Forging Alliances With The Fungal Queendom
An exploration of the ecological roles and symbiotic potential of interacting with of one of the more ancient families of our elder species on Earth
The "Fungal Queendom" (as author, educator and mycological pioneer Peter McCoy calls it) is a truly ancient community of organisms which often forms symbiotic relationships with other organisms capable of contributing to a mutually beneficial relationship. It is no wonder that when ingested, many of these fungi have the ability to provide excellent nutrition and augment/boost our general health/resilience (while simultaneously providing our immune system with compounds that assist in rendering pathogenic organisms inert that are present in the human body).
The genetic lineage of fungi reaches back to a time before terrestrial forests and mammals existed on the Earth.. this makes many of these fungal beings powerful allies for healing and maintaining optimal health (both of the ecosystems within and around us). The fungi have seen and been exposed to much more than homosapiens have, and thus their immune response and resilience to environmental pressures far surpass that of our species.
There are specific strains of fungi that can remove heavy metals from soils, clean up oil spills (in water or on land), eat and biodegrade plastic (accelerating its decomposition drastically), and even some species that can eat gamma radiation (remediating soils in areas where nuclear waste spills and meltdowns have happened!). This is a process called “Mycoremediation” and it is something I explore more in-depth in my upcoming book (which is now available for purchase in eBook Format)
As stated above, we can also team up with fungi to remediate (detox/ heal) the ecosystem that is the human body. Fungal medicine opens up many paths to healing and honing the human body. There are specific species that can facilitate the removal of toxins, render inert invading pathogens and expel them via the action of fungi and the compounds they create. Fungal medicines are very effective for healing and optimizing health in the human body as there are specific species that offer fungal compounds that are anti-tumor, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, heavy metal chelating, neurologically regenerating and immune system strengthening to name a few.
Medicinal mushrooms differ greatly in their individual healing properties from one mushroom to the next, but despite their individuality, they nearly all have a commonality of optimizing the function our innate immune systems. Mushrooms that boost the immune system are not strictly immunostimulants or immunosuppressants, but often times both, earning them the name “immunomodulators.” Immunomodulators work similarly to adaptogens, but relate only to immune function.
Mushrooms’ immune boosting abilities are highly attributable to the high level of polysaccharides (specifically Beta-glucans, one type of polysaccharide found in abundance in fungi) contained within their cell walls. This class of therapeutically active compounds are most widespread within the mushroom kingdom, and within our bodies they interact with specific fungal-polysaccharide receptors on our immune cells (macrophages, neutrophils, monocytes, and dendritic cells). There is also promising research into other immune system boosting and otherwise beneficial myco-compounds (organic compounds produced by fungi) which fall into the categories of volatile essential oils and terpenoids (such as: volatile monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes , triterpenoids and sterols).
Beyond just healing our body, working with and observing fungi also serves to provide a different kind of healing for the mind and spirit. The following quote speaks to this holistic healing that can be offered to us by our fungal elder species:
"If fungi are the connectors and healers of whole habitats, where can one draw the line considering what their medicine is or how to work with it? Is not the stillness that comes from walking in the woods a form of healing onto itself? .. The collection, processing and sharing of these products are not divided from the end result.
The healing that fungi weave through our lives connect us to place, to people, to culture and kin. These are the subtler medicines that working with fungi provides to enrich the mind, heart and spirit in ways a commercial product never could.
The production of natural medicines is not only a method for redefining one’s relationship with fungi or place, it is also an ancient means for commanding control over one’s body, mind, and sovereignty. By making medicine, each person is offered the chance to claim a degree of liberation from the monoliths of allopathy by personally defining what one’s health can and will look like.
Whereas allopathy may define illness as a collection of symptoms, other healing modalities perceive the human as a blend of unique qualities and interconnected (eco-)systems, each with a number of balance points that can tip unfavorably, causing illness to arise. Fungal medicines help re-align and strengthen the human condition, reminding us that our bodies are not mechanical and merely designed for small pills and standardized prescriptions, but unique beings that are healed most profoundly by the living medicines of nature."
