Spring 2022
Earth Systems Science for Earth Repair Homeschool, in NW VT Offering a homeschool course running from April through June. The curriculum is oriented towards middle school age (5-8th grade) with foundations in chemistry, biology, earth science, mathematics, natural history, botany, and nature awareness for an embedded curriculum aimed to nurture earth repair understanding, ecological restoration lens honing, and practical skills. The last two classes will be a culmination of the course where students apply their learnings to two sites (one farm, one urban) in need of serious earth repair. To sign up for the upcoming six class session on tuesdays, contact Elliot Cluba (el4truth@gmail.com) & Jess Rubin (yepeth@gmail.com) in a joint email by Feb 30, 2022. |
"The content and delivery of your talk with our apprentices was excellent. You are clearly an expert in this field and are skilled at conveying your knowledge to beginners in interactive and inspiring ways. "
- Katherine Elmer, Educator, Childbirth Mentor Lecturer, UVM Program in Integrative Health, Clinical Herbalism, Whole Foods Nutrition, Sustainable Leadership (July 2019) "You really connected with some of the more vulnerable students and they will remember all the care and commitment you showed them. your vast knowledge & dedication for the environment and the many layers involved in the earth's systems is impressive and made a big impact for the children." -Rose Wall, Site Director of CP Smith After School Program (June 2019) " Jess show her care for students daily. She listens and show compassion, goes out of her way to help those who come to her, and models restorative communication. Jess has a passion for environmental stewardship and advocates for it both from a teaching & community perspective." - Burlington Kids Core Staff Evaluation Form (February 2019) |
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Winter NOFA Conference workshop about past, current & future Myco-Phytoremediation research at and for local farms. March 3, 3-4:30 pm.
Myco-phytoremediation research over the past two years at Shelburne Farms and in greenhouse laboratory studies reveals hopeful trends and strategies that farmers and land managers can apply to protect water quality and grow pollinator habitat. Data of phosphorus concentrations in soil, water, and plants, as well as plant community composition, diversity and microbial activity indicate that repairing ecosystem function is possible. Many questions still remain, which guide next steps at Diggers Mirth Collective Farm. |
Summer 2021
Myco-Phytoremediation Research Update Workshop At Shelburne Farms 1611 Harbor Rd, Shelburne, VT 05482 July 27, 6-7:30 pm. Farmers, scientists, homesteaders, conservation district managers, landscapers, funders, interns, community members joined Ecological Restorationist Mike Bald of Got Weeds, Manager of Shelburne Farm Dana Bishop, and Ecological Researcher/practitioner Jess Rubin to learn about novel techniques to replace non-native species with no chemicals with native, polyculture species. We shared the first year and a half of data for phosphorus mitigation, pollinator habitat development and compex discoveries inherent in thsi partcular remediation field and laboratory investigation. Fb event link & Eventbrite ticket link..
Spring 2021 |
'Moving bodies of Water' offered via Emily Mott of NOYES & Jess Rubin of MycoEvolve as part of the TRACES upcoming event hosted by VT Dance Alliance May 6, 2021 7:30-8:45pm via Zoom. The 2nd workshop we offered 6/11/21 at Leddy Park, formerly Abenaki Park. Moving Bodies of Water: Awareness-explorations of our lake & watershed through dance, imagery, reflection & action. We began with a meditative movement class interacting with the land, inviting embodiment of the qualities and cycles of water on earth. Then we journeyed through sensory stories of encounters with local water bodies, and offered opportunities to help protect water health. There were prompts for personal observations of waterways near our homes, expanding awareness of our somatic/emotional response to our watershed's health. Participants were invited to share danced responses to material presented. We ended in a collective action: symbolically-in a/group dance chant, & physically planting native inoculated trees (Shagbark Hickory) shore protecting, pollutant filtering, ecosystem resilience nurturing in the bank.
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Summer & Fall 2020 workshops & classes were canceled due to Covid but we were able to offer our research site and Justice fund (thanks to NEFEG!) to support a Rematriation Ceremony conducted by members of Alnobaiwi, an Abenaki Reclamation Group, to reconnect with their ancestors of this land. As we creatively approach healing colonization's ecological wounds, we also create spaces for Abenaki to access their ancestral homelands.
