By Liza Gabriel
Fungi are all around us. They’re beneath our feet, in the air we breathe, in the soil we work in, and sometimes even in our eyebrows. Their ability to reproduce and weave themselves into nearly everything is both miraculous and frustrating (see the article on B-18). Fungi can remove pollutants from soil (see B-5) and creep behind shower walls. As consumers, most of us are interested in the fungi that produce fruit, aka mushrooms, so we can consume them for food or medicine (see B-18 and B-19). As farmers, we’re interested in our ability to produce mushrooms consistently, with relative uniformity (see B-1 and B-14). Mushrooms maintain symbiotic relationships and provide tremendous ecosystem benefits because of their extensive ability to decompose other things (see B-7 and B-10).
In our home, I’m surrounded by mushrooms all the time. At least once a day, mushrooms are cooked, made into medicine, or consumed in a tincture. About once a week in the warmer months, a harvest basket sits upon the counter filled with mushrooms found on a recent forage. I’m married to a fun guy (sorry, I had to say it) who runs a mushroom farm, teaches mushroom production and forest ecology, and eats at least half a pound of mushrooms daily. I take my immunity blend of Shiitake, Oyster, Turkey Tail and Lions Mane tincture daily. While I genuinely appreciate fungi’s role in our ecosystem and owe mushrooms deep gratitude for keeping my immune system strong as I received 12 chemotherapy treatments in 2016, if I’m honest, I can’t stand the taste or the smell of mushrooms. I wish I did.
People who love mushrooms really love them. It’s an adoration unlike any relationship I’ve seen between humans and a plant (no, mushrooms are not plants, but I use this comparison because plants are another thing people forage and most farmers cultivate plants.) I’ve been on dozens of walks with mushroom lovers as they gleefully frolic through the trees and forage. I’ve witnessed the giddy joy of my partner and our mushroom-loving friends as they share a meal of fresh mushrooms mming and groaning between bites. I am proud when customers ogle at our mushrooms as they walk by our farmers market booth, “is this food or art?” they say, commenting on the mushrooms’ beauty. Mushrooms are alluring.
Mushrooms’ elusive nature sparks curiosity. Their ubiquitous character makes them powerful enough to hold the record as the world’s largest species. They are acclaimed for their long list of researched health benefits, from boosting immunity to inhibiting memory loss to supporting mental health (see B-4). Mushroom coffee blends have even become part of many people's morning rituals. Whether you like to consume mushrooms or not, I hope this issue illuminates the wonders of fungi, inspires you to produce mushrooms on your own at any scale (see 6, 8, 19 and 22), encourages you to forage safely (see B-2) and helps connect you to the many communities of mushrooms lovers in the Northeast (see B-12 and B-15).
As always, I welcome your letters about this issue or another topic you’d like to write about. Our upcoming TNF themes are Farmers of Color (deadline Nov. 1), Draft Animal Power (deadline Feb. 1), and Organic Pasture Conversation & Management (deadline May 1).
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