Since I have decided to dedicate part of my life and energy to the study of mycology, I've noticed mushrooms everywhere. Not only in books such as Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake and Fantastic Fungi (the film documentary), but everywhere I go. Here are a few examples:
My favorite clothing store Anthropologie's latest store exhibit includes large paper-mache mushrooms (bears a resemblance to Mycena leaiana, Orange Mycena) placed next to fall fashions. Not sure if they are saprobes or mycorrhizal? Etsy the global online marketplace is my go to place for homemade mushroom t-shirts, mugs, dresses, journals...etc... and, I'm not the only one. People are buying everything 'mushroom' by the buckets.
Even the grocery stores are selling other types of mushrooms besides portabellas and, in fact are growing their own. See Central Market exhibit below, cultivating oyster, lion's mane, and blue trumpets.
The current mushroom Zeitgeist (fancy way of saying trend of the moment) is growing. Mushroom groups on social media, festivals and local mushroom foraging clubs have sporulated everywhere. This is no longer an underground revolution. It seems the entire world woke up one day and realized that Fungi are more important than they ever imagined. The benefits of fungi in saving our environment and providing medicinal value to our health is finally reaching the masses.
In terms of knowledge, we are discovering new information about the long neglected Fungi, which was finally placed in it's own Kingdom in 1969, the year we landed on the moon. As an educator I'm obsessed with spreading the word.
Every morning while I walk my dog, I seem to run across mushrooms, despite the high temperatures, the mushrooms are calling me. I've started my own small herbarium (a collection of plants and fungi), however I prefer to call it a fungarium.
There is also a 'book' in me wanting to sporulate. Stay tuned and mush love.
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