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Past Workshops, Presentations, & Classes:
Mycoremediation for Watershed Restoration: March 11; 6-7:30 pm Fletcher Room in Fletcher Library, 235 College St, Burlington, VT 05401 Burlington VT. We learned about: geologic history of fungi, its role in ecology, current research in this field via case studies, local research pilot projects, challenges in this watershed and brainstormed how to remediate toxins in our neighborhoods.
Women’s Business Owner's Network Williston Chapter Meeting: Ecological Reconciliation; Why, How, With Who? March 4 @ 8:30 am - 10:00 am at Williston Fire Station. We gathered to learn about the earth repair work that MycoEvolve does, collaboration networks, and resilience principles. The group then had brainstorm time and explored how each business owner could apply the earth repair principles to their endeavors.
32 Annual NE Women's Herbal Conference; Camp Wicosuta (100 West Shore Rd) on 21 Wicosuta Dr. NewFound Lake, NH
Aug.14: Fungi as ancient allies of plants: (Day intensive) We investigated the ancient roots of our fungal ancestors and how they created habitat for plants; how particular fungal networks guide us in how to nurture our gardens? Both wood decomposing (saprophytic) fungi and nutrient channeling (mycorrhizal) fungi play critical roles in the soil food web. We delved into simple ways to enhance these bridges between microbial and fungal communities, to catalyze organic matter transformation into life. |
Aug 15: Strategies for rewilding ourselves & urban/suburban landscapes with plants
We shared and learned techniques for rewilding neighborhoods, schools, backyards, and business landscapes with simple, low impact nature technologies. We discussed how rewilding begins with zone zero in connecting with our ancestral roots, acknowledging what First Nation people's land we are on, connecting with living descendants of these people, of former slaves and all peoples oppressed by the surrounding colonial culture. In doing so we incorporate efforts for our collective liberation in how we undomesticate our inner & outer landscapes. We approached Camp Wicosuta as a living laboratory. Aug 16: Planting green infrastructure as living libraries of resilience We explored United Plant Savers; how to cocreate an endangered plant sanctuary as a model for resilience, refamiliarized ourselves with some of these endangered and threatened species and what curriculum they offer for students of all ages. We revisited the term ‘invasive’ to understand ecological roles and messagesemerging plants offer as well an approach welcoming them as we can migrants, knowing they enter this land for a reason; we need to listen and observe. As we partner with other elemental beings in these projects we cab transform the layers of oppression into spaces for liberation. |
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Thank you to Jie Jien of Curious Seed. This event is part of Intelligent Fungi, a three month exhibition and workshop series brought to you by Curiouseed to celebrate the fungal wisdoms and learn from fungi, our greatest teachers, to build, nourish, and heal. Learn more about the series and other upcoming events: www.curiouseed.com/fungi2019
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August 11: Partner with Fungi to Support Ecosystem Health
2-4 pm; Swale House on Governor's Island, NY www.curiouseed.com/fungi2019 We gathered to learn about the fundamentals of fungal ecology; fungi’s role in: soil health, water conservation, and community restoration. Through dynamic lecture, a geologic time scramble, a group brainstorm, and community networking, we explored how incorporating fungi in earthworks can supports ecosystem regeneration. Folks brought a lot of great questions, ideas and insights to help us deepen our inquiry into, awareness of how and practice with remediating toxins in our neighborhoods. |
May 29: Bringing Fungi into the Garden
1-3pm Spoonful Herbals Garden & School, Rockpoint, Burlington
Jess Rubin of McyoEvolve offered an experiential workshop for herbal students to explore the foundational information about fungi, its ecological benefits, its role in providing food & medicine, how fungi are incorporated into permaculture systems, and opportunities to partner with fungi in earth repair. We worked within contexts of geologic time on occupied Abenaki territory while being introduced to 4 main categories of fungi (saprophytic, mycorrhizal, parasitic, endophytic) and created a bed for Queen Stropharia mycelium to grow in the herb garden. As we focused on the ways fungi work with microbes and plants as janitors of earth systems maintaining dynamic equilibrium, we also addressed simple ways to listen to & learn from fungi to move into the ecozoic era.
