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. 97: Mushrooms of the Mountain Ranges & High Meadows of California (feat. Thea Chesney)
Ep. 96: Hyphae Labs - The First Annual Oakland Psychedelic Conference (feat. Reggie, Ian and Tomás from Hyphae Labs)
Ep. 95: Spiritual Impulses, the Ecological Self & a Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom (feat. Dr. Andy Letcher)
Ep. 94: Medicinal Mushrooms - Boost Immunity, Improve Memory, Fight Cancer, Stop Infection & Expand Your Consciousness (feat. Dr. Christopher Hobbs)
Ep. 93: Mycoviruses - Fungal Disease, Plant Resilience & Hypovirus Biocontrols (feat. Bryce Alex)
Ep. 92: Fungal Diversity Survey - Championing Fungal Conservation, Together (feat. Bill Sheehan PhD & Gabriela D'Elia)
Ep. 91: Bioluminescent Fungi, Mysterious Endophytes & the Mushrooms of Vanuatu (feat. Brian Perry PhD)
Ep. 90: Fungi Freights - Detroit's Urban Lab & Environmental Studio (feat. Tess Burzynski)
Ep. 89: Forage London - Urban Foraging & Emotional Connection to Green Spaces (feat. John Rensten)
Ep. 88: Amanita Dreamer - Piercing the Veil on Entheogenic Uses of Amanita muscaria (feat. Amanita Dreamer)
Ep. 87: Cryptic Fungi, Laboulbeniales & Pushing the Boundaries of Fungal Exploration (feat. Danny Haelewaters PhD)
Ep. 86: Fungi Foundation - The Future is Fungi (feat. Giuliana Furci & Nathalie Kelley)
Ep. 85: Fungal Plant Pathogens, Dimorphic Transformation & Lessons from Smut Fungi (feat. Dr. Michael Perlin)
Ep. 84: Darren Le Baron - Psychedelic Traditions in Africa, Mushroom Cultivation & Remembering Who We Are (feat. Darren Springer)
Ep. 83: Eat Weeds - Wild Plant Contemplations, Healing with Foraging & Perspectives in Ethnobotany (feat. Robin Harford)
Ep. 82: Zombie Cicadas, Fungivore Millipedes & Forest Pathology (feat. Dr. Matt Kasson)
Ep. 81: Fungi Magazine, Telluride Mushroom Festival & Our Future with Fungi (feat. Britt Bunyard)
Ep. 80: Finding the Mother Tree - Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (feat. Prof. Suzanne Simard)
Ep. 79: Solutions in Soil Carbon, Fungal Inspiration & Creating New Value Systems (feat. Larry Evans)
Ep. 78: Oakland Hyphae - First Annual Psilocybin Cup & BIPOC Entheogen Empowerment (feat. Reggie of Oakland Hyphae)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Strange by Nature Podcast
Blurry Creatures
Bigfoot Society
Bigfoot Eyewitness Radio
Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks