Our Focus
- Offering education, training and mentoring to those entering the field of ecological restoration
- Supporting local, community initiatives aimed to conserve and repair wild lands
- Fostering ecoliteracy throughout the community with focus on marginalized peoples
- Sharing curriculum that MycoEvolve develops and research MycoEvolve conducts in creative, accessible ways
- Forming effective collaborations with businesses, individuals, schools, & organizations to support social/ecological health
Current Projects
We are focusing our energy on nurturing relationships in our bioregional earth repair community. Check out our friends' work at Permatours and explore their upcoming events!
Past Projects
Ecological Restoration Community Workshops at Shelburne FarmsGratitude to all who joined these opportunities to learn how to identify and remove nonnative species as part of a large site preparation phase for MycoEvolve's Restoration & Research project at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, VT.
May 7, 12, 26, 27 & June 2. 9am-4pm. |
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Inoculation Workshops with FUNJ
We collaborated with FUNJ. Shrooming Co. to teach at-home mushroom inoculation for food and medicine!
Pine Street Barge Canal
This resilient urban wetland in Burlington's South End hosts 2 Superfund Sites and a Brownfield Site. Explore our findings from conducting two seasons of Community Science inventory. Read our recommendations for the City of Burlington to conserve and protect this site as a dynamic center for education, research, restoration, remediation, and rematriation. This project is currently on pause due to legal, financial, and political limitations. Check out our film just released!
MycoLab Team
Core Member, Public Affairs Coordinator
Bri Arnold (she/her) is a creative facilitator, song carrier, youth mentor, and student of earth. She received a BA in Plant Biology from the University of Vermont and has pursued studies in permaculture, outdoor education, yoga, and collaborative leadership. Bri is eager to support and steward impactful healing processes among our human and more-than-human communities. Bri is mentor for nature-based healing programs for youth and teens with ReTribe. She also volunteers with the Caliata Initiative, a participatory action research group that supports Indigenous agrarian communities in Ecuadorian highlands. Woven through Bri’s service are values of joy, courage, patience, and tikkun olam, translated as: repairing the world.
Bri Arnold (she/her) is a creative facilitator, song carrier, youth mentor, and student of earth. She received a BA in Plant Biology from the University of Vermont and has pursued studies in permaculture, outdoor education, yoga, and collaborative leadership. Bri is eager to support and steward impactful healing processes among our human and more-than-human communities. Bri is mentor for nature-based healing programs for youth and teens with ReTribe. She also volunteers with the Caliata Initiative, a participatory action research group that supports Indigenous agrarian communities in Ecuadorian highlands. Woven through Bri’s service are values of joy, courage, patience, and tikkun olam, translated as: repairing the world.
Core Member, Mentor & Guide
Jess Rubin (she/her, they. we) practices listening to, reading, and tending landscapes. While gardening and wilderness guiding, Jess earned herbalism, nature awareness, outdoor education, & permaculture certificates, a BA from Cornell University in Ecological Literature with Native American Studies minor, an MS in Environmental Studies with VT middle & high school science teaching licenses from Antioch NE, and MS with a concentration in Ecological Landscape Design from UVM Plant Soil Science Department. Currently Jess guides MycoEvolve's community branch Mycolab, works as a Myco-Phytoremediation Research Technician in UVM Plant Soil Science Department, teaches ecological restoration in local schools, and offers ecological resilience services through MycoEvolve to clients in unceded Abenaki Territory Additionally, she serves on the leadership team of VT Fungal Scientific Advisory Group (FSAG), which aims through documentation to increase understanding of fungal communities, diversity, sensitivities, impact, and role in natural communities. Relevant resume.
Jess Rubin (she/her, they. we) practices listening to, reading, and tending landscapes. While gardening and wilderness guiding, Jess earned herbalism, nature awareness, outdoor education, & permaculture certificates, a BA from Cornell University in Ecological Literature with Native American Studies minor, an MS in Environmental Studies with VT middle & high school science teaching licenses from Antioch NE, and MS with a concentration in Ecological Landscape Design from UVM Plant Soil Science Department. Currently Jess guides MycoEvolve's community branch Mycolab, works as a Myco-Phytoremediation Research Technician in UVM Plant Soil Science Department, teaches ecological restoration in local schools, and offers ecological resilience services through MycoEvolve to clients in unceded Abenaki Territory Additionally, she serves on the leadership team of VT Fungal Scientific Advisory Group (FSAG), which aims through documentation to increase understanding of fungal communities, diversity, sensitivities, impact, and role in natural communities. Relevant resume.
