What a glorious day! The sun is shining, the sky is blue - it's a perfect California day and the goodness of it was only amplified by a field trip to the Presidio, where a study in mycoremediation is underway.
After the SF oil spill, a team of mycoremediation folk got together to see if hair mats and mycelium could soak up the toxic chemicals. Mushrooms have been used in a variety of places to do just that. The best thing is, it works!!! Many of us are domesticated by supermarket lifestyles that lead us to believe there are perhaps only a few variety of mushrooms - white button mushrooms, crimini, and portabello - and all they're good for is pizza and stir fry. But mushrooms are and can do so, so much more.
A famous mushroom expert, Paul Stamets, joined us in the Presidio today. His most recent book is "Mycelium Running" and it details the number of ways we can use these extraordinary fungi to help heal the damage done to the planet so it can continue to sustain human and other animal life.
If you'd like to learn about mycoremediation, inexpensive classes are offered at Merritt College in North Oakland within the Landscape Horticulture program.
*munches on a wild mushroom*
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