Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by mycological ally, cultivator and community creator Olga Tzogas of Smugtown Mushrooms. Her journey with Fungi and plants started over 15 years ago. She began working with these allies when foraging in both urban & more wild settings as she learned to identify species for food and medicine. Olga, alongside her community, established Smugtown Mushrooms to satiate their need for mushrooms & growing supplies, workshops, events & community-based science where they are based on traditional Haudenosaunee land, in the so-called city of Rochester NY. While learning more & embracing the never-ending, unlocked potential mushrooms & fungi have to help heal both people, planet & soul. Olga teaches workshops throughout the continent about wild mushroom identification, medicinal mushrooms, biology, and mushroom cultivation. She was a core organizer for the 2016 Radical Mycology Convergence and the MycoSymbiotics Festival from 2015-17. In 2018, Olga help co-create the New Moon Mycology Summit, a justice-focused, mycology centered event, linking many disciplines extending throughout the living world. Olga is a member of the Rochester Area Mycological Association, CPAMC, WPAMC & the West Virginia Mushroom club. Annually, Olga guides small groups immersing in land based and traditional knowledge of Northern Greece, highlighting the fungi and plants there. I’m excited to learn from a legend in mycology who seems to bring the teachings of fungi into every aspect of her life.
TOPICS COVERED:
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Ep. 58: Unwinding Mushroom Mysteries, Decoding Fungal Genetics (feat. Todd Osmundson PhD)
Ep. 57: Secondary Metabolites, Mycotoxins & Fungi in Food Systems (feat. Professor Tom Volk)
Ep. 56: Wood-Decomposer Fungi & Mycelium Network Architecture (feat. Professor Lynne Boddy)
Ep. 55: EcoAgric Uganda - Mushroom Farming, Empowering Women, Protecting the Vulnerable (feat. Josephine Nakakande)
Ep. 54: Woodland Cravings - Permaculture, Agroforestry & the Sacred Act of Foraging (feat. Scott Stimpson)
Ep. 53: Mycorrhizal Planet - How Symbiotic Fungi Support Plant Health and Build Soil Fertility (feat. Michael Phillips)
Ep. 52: Shared Cultures - Foraging, Fermenting & the Magic of Koji (feat. Eleana Hsu)
Ep. 51: Planet Fungi - Capturing Mushrooms with World-Famous Photographer Steve Axford
Ep. 50: Return to Nature - Herbalism, Rewilding & Overgrowing the System (feat. Dan De Lion)
Ep. 49: Changing the Narrative - Reclaiming Ecological, Economic, Social and Political Power (feat. Antonio Cosme)
Ep. 48 - Embracing the Land, Facing Colonialism and Honoring Indigenous Culture (feat. Amber of Moon Mountain)
Ep. 47 - Bioluminescent Mushrooms, Psilocybe of Mexico and the Power of Citizen Mycology (feat. Alan Rockefeller)
Ep. 46: Modern Foragers - Foraging, Cooking and Preserving Wild Mushrooms (feat. Kristen and Trent Blizzard)
Ep. 45: Meati - The Fungal Future of Food (feat. Tyler Huggins & Justin Whiteley)
Ep. 44: Medicinal Mushrooms - The Human Clinical Trials (feat. Robert Rogers)
Ep. 43: Lorelle Morel - Forest Biology, Fire Ecology and an Obsession with Wild Foods (feat. Lorelle Sherman)
Ep. 42: Red Glasses - England's Godfather of Mushrooms and Worldwide Forager (feat. Roger Phillips)
Ep. 41: Edulis Wild Foods - Foraging Mushrooms and Restoring Vital Connection in the UK Isles (feat. Lisa Cutcliffe)
Ep. 40: Entheogenic Evolution - Psychedelic Consciousness and Non-Duality (feat. Martin W. Ball PhD)
Ep. 39: Mt. Tam Psilocybin Summit - Psychedelic Gnosis and Enlightenment-Based Society (feat. Daniel Shankin)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Strange by Nature Podcast
Blurry Creatures
Bigfoot Society
Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks
The Wild with Chris Morgan