Core Member, Photographer & Videographer
John Howard (he/him) is a photographer and videographer (of Black Oak Media LLC) who is passionate about conservation, land stewardship, healing damaged ecosystems, and public land access. specializing in creating media for environmentally and socially impactful businesses, as well as artists, creatives, and inspired people. Website: john-howard.com
John Howard (he/him) is a photographer and videographer (of Black Oak Media LLC) who is passionate about conservation, land stewardship, healing damaged ecosystems, and public land access. specializing in creating media for environmentally and socially impactful businesses, as well as artists, creatives, and inspired people. Website: john-howard.com
Core Member with Focus on Mycology, Research & Education
Andy Bainton (all pronouns) has related to land over the last three years through growing food. They are instructing for UVM Extension’s intensive six-month farmer training program. They have helped facilitate workshops, support Mycolab and MycoEvolve projects, wrote zines and supporting other mycowork in the area. Andy has experience as an educator, leading a youth crew on the farm at Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, and is deepening those skills by participating in this network.
Andy Bainton (all pronouns) has related to land over the last three years through growing food. They are instructing for UVM Extension’s intensive six-month farmer training program. They have helped facilitate workshops, support Mycolab and MycoEvolve projects, wrote zines and supporting other mycowork in the area. Andy has experience as an educator, leading a youth crew on the farm at Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, and is deepening those skills by participating in this network.
Bioregional Member, Youth Mentor
Colton Francis (he/him) has supported youth development for nearly a decade through sharing earth-based practices and incorporating collective care into group dynamics. He was a mentor at Crowspath, in Burlington, VT where he taught naturalist and survival skills, supported social emotional learning and shared creative play with children. Colton is now a wilderness guide for Kroka, ocassionally working at ReTribe's Teen Naturalist Program. While pursuing an outdoor education degree at Sterling College, he worked with individuals at Rutland Mental Health sharing passion and knowledge about gardening. During this time Colton also worked with homeschool students to cultivate community-oriented ecoliteracy. Since 2022 Colton worked with Mycolab supporting community science and clean up days at the Pine Street Barge Canal. Colton is excited to weave his passions for fostering earth-based connection and creating social, ecological harmony as a a member of Mycolab.
Colton Francis (he/him) has supported youth development for nearly a decade through sharing earth-based practices and incorporating collective care into group dynamics. He was a mentor at Crowspath, in Burlington, VT where he taught naturalist and survival skills, supported social emotional learning and shared creative play with children. Colton is now a wilderness guide for Kroka, ocassionally working at ReTribe's Teen Naturalist Program. While pursuing an outdoor education degree at Sterling College, he worked with individuals at Rutland Mental Health sharing passion and knowledge about gardening. During this time Colton also worked with homeschool students to cultivate community-oriented ecoliteracy. Since 2022 Colton worked with Mycolab supporting community science and clean up days at the Pine Street Barge Canal. Colton is excited to weave his passions for fostering earth-based connection and creating social, ecological harmony as a a member of Mycolab.
MycoLab's Herstory
Mycolab started as seeds inspired from the Radical Mycology Community. We had a little Vermont Myconode which experimented cultivating fungi. We researched, practiced inoculation techniques, and educated about how to apply fungi in habitat enhancing applications such as food & medicine in clean sites & through remediative infrastructure in polluted sites.
With support from NE Grassroots Environmental Funds (thank you!!!) we built a lab in a temporary permaculture community growing lavender in Charlotte. During this time we learned about cultivation, held monthly collective meetings, educational workshops, and grew spawn for mycoremediation pilot projects MycoEvolve was conducting. Our activities included: catching wild spores, transferring to agar & liquid cultures, cultivating fungal species, inoculating cold pasteurized straw with liquid cultures, transferring liquid to grain spawn & grain spawn to cold pasteurized straw, woodchips, & our homegrown hemphull sawdust mix, installing outdoor installations in community gardens, inoculating logs for food & medicine, tending a mycelium nursery and fungal strain library, providing lab space, spawn, and labor for local mycoremediation projects dedicated to watershed restoration.
After inevitable shifts the lab transitioned into germination mode. Jess reentered academia for furthur training and the group dispersed. Now rearisen we orient towards serving marginalized community members to increase ecological literacy, accessibility to scientific learning, and opportunities to engage and train all interested in the ecological restoration field. While fungi are a huge part of this work, so are microbes and plants!
