hey y’all! it’s Chrysantilus, welcome back to the realm and thank you so so much for joining me today. here are some other quick tips for your first trip… one: set and setting. i’m gonna say this in probably all of my videos but it’s extremely important that you have the proper mindset, a good mindset and a good setting, a clear space, not about to knock things over and break things, you’re able to get up and move around and dance. a setting, a setting that makes you feel good, a setting that you want to be in that could be outside as long as it doesn’t require anything with a lot of maneuvering like rock climbing or cliffs or anything dangerous. your depth perception can leave you at times, i know friends who have had experiences with going to places that have drop offs and cliffs. and journeying and those things just don’t mix y’all, don’t mix them and then mindset. so what i’ve heard this defined as in the metric i use is this: have you been in a solid head space for two weeks? no breakdowns nothing major happened in your life, majorly bad, you’ve been at peace harmonious with the world are you in a good place? have you been in a good place for the past two weeks? if the answer is yes and you’re still feeling in a good place by all means proceed ahead, but if the answer is no you might consider working your way to having a solid past two weeks and then journeying once you hit that point. now i know this piece of advice is probably gonna feel super unfair for y’all. i know it feels relatively unfair for me because for some folks having a solid mental health past two weeks is nothing or they’re just about always there, i know for myself that it’s not the case and a lot of the times it requires a solid amount of self-work to get to a place where i’ve had a solid past two weeks but for sustainability, for safety, for harm reduction it is important that we wait and sometimes that can look like waiting a while until we’re able to journey and that sucks and i just want to acknowledge that, but the things that you can dredge up from the past two weeks especially feelings, emotions, events, not all of that might be conducive to having a solid trip and it could even hurt you more than help you plan ahead. if you’re going to be out do you have a proper amount of water? especially if you’re going to be somewhere without a water source are you bringing water with you? staying hydrated is extremely important, you want to stay hydrated this entire time, drink lots and lots of water. are there bathrooms nearby or anywhere that you’re going to be able to make a number one or number two both of which are extremely common when journeying? are you with people you trust? are you with friends? the less experienced you are with this medicine the more likely adverse experiences are. there’s a direct correlation with the lack of experience with this medicine and the increased likeliness of adverse events and because of that it’s extremely important to have a friend around who is sober who is not tripping who can hold space for you in the event of one of these adverse events. do your research which, you have done quite a bit by watching this, and being on this part of youtube, but know this medicine. Know the side effects, again know your own family history, do your research, be prepared for those side effects. for more on family history risk peep these videos. this i think is part of having reverence and respect for the medicine and that would be my next tip, have reverence and respect for the medicine, know that these children will humble you. you might feel like, you know, your ego’s butt is absolutely kicked and demolished and obliterated while you’re experiencing this and that’s all good, but have reverence for that humility, expect it. next up tea! i like to say tea is key. i recommend everybody try eating magic mushrooms at least once, but if you’re someone with a history of anxiety especially, i will recommend that your first trip is done with tea. tea extracts the psilocybin in a different way than just depending on our digestive system to do it and you have more control over the situation, you have more control over how much you’re drinking. when and if you need to bump up later you can eat the mushrooms, like it’s all good. it usually, for me, takes anxiety completely out of the come up and an anxious come up can really taint the rest of your trip because you’re recovering from it. lastly integrate afterwards, i’m putting out a new video about magic mushroom integration, please look out for that, it will be how to integrate after your first mushroom trip, you might feel like a totally new and renewed person after you trip but to keep the trip alive it’s a good idea to integrate, it’s a good idea to have an integration practice to bring the trip into your mindfulness practice, to reflect on your trip. there are a bunch of things we can do to integrate and it’s a good idea to integrate. thank you all so much for watching this video i am chrysantilus on instagram and tiktok, i designed this dope ‘keep it trippy’ shirt that’s up on my threadless right now. i do all of these videos and all of this channel and my tiktoks and all that kind of stuff alone. i am a one woman band and my channel is not yet monetized so this type of financial support means a lot and i really appreciate y’all who rep the realm in real life. if you feel even a little bit more ready for your first magic mushroom trip after watching this video please consider subscribing to this channel. i’m working on and i’ve put out a bunch of other magic mushroom videos and there are more resources here for you and you are welcome, you are welcome to be here thank you for being here, you can also check out this playlist ‘the trippy stuff’ if you just want a fast track to my magic mushroom videos. thanks again so much for watching and be sure to keep it trippy!