- Peter McCoy (An excerpt from chapter 7 "The Pharmycopeia" of his visionary book: "Radical Mycology: A Treatise on Seeing and Working with Fungi" book cover shown below)
These ancient and learned fungal beings create an abundance of nutrient dense food and medicine and then 'give it away'.. nurturing countless insect, animal and plant beings (and spreading their spores in the process) so they can continue their important work.
Fungi are vanguard species, pioneering their way into gnarly, 'lifeless', rocky landscapes and laying the foundations for a myriad of other organisms to follow in their 'footsteps' and thrive. Fungi are the soil builders and the soil protectors. The cycle-closers who bridge death back to life again. Breaking down minerals bound up in stone and laying down a canvas of soil for diverse and beautiful ecosystems to take hold after they have done their important work.
Even now networks of mycorrhizal fungi which interact with the root systems of most plants (especially in old growth forests) serve as a sort of "organic internet" providing a means for many different species of plants to transmit information about an approaching cold front or impending 'insect invasion' to each other. This network connects plants many kilometers apart and allows them to communicate with one another and become more resilient due to that symbiotic relationship.
The give and take between plants and fungi offer us a glimpse into a phenomenon that is all around us in nature and can provide us with the wisdom and insight to re-shape our society, thinking, and interactions with one another. We can emulate this fundamental aspect of nature (symbiogenesis) to become more about cooperation/mutualism and less about parasitism (the relationship that most humans unfortunately have with the earth and other beings they share this world with). Each and every day we can look to nature and see that symbiotic relationships abound and serve to offer resilience, longevity and stability to the symbionts who are part of that give and take relationship.
One way we humans can engage in forming symbiotic relationships with fungi is through cultivating our own gourmet mushrooms at home. Many delicious gourmet mushrooms (including but not limited to, Shiitake, Lion’s Mane, turkey Tail Oyster and Reishi mushrooms) actually offer impressive medicinal benefits and can be grown by inoculating hardwood logs (such as maple, birch and oak) with spawn that can be purchased from local mushroom cultivation supply stores.
Being able to transform spent coffee grounds, cardboard, woodchips and other free "waste" or byproducts into nutrient dense and medicinal mushrooms is a very powerful skillset to have in this time of financial, agricultural and geopolitical instability.
Some species (such as Oyster mushrooms) are quite forgiving for beginnners and have such aggressive mycelium that they can grow either indoors or outdoors on a wide range of substrates (such as coffee grounds, cardboard, straw, woodchips or even chopped up phragmites stems). Other species (such as Shiitake, Lion's Mane and Reishi) can be cultivated via inoculating hardwood logs outside (or on blocks of enriched sawdust inside).
Inoculated hardwood logs can produce mushrooms from 5-7 years (depending on the size and density/variety of the wood used) and one can even encourage a fully colonized log to produce nutrient dense mushrooms in a matter of days-weeks by soaking them in cold water to simulate spring/fall conditions. That means hardwood logs that have been inoculated with mycelium from choice mushrooms species can effectively serve as a form of long term shelf stable outdoor/indoor emergency 'food storage'.
Below I will share a couple screen shots from the mushroom cultivation section of my book which details some info on cultivating several choice medicinal/gourmet species at home.
Mushrooms can also become a powerful ally in being able to produce your own source of dietary Vitamin D in the winter via exposing your mushrooms to UV light before consuming.
Mushrooms and animal skins create vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Mushrooms are rich in the vitamin D precursor ergosterol, which ultraviolet B (between wavelengths of 290 nm to 315 nm) converts to ergocalciferols, also called provitamin D2.
Similar to when humans are exposed to sunlight (or a sunlamp), mushrooms convert a precursor to vitamin D, called ergosterol, into vitamin D₂ when exposed to UV light.
And though this vitamin D is technically different from the vitamin D₃ found in animal products, that vitamin D is indeed bioavailable, or absorbable by the body. It is just as effective at elevating and maintaining blood levels of the nutrient, (according to research by a Dr. Holick and colleagues). It’s also “the only pharmaceutical form of D available in the United States,” he adds. This means that the D you’re getting from mushrooms is exactly what you’d be getting in a pharmaceutical/supplement form. In fact, research has shown that consuming 2000 IU of vitamin D₂, whether from mushrooms or from supplements, leads to the same levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) in the blood as consuming vitamin D₃.
