Sustainable Myco-Stewardship: Ethical Foraging Interactions and Wild-To-Farm Cultivation Techniques

Join rewilding citizen scientist William Padilla-Brown for an unforgettable week of mycological education that is dedicated to demystifying wild and medicinal mushrooms and environmental stewardship. Participants will learn about and practice sustainable foraging while learning how to identify fungi in their natural habitat, and how to sustainably interact with the fungal diversity of the whole forest. 

Together we will explore how to ethically take wild fungi from their forest habitat for indoor mushroom cultivation, using low-tech techniques that can be replicated by anyone anywhere — and can even be scaled up to larger farming setups. William will guide the group through scientific processes that are fundamental to mushroom foraging, cloning, and growing.  After experiencing this workshop, you will be able to understand and identify the fungi, make conscious choices with your time in nature, and see the forest from a citizen-scientist perspective. 

In this program we will:

• Spend time out on the land, learning and practicing foraging practices.
• Spend time in the classroom-turned-laboratory, learning cutting edge low-tech methods for cloning and propagating mushrooms from wild specimens.
• Discuss culinary, ecological, and sociological impacts of mycology.
• Work in small groups.
• Enjoy all the natural beauty, hot springs, and delicious food that Esalen has to offer.

We will be joined by guest faculty Graham Steinruck chef, and expert forager and mycologist. Graham has worked with some of Colorado’s top chefs, and his work features wild ingredients in unique preparations that are inspired by the natural world. He received the prestigious Zagat ‘30 under 30’ award for his dedication to cooking and foraging, and has contributed recipes to  the ‘Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook’ by Eugenia Bone, as well as the cookbook ‘Wild Mushrooms’ by Trent and Kristen Blizzard. He is one of Colorado state’s certified wild mushroom identification experts, licensed to identify over 60 species of wild and edible mushrooms for the food industry and he is the chef of the Telluride Mushroom Festival Fungi Dinner, where he features many different types of fungi in multi-course tasting menus. He recently began a company called ‘Friends and Fungi’, an event company that focuses on fungi education and hands-on learning experiences.

Join us and learn how to enter a forest as a part of nature, not an outsider stranger.