professional printmaker, forager and wellspring of knowledge you wish you had on hand! She is one of the founders of Maine Cap N' Stem, if not the catalyst for its inception and our forward momentum into this industry. The lines might be a lil beer-blurry in regards to our first conversation about growing mushrooms after my departure from Arizona and arrival back into Maine, but I give her all the credit without a doubt. Her excitement for the basic human reactions and connections to mushrooms, foraging and creativity have motivated me and our company to continue on through all the ups and downs. Check her work out and head on over to her print shop if you're ever in Portland, Maine!    

Garrett Wilkerson is the mycological meme-master and man behind the fast growing social media presence of Unicorn Bags. His genuine and intense stoke on all things mushroom related is nothing short of inspirational.  He is on an innovation quest in the name of sustainability for mycology and while he may not be fully aware of it, his meme's are a breath of fresh air in the extremely fast growing mushroom cultivation world. Garrett has unearthed the excitement and the nerdiness of the early shroomery days and blasted it back into relevant focus for the modern-myco-nerds colonizing the new social media platforms.        

Brian McShane and Randen Syjut are the myco-masterminds behind Detroit Mushroom Company.  Brian and I hadn't officially caught up before this conversation so it was delightful to riff on topics of hip hop, mushrooms, motorcycles for 4 hours. It's amazing and inspiring to hear how much respect Brian has for the folks in this industry.  He seems naturally cued into the mycologists who are making commercial mushroom magic happen every day in this wild world. Brian and Randen's spirit, positivity and focus through the early days of Covid-19 shut-downs really inspired Maine Cap N' Stem to re-approach the impending Doom with a sense of determination and swift movements to support this beautiful and blooming mushroom community and for that we will always be grateful!

What can I say about Neil Brent, king-myco-mad-man of the west coast? Well, I can say for certain I thought he was from the east coast, which is a huge compliment in my book, given our propensity for dark humor, blunt statements and strong whiskey....but seriously, Neil is a huge asset to the commercial mushroom world, he's got the focus, drive and innovative spirit one needs to thrive in this myco-world, so keep it up amigo and keep inspiring the masses...I expect more hilarious voicemails post-haste! Check out Neil's farm out at www.columbiamushroom.com

Eric Milligan is a humble man of many talents!  I'm extremely stoked to call him a friend and even more stoked to bring everyone this hilarious conversation we had a few weeks back! Check out www.nhmushrooms.com and give them a follow on the platforms of social media! ENJOY!

In our very first episode I chat it up with Sam and Soraya of Nearby Naturals out of Orlando Florida. Check them out at www.nearbynaturalsfl.com