1-3pm Spoonful Herbals Garden & School, Rockpoint, Burlington
Jess Rubin of McyoEvolve offered an experiential workshop for herbal students to explore the foundational information about fungi, its ecological benefits, its role in providing food & medicine, how fungi are incorporated into permaculture systems, and opportunities to partner with fungi in earth repair. We worked within contexts of geologic time on occupied Abenaki territory while being introduced to 4 main categories of fungi (saprophytic, mycorrhizal, parasitic, endophytic) and created a bed for Queen Stropharia mycelium to grow in the herb garden. As we focused on the ways fungi work with microbes and plants as janitors of earth systems maintaining dynamic equilibrium, we also addressed simple ways to listen to & learn from fungi to move into the ecozoic era.
May 7: Partner with Fungi to Support Ecosystem Health
6:30-9pm Fletcher Free Library, 235 College Street Burlington
Jess Rubin of MycoEvolve and VT Myconode shared how incorporating fungi in earthworks supports ecosystem regeneration. We learned about fungi's role in soil health, water conservation, and community restoration. After reviewing core principles, folks brainstormed toxins in their neighborhoods and investigated ways to remediate then using resources shared in the workshop. We realized how most folks don't even think about toxins in their homes or neighborhoods, let alone how to remediate them.
6:30-9pm Fletcher Free Library, 235 College Street Burlington
Jess Rubin of MycoEvolve and VT Myconode shared how incorporating fungi in earthworks supports ecosystem regeneration. We learned about fungi's role in soil health, water conservation, and community restoration. After reviewing core principles, folks brainstormed toxins in their neighborhoods and investigated ways to remediate then using resources shared in the workshop. We realized how most folks don't even think about toxins in their homes or neighborhoods, let alone how to remediate them.
March 27: Building the Soil From the Ground Up Panel; Juan Alvez, Jess Rubin, Cat Buxton. Randolph, VT 6:30-8:30pm; Bethany Church, Randolph VT. The Soil Food Web was discovered in the 1990's, shifting our collective understanding of the interplay between plants and organisms while reshaping the way we think about and manage our landscapes. Capturing sunshine with living plants and creating soil from organics waste helps us to feed the billions of soil organisms that weave our landscapes together, minimizing flood and drought effects, and creating habitat for new people and species who will be displaced by climate change. Jess focused on the role of fungi in bridging the microbe and plant worlds in earth repair and resilience infrastructure.
Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba5QnBMDT0s&feature=youtu.be
Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba5QnBMDT0s&feature=youtu.be
March 25: Reveal and Transforming Invisible Structures in Nutrient Exchange Networks & Partnering with Fungi for Food, Medicine and Earth Repair: Yestermorrow Design'Build School. 7865 Main St, Waitsfield, VT 05673 Both classes were taught by Jess Rubin as part of a Permaculture Design Course. They involved lecture, powerpoint, out of your seat-hands on activities, pair shares, group work, and texts/media from various sources.
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March 24: Medicinal Mushrooms: 5507 Ethan Allen Drive, Charlotte, VT. SpoonfulHerbals' Katherine Elmer & MycoEvolve's Jess Rubin wove folk wisdom and modern scientific understanding of certain wild and cultivated forest fungi. As we sipped Wild Mushroom Chai we learned about the ecology, ethical harvesting, processing, medicinal benefits, cultivation of, and earth repair capability of fungi.
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Feb 25: Mycoremediation Research for Watershed Restoration: Jess Rubin, MycoEvolve, Community Center in Jericho 329 Brown Trace Road Jericho 05465 5:30-7pm. We gathered to learn more about fungi's unique role in earth repair through their intricate networks with microbes, plants, and trees. We heard about a current case study in N Central Vermont and a few other projects in the works. We then investigated potential pollutants in our communities, which species we may partner with to begin remediation efforts, and strategies to do so all within the greater Transition movement from extraction based polluting economy to nurture rooted nourishing network.
Oct. 21: VT Myconode Gathering, 11-6pm at Valhalla Vermont 5507 Ethan Allen Hwy, Charlotte, Vermont 05445
Vermont Myconode shared in a community potluck in the late afternoon. If possible bring local harvest from Vermont. After land acknowledgements, gratitude, and a tour of our mycelium library and lab, folks tidied the barn for upcoming trials with hemp hulls in our grow kits before sharing food and vision.
And of course we read the Radical Mycology Principles and discussed.
