Today on Mushroom Hour we have the wonderful occasion of speaking with Anna Henning. She has been hunting fungi in the woods of central Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut for over 5 years, gathering edible and medicinal mushrooms along with knowledge, and friends along the way.
In the sleepy town of Cape Cod we'll meet a passionate self-taught mycology, taxonomist and etymologist named Anna, but you can call her "Breakfast". We wander the forests, with plenty of canine company, searching for mushrooms and also benefiting from some innate, therapeutic effects. Our culture is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of mental health and how each of us accumulates degrees of trauma and anxiety. Anna will use her knowledge of psychology to relate the feeling of connection we feel out in nature to tangibly improving mental health. Can our experiences in nature help us to heal the parts of ourselves that need it most? How does a relationship with nature intertwine with our modern psychological understanding of concepts like "attachment theory"?
Entering the domain of "binomial nomenclature", we'll cover the basics of scientific taxonomy and how the interlocking structure from "kingdom" down to "species" works. This leads us to in-depth exploration of etymology, the study of the origin of words and language. We'll hear some particularly intriguing, amusing and insightful examples of different fungi and how their names were derived. How did Greek helmets made from weasel-skin become the basis for naming a mushroom? How does an understanding of etymology provide us a sense of connection?
Thanks for listening and Mush Love!
Directed, Recorded, Produced by: Mushroom Hour
(@welcome_to_mushroom_hour)
Music by: Ancient Baby
Art by: Wyn Di Stefano
Episode Resources
Breakfast of Champignonz IG: https://www.instagram.com/breakfast_of_champignonz/
Gyroporus Cyanescens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroporus_cyanescens
Exsudoporus Frostii: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exsudoporus_frostii
Calostoma Cinnabarinum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calostoma_cinnabarinum
Ep. 157: Psychedelic Adventures into Microscopic Mushroom Worlds (feat. Irene Antonez)
Ep. 156: Chaotic Forager - Mycology, Ecosystems & the Explosion of Mushroom Media (feat. Gabrielle Cerberville)
Ep. 155: What a Mushroom Lives For - Matsutake & the Worlds They Make (feat. Dr. Michael J. Hathaway)
Ep. 154: Medicinal Mushrooms, Fungal Microbiomes & Alberta's Fungal Diversity (feat. Martin Osis)
Ep. 153: Rural Courses - Self-Sufficient Living with Fungi, Plants and Animals (feat. Michael White)
Ep. 152: Poland Fungi - For the Glory of Mushrooms (feat. Piotr Zieba)
Ep. 151: Neuroscience, Memory and Psychedelics (feat. Manoj Doss PhD)
Ep. 150: The Global Forest Health Crisis & the Sentinel Tree Network (feat. Geoffery Williams PhD)
Ep. 149: Umbo - Elite Athletes, Functional Mushrooms & Psychedelic Science (feat. Jake Plummer, Rashad Evans & Del Jolly)
Ep. 148: Smugtown Mushrooms - Fungi in Greece & Remediating Social Ecologies (feat. Olga Tzogas)
Ep. 147: World Wild - Guiding a Lost Society Back to Nature (feat. Miles Irving)
Ep. 146: The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss & Psychedelic Biochemistry (feat. Dennis McKenna)
Ep. 145: Dynamite-Throwing Fungi, Itasca Research Station & How Decomposition Builds Character (feat. Prof Jonathan Schilling)
Ep. 144: SQIM, Mogu, Ephea – Merging with Mycelium to Grow Regenerative Futures (feat. Maurizio Montalti)
Ep. 143: Wild Mushroom Education, Intentional Communities & Breaking the Binary (feat. Jules Amanita)
Ep. 142: Mycorrhizal Markets & The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (feat. Prof. Toby Kiers)
Ep. 141: Wild Creativity - Chocolate Ears, Mushroom Paper, Stinkhorn Juice & Amanita Ice Cream (feat. Fergus Drennan)
Ep. 140: Dropping Spores in Singapore & Bewildering Mycelium Creations (feat. Ng Sze Kiat)
Ep. 139: Funganista - From Music Stardom to Mycological Obsession (feat. Andy Overall)
Ep. 138: Paleontology & Prototaxites - Mysteries of the Gigantic, Paleozoic Fungus (feat. Dr. Kevin Boyce)
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