2020 summer, the lab hosted (with help from NEGEF), Abenaki members of Alnobaiwi to offer rematriation ceremony at Shelburne Farms where we with Abenaki guide Myco-Phytoremediation research; this site like many needs remediation from years of colonial land practices that contribute to watershed degradation. These research plots also serve as Abenaki harvest ways since 88% of our plant palette has ceremonial, medicinal, edible, utilitarian use to Abenaki. Phosphorus is benign when uptaken in plants. We orient restoration & remediation projects to engage Original Peoples as primary stakeholders, while we work to repair colonial extraction practices' legacy.
In addition to tending MycoEvolve & UVM's ongoing Myco-Phytoremediation research at Shelburne Farms, we contributed curriculum, time, resources and expertise to support work of Friends of the Barge Canal, albeit complex politics, impending development and dearth of NE models for remediation at this contamination level. Hydrological engineers, mycologists, botanists, political scientists and other relevant experts are welcome to join our Mycolab team.
MycoLab is our community offering. We continue to write grants to fund these endeavors as we slowly shift the paradigm through anti-colonial, racially just, accessible, non capitalist forms of community care, earth tending, true remediation, ecological literacy, earth repair training and rematriation. This involves educating developers, city officials, mainstream scientists, and policy administrators in how to 'catch up' current mainstream institutional practices of dig, dump, build or cap over with current science of true remediation. This requires updating outdated definitions of remediation and accompanying policy/economic systems with innovative, rehabilitive solutions, learning together with everyone the technical science & softer skills of conscious communication and reciprocal collaboration. Stay tuned as the team grows and feel free to join us with your gifts and skills!!!
With support from NE Grassroots Environmental Funds (thank you!!!) we built a lab in a temporary permaculture community growing lavender in Charlotte. During this time we learned about cultivation, held monthly collective meetings, educational workshops, and grew spawn for mycoremediation pilot projects MycoEvolve was conducting. Our activities included: catching wild spores, transferring to agar & liquid cultures, cultivating fungal species, inoculating cold pasteurized straw with liquid cultures, transferring liquid to grain spawn & grain spawn to cold pasteurized straw, woodchips, & our homegrown hemphull sawdust mix, installing outdoor installations in community gardens, inoculating logs for food & medicine, tending a mycelium nursery and fungal strain library, providing lab space, spawn, and labor for local mycoremediation projects dedicated to watershed restoration.
After inevitable shifts the lab transitioned into germination mode. Jess reentered academia for furthur training and the group dispersed. Now rearisen we orient towards serving marginalized community members to increase ecological literacy, accessibility to scientific learning, and opportunities to engage and train all interested in the ecological restoration field. While fungi are a huge part of this work, so are microbes and plants!
2020 summer, the lab hosted (with help from NEGEF), Abenaki members of Alnobaiwi to offer rematriation ceremony at Shelburne Farms where we with Abenaki guide Myco-Phytoremediation research; this site like many needs remediation from years of colonial land practices that contribute to watershed degradation. These research plots also serve as Abenaki harvest ways since 88% of our plant palette has ceremonial, medicinal, edible, utilitarian use to Abenaki. Phosphorus is benign when uptaken in plants. We orient restoration & remediation projects to engage Original Peoples as primary stakeholders, while we work to repair colonial extraction practices' legacy.
In addition to tending MycoEvolve & UVM's ongoing Myco-Phytoremediation research at Shelburne Farms, we contributed curriculum, time, resources and expertise to support work of Friends of the Barge Canal, albeit complex politics, impending development and dearth of NE models for remediation at this contamination level. Hydrological engineers, mycologists, botanists, political scientists and other relevant experts are welcome to join our Mycolab team.
MycoLab is our community offering. We continue to write grants to fund these endeavors as we slowly shift the paradigm through anti-colonial, racially just, accessible, non capitalist forms of community care, earth tending, true remediation, ecological literacy, earth repair training and rematriation. This involves educating developers, city officials, mainstream scientists, and policy administrators in how to 'catch up' current mainstream institutional practices of dig, dump, build or cap over with current science of true remediation. This requires updating outdated definitions of remediation and accompanying policy/economic systems with innovative, rehabilitive solutions, learning together with everyone the technical science & softer skills of conscious communication and reciprocal collaboration. Stay tuned as the team grows and feel free to join us with your gifts and skills!!!