Here is a link to more info on how to increase the levels of Vitamin D in mushrooms before eating them via exposing them to UV light.
You can either place your mushrooms in the sunlight for 30 min-an hour before cooking for an extra vitamin d boost or you can use UVB lights and super charge them with vitamin d indoors when ever you want. You can do this with any type of mushrooms you like to eat and you will be able to increase the vitamin d levels to some degree, though Shiitake have been shown to be capable of synthesizing a particularly high amount of vitamin d when exposed to UV light as compared to other species.
Cultivating Shiitake at Home:
In their natural habitat, shiitake mushrooms grow on old logs, dead tree trunks, and because of this they sometimes labeled as hardwood mushrooms. Spores are released from fruiting bodies in the fall or spring, and land on both live and fallen tree limbs. Healthy trees will resist the spores, but fallen and dead limbs will be taken over by the spores where they will build a mycelial network that produces fruiting bodies. The above ground part of the mushroom is what is foraged and harvested. The mushrooms are tan to dark brown, with caps that typically grow between 2 to 4 inches.
In the cultivated farms , they are grown crop on custom sized logs, and sawdust. Originally cultivated using ancient shiitake growing methods, usually outside on hardwood logs, the mushroom is now widely propagated for commercial use inside on natural wood pulp, a rice/grain medium or artificial substrate, and some are still cultivated on logs (resulting in the highest quality mushrooms of all the cultivation methods).
Spawn inoculated logs (Oak, Ironwood and Maple logs are best, but other species like birch will also work) are kept under shade for up to 8-12 months. Once the mycelium has spread all along the length of the logs, they are encouraged to fruit profuse amounts of mushrooms by submerging in cold water in order to time the crop for bulk harvesting. Each well maintained 4 feet length log could yield up to 2-4 pounds of shiitake at a time.
Using wind-fallen or otherwise 'un-valuable' branch/log sections (such as those sections of wood that would be otherwise chipped or discarded by landscapers, arborists, power companies or loggers) we can grow nutritious and delicious mushrooms at home in the same square footage as our existing garden (and/or inside if you do not have a garden space). When the logs are done producing mushrooms (after 4-7 years typically) they can be buried and decomposed adding valuable humus rich soil to one's garden space.
It is worth reiterating that one does not technically need garden space (nor sunshine) to be able to cultivate gourmet/medicinal mushrooms at home meaning this is a powerful tool for those living in urban environments to be able to create decentralized means of producing nutrient dense medicinal foods. Inoculated mushrooms logs can be “forced” or “shocked” to produce mushrooms via soaking them in cold water for 24 hours and then placing the logs in ideal growing conditions (making this an amazing tool for emergency preparedness).
Through learning to collaborate with fungi to produce our own nutritious food (and eventually use the spent growing substrate to build soil) we are not only increasing the resilience of our health and our own longevity.. we are also giving back to the living planet through nourishing her soils so that those who call this place home after we leave can have what they need to care for their bodies. In doing so we engage in the sacred process of Reciprocity and not only do we nourish our bodies, we nourish the soul.
What was shared above was an excerpt from my book, if you enjoyed the content of this post and want to learn more about my book or order a physical copy you can do so here.
For those interested in purchasing a physical copy of the book you can do so through this link:
https://recipesforreciprocity.com/shop/softcover/
Wishing you all prosperity, good health, peace of mind, food sovereignty and the distinctly uplifting feeling that arises when you take action to stop supporting what was and begin supporting and building the more regenerative world we all want to live in, one step and one handful of seeds at a time and one hyphae of mycelium at a time.
What a fascinating dive into the complex and beautiful world of mushrooms. Thank you!!
I love mushrooms! Last night we had friends over and everyone brought a mushroom dish to eat. I made a vegan Hungarian mushroom soup recipe I found online. Then we had mushroom hot chocolate and watched the 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi. It was a great way to spend a Friday evening when it gets dark at 5:30 pm!! 🍄🟫