posted 4 hours ago
Hello Permies!
I'm thinking about putting together a class on cultivating mycorrhizal mushrooms, and want to gauge interest in the Permie community.
Many of the most expensive, and extensively foraged mushrooms in the world are mycorrhizal. These include porcini, chanterelles, matsutake, and truffles which all have international markets valued above a billion dollars. These mushrooms grow on the roots of their hosts in a symbiotic relationship, and are essential members of forest ecosystems. Many are also medicinal, producing compounds with confirmed anti cancer and anti inflammatory properties.
When I took my PDC course, I was first blown away by how much knowledge and structure existed already for designing resilient agro-ecosystems. Then I was surprised that virtually no information was available in any materials I looked at on how to integrate these critical members of the community into the design and practice.
Fast forward almost 15 years, and I'm a soil ecologist working exactly on this type of problem in real farming systems. I'm well positioned to fill that gap.
So my question is: are folks interested in learning how to cultivate mycorrhizal mushrooms and manage their mycorrhizal fungi, or am I just a weirdo?
- Dietrich