A father told his daughter that Autumn arrives without any whistles and bell, Unlike the other seasons. The slush of spring. You can feel the heat of summer. The bite of winter air. But today when we went picking mushrooms in the forest, I realized that autumn never arrives silently. Pale amber sunlight doesnât left you grumpy, falls across sparkling September trees. Autumn sounds like a sad tune. Days will be shortened, tree begins to drop its leaves. The leaves give their last breath through their stomata. I can feel the smell of the foraging season: chestnuts, mushrooms, wild herbs⊠The smell of old summer. After every sunset, the ground cools down fast. Together with the heat in the air it traps the old scents in between. And now summer’s loss seems a bit more bearable. Autumn the season I love the most. There was a filmy veil of soft dull mist obscuring, but not hiding all objects, giving them a lilac hue, for the sun had not yet fully set. Just like that, Autumn Falls. The first thing we do is go picking mushrooms. Itâs a long-standing tradition in Germany. Germans eat more mushrooms than any other European country. Tall mushrooms, short mushrooms. They can be as red as the sun or as blue as the summer sky. In Central Europe there are only about 60 types of edible mushrooms. The poisonous mushrooms are everywhere, very easy to be mistaken. Don’t underestimate this danger! There are many deaths each year due to poisonous mushrooms After years of picking mushrooms, reading books, learning from experienced people I still have so much to learn. Prime locations are kept privately within families. Weâre lucky that we got insider tips by experts and had access to a beautiful forest of porcini mushrooms. Remember not to forage too much to avoid destroying the whole ecology of that location. Press the soil firmly back after picking. I also went picking some edible wild herbs, to invite some close friends over for dinner. Buckhorn, stinging nettle, ashweed, Sorrel, mustard-garlic, water parsley… Central European forests are full of edible wild herbs They are delicious and more nutritious than the grown ones because of the harsh climate conditions in the wild. Living in a foreign country is sometimes not so easy. Parents are far away and friends are not easy to meet. After graduation everyone moved to different cities to work. Sometimes we can only meet once a year. Itâs not that you can just pick up the phone and have a drink the other day like the life back then.. But I think I’m lucky to have some good friends nearby, although they live one hour drive from us, we always manage to have time to meet regularly. Does autumn’s arrival make people more emotional?
You know, I am really bored! Like, really bored!!! When I am bored I put on my armour Huh… I wear my apron! And I cook a dish that… Excites almost everybody! Hmm… There’s this one dish that excites everyone! Mushroom Masala! Yaa… So to get rid of my boredom And… For your excitement Let’s cook some Mushroom Masala! Rolling &… Action!!! Another common misconception that we have in India is… That mushrooms are not an Indian ingredient Uhh…. That the ‘West’ taught us to eat mushrooms Which is not true For the longest time ‘Gucchi’ (Morels) are found in Kashmir Gucchi Pulav is an age-old Kashmiri delicacy Dried Morels would be ‘exported’ to Amritsar, Lahore Morels are famous in entire North India, Punjab Dhingri (Mushrooms) would come to Punjab from Kashmir and Afghanistan Dhingri Mattar (Mushrooms and Green Peas) is a very famous recipe It is way more older than You know…Uhh…than…just the twentieth century, When cultivated mushrooms arrived on the scene We have always been eating mushrooms For a long time. It’s just that, we don’t know it as well! The recipe is very simple Hmm… And this same recipe, you can just take it any place Next time you are doing a Alu (Potato) Masala, Or you are doing any other gravy-based ‘Masala’ Then… you can use the same recipe All the new cooks Especially those cooks, Who are worried about cooking after marriage Actually…the boys should be worried Because gone are the days when only girls were expected to cook But still The girls who are still worried about cooking after marriage They should invest in a good mixer-blender Half the job is done! And the day they start making silent mixies That’s it! All work will be done without anyone even knowing that a mixer was used So here I am cooking the base of the ‘Masala Gravy’ The ones worried about cooking after marriage, Please pay attention! This is an infallible recipe Ranveer Brar’s tested, infallible recipe I always say that if one wants to understand Indian cuisine, one needs to understand the nature of onions How to cook onions To what stage the onions have to be cooked The cut of onions to be used You know… because… Everything depends on onions The onions need to be sautĂ©ed till light brown Not beyond this stage After this… We add all these ingredients Mix everything together Don’t waste too much time. Else, the spices will burn As soon as you smell the aroma of sautĂ©ed