Vermont Myconode shared in a community potluck in the late afternoon. If possible bring local harvest from Vermont. After land acknowledgements, gratitude, and a tour of our mycelium library and lab, folks tidied the barn for upcoming trials with hemp hulls in our grow kits before sharing food and vision.
And of course we read the Radical Mycology Principles and discussed.
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Oct. 11-13, Mycoremediation Strategies for Watershed Restoration Poster Presentation at Society for Ecological Restoration Conference: Connecting Communities and Ecosystems in Restoration Practice. New Haven, CT. Hannah and Jess presented our research at the poster pub. Mycoevolve, in partnership with University of Vermont, and funded by EPSCoR, conducted an experiment using the mushroom species Stropharia rugosoannulata, otherwise known as the garden giant, wine cap, or King Stropharia, to reduce E. coli in simulated farm effluent. In Vermont water quality in the Lake Champlain watershed is frequently contaminated by excess fertilizer, nutrient runoff, algae blooms, and E. coli largely due to the dairy industry. This project contributes to a small yet growing field, combining grassroots remediation strategies with academic research, and is a crucial step towards understanding how mycoremediation (a form of bioremediation using fungi) may be applied in the future by farmers and land “owners” to better manage landscapes for improved water quality. Results from this study will inform the next phase of outdoor mycofiltration mat installation in swales, wetlands, riparian buffers, and rain gardens to support watershed health.
(Research team members are: Jess Rubin, Mycoevolve, Hannah Huber, Mycoevolve, Dr. Arash Ghalehgolabbehbahani, UVM, Sue Van Hook, Haut Terrain, Travis Berg, Mycoevolve, Alex Dorr, Mushroom Revival, Dr. Josef Gorres, UVM) |
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Vital Signs: Tracking Soil Health
September 30, 12pm-4pm; Valhalla VT 5507 Ethan Allen Highway, Charlotte, VT 05445 We explored with Cat Buxton what would happen if we shifted the paradigm of how people interface with the land. We checked out monitoring tools that we as gardeners and land managers could use to track changes in soil health and whole-system health; to assess if our soil is able to help slow water down, deepen watersheds, increase biological soil health and create conditions for thriving ecosystems. We were introduced to soil health principles and simple ways to implement them in the backyard and beyond to restore soil health and retention, improve the nutrient density of foods, and mitigate climate change. Cat Buxton is a community organizer, compost consultant and soil health educator. She runs Grow More, Waste Less in Sharon, VT and is founding director of the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition. She serves on the Board of Directors for Rural Vermont, the Soil Carbon Coalition, and Upper Valley Food Co-op. To learn more about her work www.growmorewasteless.com |
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New Moon Mycology Summit: White Pine Community Farm 295 Duell Hollow Road, Wingdale, New York, NY 12594: 8/6-12, 2018, Mycoremediation Strategies for Watershed Restoration. Mycofiltration cleanses and harnesses water initially deemed unsafe. Part of our Mycoevolve team shared about our current EPSCoR mycofiltration research project involving partnership with Mycoevolve & UVM; involving King Stropharia's role in filtering E. coli(known to be pathogenic) from dairy effluent through mycelial mats before it enters Lake Champlain. We highlighted context within our bioregional landscape, research process, current learning lessons, living questions, and brainstorm portals through which researchers like you can install efficient mycofilters. Finally we will rolled up our sleeves to explore mycofilter options to filter grey water from Seeds of Peace Kitchen and from a spring uphill from the site.
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Fungal Inoculation; Rockpoint Center, Burlington, VT; 5/24/2018, 12:30-3:30pm Students and a teacher from a public school in Kemps Bay Bahamas learned about the shiitake mushroom and helped inoculate several oak logs. As we stored them in the forest to mycelia we encountered a few wild edibles as well as brainstormed ideas of what species they could experiment with back at home to incorporate edible & medicinal fungi into their farming.
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Permaculture Action Day: Willow Crossing Farm, Johnson VT: 5/20, 2018 all day.
