Workshops, Walks & Presentations

Basic Skills for Meeting Mushrooms

We want to help you see fungi! In this class we will learn some basic skills needed for finding and identifying mushrooms based on their features and ecology. This will help you learn their names, their role in the ecosystem, and how other humans have related to them over time. We’ll take things a step further and practice meeting a mushroom, enabling you to open yourself up to recognizing the essential being of another organism and knowing that it is worthy of respect. Whether big or small, edible or poisonous, fungi are members of our Earthly community that deserve to be treated with kindness.

Morel Mushrooms of the Mid-Atlantic Forest

Join Tugrul De Luce for an introspective view of the elusive morel and their habitats, their ecology and how much real diversity exists within the forests surrounding the greater Philadelphia area. The morel mushroom is a prized Spring time wild edible mushroom that tend to prefer certain trees, be prepared have these tricky and unpredictable mushrooms to be demystified.

The Fruiting Body: Immersion into the World of Mushrooms & Fungi

Use all your senses to learn about the vast & diverse world of mushroom & fungi.  Examining their ancient story that connects humans and all life to them. Take a look at the roles mushrooms play within our lives, the forest, and in food systems. Learn basic concepts of mycology, and explore into their biology.  Enter into the "wood wide web" and find out how they exist in nature & in return be nurtured by them, for food, medicine & ceremony. We’ll focus on several varieties of mushrooms we can use for food, medicine and soil health. Unlock the potential that mushrooms + fungi can bring to living.

The ancient art of vinegar + honey extractions & their place in the modern home apothecary

Vinegars shine in the home and kitchen. They can be utilized in cooking, baking, botanical beverages, and home made cleaning products. For folks who are averse to alcohol, vinegars are a great alternative to tinctures. When vinegar and honey are combined to extract an herb, the formulation is known as an oxymel. In latin, oxy refers to acid (vinegar) and mel refers to sweet (honey). Honey has its own special place in the first aid kit, apothecary, and kitchen. Learn about the properties of herbal vinegars and honeys with special attention to the plants of our bioregions that are best extracted by these methods. . Join the apothecarian behind Suntrap Botanical for an in depth exploration of vinegar and honey as solvents for medicinal herb extraction. We will walk through the process of crafting an herbal oxymel with a locally abundant plant.

Creation Station: Fungi for Kids

Art and creation station that is fluid and collaborative for the kids (and adults if they would like) at the event to hang out and integrate their experiences through creative expression. There will be a variety of kid-friendly art supplies, a large paper scroll (or a few of them), and an interactive set-up that inspires creation. There will also be informative posters that make the scientific world of fungi more accessible to children. We can think about it as an interactive and informative creative space. It will not be guided at all times, but I will be coming in and out and sticking around for a few hours at times. As a secondary form of engagement, in certain intervals we will have story time and I will read a children's picture book.

Rhizae Renewal Collective is a Baltimore-based bioremediation collective who is working to remediate a lead contaminated lot in East Central Baltimore. Marisa Cascia, Samantha Feld, Robin Gunkel, Jacob Knapo, Brian Redmond, Holly Wheat, and a team of committed volunteers comprise Rhizae Renewal who together possess a variety of earth friendly skills & strive to work for a healthier, greener Baltimore. Learn their story of their goal of transforming & healing the land to inspire others to do the same

Cooking Gourmet Mushrooms

Tyler will be cooking up some of Mycopolitan's mushrooms, Philadelphia’s very own mushrooms farm.  Along with offering some easy tips to get the best flavor,  nutrition, and medicinal qualities out of your mushrooms, he'll prepare a dish using a quick mushroom dashi.  Tyler plans to use seafood as a reference for flavor complex! Mushrooms can have many tastes and textures

Water and Gas: A Town Hall RPG (Role Playing Game)

The Water Ways
We'll be playing the Fracking Game, talking with Elise Gerhart about her half-decade battle with the Mariner East 2 pipeline, and connecting regional and local fracking resistance. You are a resident of River Town. There is a pipeline proposed to be built under Town River and there's a Town Hall Meeting to discuss the situation! FERC (The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) will be there, as will River Town's very own mayor. Experts will inform residents as to the infrastructure, risks and uses of natural gas, followed by an open forum. Whether you're a biologist, a construction worker, a single parent or a college student, everyone has something at stake in this decision. Come voice your opinion and try to sway your neighbors!   In our interactive presentations, we discuss what fracking and the Marcellus Shale are, how the politics in Pennsylvania have been built to support the industry, who is resisting this industry and how, what systems in our culture support extractive and damaging industries like fracking, and an overview of what we are fighting for and why. We aim to connect attendees to local campaigns whenever possible.

Our Human Habitat

Get a taste for the who, what, when, where, why, and how in this discussion of what it means to have wild-tended spaces. Everything Gardens, and we're no different! Separatness is an illusion, and from our connectedness we come to inhabit a participatory ecology. Making the move from passive forager to active steward is a leveling up. We will take a look at many of the native plants which bring us sustenance, and discuss regenerative harvest practices, horticultural techniques, and examples in practice. We acknowledge our ancestors, and remember, rekindle, and rediscover Traditional Ecological Knowledge in these troubled times. Together, we can create a multigenerational culture of stewardship!

Integrating the Wine Cap Mushroom into the Farm & Garden

Brian Versek of Mycopolitan Mushroom Co and Adrian Galbraith-Paul of Heritage Farm discuss and demonstrate the practical application of the Wine-Cap mushroom (Stropharia rugoso-annulata) into farming and gardening  systems.  This hands-on workshop will show participants how to design and implement fungal decomposition to produce a seasonal bounty of edible mushrooms and accelerate the building of soil in a variety of organic environments.  Lessons and info gained from a 2-year grant to study potential yield and soil-building capacity of this fungal ally at Heritage Farm will be shared.  Participants will leave with spawn of a local strain of Wine-Cap.