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. 17: Corvidopolis - Art, Nature & The Mysteries of the Mushroom Tarot (feat. Chris Adams)
Ep. 16: Scotland's Wild Food Stories - Pioneering Research on the Culture of Foraging (feat. Leanne Townsend)
Ep. 15: The Art of the Mushroom - Spirituality, Myth and Psychedelia (feat. Michael Campbell)
Ep. 14: Decriminalize CA - Decriminalizing Psilocybin, Protecting Democracy (feat. William Goss)
Ep. 13: Natura Design - Building a Better World with Mushroom Materials (feat. Ashley Granter)
Ep. 12: Wholesun - Empowering the Medicinal Mushroom Industry, Shaping the Future (feat. Jme Bonfiglio)
Ep. 11: Masterclass in Transforming Ecology with Soil Biology & Mycoremediation (feat. Craig Trester)
Ep. 10: Mixing Chemistry & Mycology in the Appalachian Rainforest (feat. Mandie Quark)
Ep. 9: Wild Kingdom - Medicinal Mushrooms, Regenerative Foraging and Spiritual Connection (feat. Neil Thenier)
Ep. 8: Let Wild Mushrooms & Plants be Thy Medicine (feat. Jess Starwood)
Ep. 7: Gnome Life - Wild Mushroom Identification & Exotic Forage Adventures (feat. Tugrul De Luce)
Ep. 6: The Lion King - DIY Mycology & Lions Mane Mushrooms (feat. MycTyson Mushrooms)
Ep. 5: Wild Food Foraging & English Folklore with a Freudian Twist (feat. Fern Freud)
Ep. 4: Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research - The Promise of Psilocybin Therapy (feat. Ian Geithner)
Ep. 3: Community Mycology & Entheogen Decriminalization in San Francisco (feat. James McConchie)
Ep. 2: FreshCap - Activating Minds & Bodies via Education & Medicinal Mushrooms (feat. Tony Shields)
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