Design & Install a United Plant Savers oriented endangered & threatened medicinal plant sanctuary with edible & pollinator supportive polycultures. After offering cedar to the land and listening to what was being asked for, attuning to the already present medicine circle on the land, and responding to trophic instructions where seaberries already were present we planted according to present grid lines various species (many of which were endangered and threatened medicinals), while reverently removing abundant field species, sheet mulched, pruned, watered, sang, and shared in community revelry to rejuvenate a previous neglected hub area on, in & with the land and each other while amazing, live musicians drummed and grooved nearby. |
Transition Town Vermont; Kellog Hubbard Library, Montpelier VT; 5/17/2018 6-7:30pm. Effects of exotic earthworms on maple forests in northeastern states. In Western Science's creation story of evolutionary biology, species better adapted to changing conditions replace other species, causing major trophic changes throughout the community in which they are nested. Over the past few years a pattern has emerged of how European (Lumbricus sp., & Dendrobaena sp.,) and Asian (Amynthus sp.) earthworm species are malaffecting perennial systems. In this presentation data found through careful study and analysis will be shared highlighting changes in forest soil structure, plant understory diversity, and tree regeneration with serious implications for disrupting carbon and nitrogen cycles, water storage, and nutrient exchange networks in place since the last glaciation. While no clear answers or easy solutions are evident, several unanswered questions to ponder and trends to watch are shared. This is from a study Jess worked on last year when serving as a bioecological research technician for the Entomology Department at UVM.
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Village Kids Afterschool Program: EJ Parks & Recreation in Essex Junction, VT on May 8 & 9 4pm. Planting an edible garden for camp. Kindergardeners learned about different types of seeds, helped load up trays with fresh organic soil mixed with compost, practiced using our compost system, prepared the garden beds for planting, decided what they wanted to grow, planted seeds, made signs, and watered.
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Village Kids Vacation Camp; Hiawatha Elementary School in Essex Junction, VT on April 24 10-10:45 am. Meet Fungi Friends. Students discerned what cheese, yogurt, bread, & kombucha, all had in common: fungi!. They grappled over whether yeast, a form of fungi, is alive and watched as it was fed warm water and sugar, respirating like we do and filling a balloon with carbon dioxide. They went on a mini treasure hunt exploring shelf fungi through their sense as well as a picnic search for where fungi show up in our daily lives and diets. We even spotted some fungi in a lichen on a nearby tree. We drew shaggy mane using connect the dots and followed a few mycelial mazes under tree roots traced on paper.
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Permaculture Course at UVM, Jeffords; 3/21/18 "Invisible Structures" class aka renamed: "Scaffolding". This video is a snippet of the class addressing social structures in society that need to be, can be, and will be reworked to create a more equitable world. The term 'Invisible Structures' according to Dave Jacke is a jargon term that is problematic so I propose shifting the term to "Scaffolding." Students are investigating these concepts through studying the PAN educator's pledge.
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Burlington Permaculture Workshop Series; FletcherFree Library; 3/14/2018; 6-8pm
Creating Plant & Pollinator Sanctuaries in Gardens & Farms with John Hayden of The Farm Between & Jess Rubin of Mycoevovle
Garden devotees and enthusiasts learned about simple ways to increase pollinator habitat as well as provide sanctuary for endangered and threatened plants in Vermont. Participants met pollinator, threatened & endangered plants which can diversify the landscape. We discussed accompanying curriculum for sanctuary establishment, complex views on ethical rewilding and 'emerging natives,' while encountering a few of the pollinator species who fly and crawl around moving species. We discussed current challenges accompanying this 6th Great Extinction, roles of organizations such as IUCN and Xerces in conservation, and networked amidst each other for ideas in our gardens, yards, neighborhood communities.
Creating Plant & Pollinator Sanctuaries in Gardens & Farms with John Hayden of The Farm Between & Jess Rubin of Mycoevovle
Garden devotees and enthusiasts learned about simple ways to increase pollinator habitat as well as provide sanctuary for endangered and threatened plants in Vermont. Participants met pollinator, threatened & endangered plants which can diversify the landscape. We discussed accompanying curriculum for sanctuary establishment, complex views on ethical rewilding and 'emerging natives,' while encountering a few of the pollinator species who fly and crawl around moving species. We discussed current challenges accompanying this 6th Great Extinction, roles of organizations such as IUCN and Xerces in conservation, and networked amidst each other for ideas in our gardens, yards, neighborhood communities.
Bioremediation Course, UVM Burlington, VT: 2/28/2018
'Introduction to Mycoremediation Class. Students were introduced into this art and science of earth repair through: his/herstorical context of fungi's role as a habitat creator over geologic time, treasure hunt exploration into pollutants and corresponding species & substrates that can remediate them, investigation of two case studies, introduction to Radical Mycology, overview of Mycoevolve's projects, and Vt Myocnode invite with multiple resources to grow fungal literacy offered.
'Introduction to Mycoremediation Class. Students were introduced into this art and science of earth repair through: his/herstorical context of fungi's role as a habitat creator over geologic time, treasure hunt exploration into pollutants and corresponding species & substrates that can remediate them, investigation of two case studies, introduction to Radical Mycology, overview of Mycoevolve's projects, and Vt Myocnode invite with multiple resources to grow fungal literacy offered.
NOFA Children's Conference, UVM Burlington , VT; 2/18/2018
Meeting Mushrooms; discovering fungal teachers & friends. 3 different groups of youth aged 5-6, 7-9, & 10-13 joined Eliot Cluba of Herbs & Arrows and Jess Rubin of Mycoevolve to learn about fungi, where they show up in our diet, what their lifecycle is like, where they grow, and various other neat findings such as winter forest polypores, mushrooms grown all year in Vermont, and how to tune into fungal wisdom. Concepts we explored included sensory encounters, blindfolds & handlenses, yeast, mold, respiration, carbon dioxide, microbes, decomposition, mycelium, primodium, germination, spores, cap, button, dutch elm disease, medicine, caution, fungal jungle and more! Species we met included: portabello, shiitake, crimini, reishi, shaggy mane, horsehoof polypore, willow bracket, lion's mane, and Trametes elegans.
Deep Change Conference at Briggs's Opera House in White River Junction VT: Sept. 16, 2017; 11:20-12:50pm (https://www.deep-change.org/index.php/deep-change-2017-conferencegathering/)
Rewilding with Threatened & Endangered Plants
After a brief context within the permaculture movement of restorative agriculture, we met or reconnected with threatened & endangered plants that grow in Vermont and learned about habitats in which they grow. We learned about United Plant Savers as a regenerative organization dedicated to the propagation, conservation, and education about these plants as well as how to join to create botanical sanctuaries. Resources were shared of how to get involved including accompanying educational curriculum for elementary, middle, high school, college, and graduate level students. Other applications such as long term phenology studies were offered. We discussed UPS's involvement with IUCN involving international conservation efforts. We also discussed conflicting views of this rewilding effort including state botanist concerns over genetic diversity and seed source.
Meeting Mushrooms; discovering fungal teachers & friends. 3 different groups of youth aged 5-6, 7-9, & 10-13 joined Eliot Cluba of Herbs & Arrows and Jess Rubin of Mycoevolve to learn about fungi, where they show up in our diet, what their lifecycle is like, where they grow, and various other neat findings such as winter forest polypores, mushrooms grown all year in Vermont, and how to tune into fungal wisdom. Concepts we explored included sensory encounters, blindfolds & handlenses, yeast, mold, respiration, carbon dioxide, microbes, decomposition, mycelium, primodium, germination, spores, cap, button, dutch elm disease, medicine, caution, fungal jungle and more! Species we met included: portabello, shiitake, crimini, reishi, shaggy mane, horsehoof polypore, willow bracket, lion's mane, and Trametes elegans.
Deep Change Conference at Briggs's Opera House in White River Junction VT: Sept. 16, 2017; 11:20-12:50pm (https://www.deep-change.org/index.php/deep-change-2017-conferencegathering/)
Rewilding with Threatened & Endangered Plants
After a brief context within the permaculture movement of restorative agriculture, we met or reconnected with threatened & endangered plants that grow in Vermont and learned about habitats in which they grow. We learned about United Plant Savers as a regenerative organization dedicated to the propagation, conservation, and education about these plants as well as how to join to create botanical sanctuaries. Resources were shared of how to get involved including accompanying educational curriculum for elementary, middle, high school, college, and graduate level students. Other applications such as long term phenology studies were offered. We discussed UPS's involvement with IUCN involving international conservation efforts. We also discussed conflicting views of this rewilding effort including state botanist concerns over genetic diversity and seed source.
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