spices, And then add water Which means we are introducing moisture by adding tomatoes Once the spices are cooked and turn fragrant, Add water and salt The water is only for the tomatoes to cook Hmm… Once the tomatoes are cooked, there should be no water left before blending into a paste Ideally…Ideally, after this masala base is cooked, During the last boil, I will add half teaspoon white vinegar to it Without revealing this By doing so, this will last in the refrigerator for at least a week Hmm… And then, you can just take it out, Add whatever you want to add And make it… Uhh… Bhindi (Okra) Masala, Gobhi (Cauliflower) Masala, Alu (Potato) Masala, Mushroom Masala As simple as that! Let us solve this mystery of the mushroom See, mushrooms; often, a lot of us do not use We get very confused about which part of the mushroom can be used And about mushrooms not being clean How to clean them? Right? I am going to solve that mystery You don’t have to waste the whole stem You just need to cut the base of the stem Just a little bit of the stem You can keep this much We are cutting the base of the stem because it tends to become a little woody Most of the mushrooms that are available today All these Are usually grown on newspaper stacks Very few varieties of mushrooms grow in the soil But still… Sometimes there may be some dirt or something black on the mushrooms For removing it, sprinkle some flour on the mushroom Alright? Not refined flour… whole wheat flour! After that, you just have to rub it All you are doing is, You are scrubbing the mushrooms And the wheat flour is helping you scrub Look at this See that? Nice! If I had added half the amount of water, So it would have become a paste Right? And that would have stayed in the fridge forever! A tiny bit of vinegar. Don’t forget that! Beautiful! Now we have a kind of ‘Masala Gravy’ ready Alright? We have a ‘Masala’ ready, so as to say Now just add the mushrooms and…finish! All these dishes; Bhindi (Okra) Masala, Mushroom Masala Alu (Potato) Masala All these dishes have their origins in the post-partition period Post-partition when a lot of people migrated to Delhi They were habituated to cooking in a ‘Kadhai’ And… The style of cooking in Lahore involved adding a masala in a ‘Kadhai’ And then tossing it with other ingredients It was called ‘Balti Cooking’ or ‘Kadhai Cooking’ What they did was…They made that same ‘Masala’ And started serving things stir-fried in it And that came to be known as ‘Bhindi Masala’, ‘Dhingri Masala’ That ‘Masala’ was common It is therefore important to understand this ‘Masala’ ‘Punjabi-Style Masala’ is very important to understand to cook Any ‘Masala’ dish As a shortcut! First and foremost, And obviously…some Ghee Because Ranveer is cooking! Lightly sweat the whole spices The onions are only for chunkiness Add some red chilli powder after the onions And mushrooms Now we’ll just add a little bit of salt So the mushrooms can lose water Nice! Some more ‘gravy’, then cover with a lid and leave to cook. There you go! And this is done! Just roughly torn coriander Now this looks like that typical ‘Impressing your in-laws’ kind of platter
– [Narrator] The new to Netflix documentary, “Fantastic Fungi,” features amazing time-lapse footage filmed by a team of cinematographers that included this pioneering filmmaker. – My name is Louie Schwartzberg. I’m a filmmaker and I love to take audiences on journeys through time and scale. That’s a real rush. – [Narrator] Let’s go behind the scenes and find out how these time-lapses were made for “Fantastic Fungi.” – Well, I think the biggest surprise for people watching the film is they think that it’s all filmed outdoors. There’s a lot of reasons why you can’t film time-lapse of plants and fungi outdoors. Number one, there’s wind, which should make the objects shake and rattle, and look like a Charlie Chaplin movie. Number two, there are bugs and other elements that would interfere with the filming. The has to be constant. You know, even during the day, the light fluctuates. So I built a studio on top of my garage. If I was shooting one frame every 15 minutes, it means I’m shooting four frames an hour times 24 is 96 frames. 96 frames is four seconds of film. So the way it works is I had somebody build an intervalometer for me. Intervalometer means it triggers a camera one frame at a time. There you go. In 24 hours we’ll have one second of film. It also triggers the grow lights to come on and off and the photo lights. The photo lights is the beauty light. The gorgeous tabletop cinematography lighting. The grow lights are these sort of LED lights that are kind of weird and pink. I think they were developed for people growing cannabis. I’m able to program the grow lights to be like sunrise and sunset. If I leave the grow lights on 24 hours, they die. I set up shots in the morning. I check them at night. I realized I’ve turned it into a spiritual practice. It actually literally gets me up in the morning because as soon as I’m out of bed, I’m thinking ooh, I wonder what the flower did last night? Is it still in frame? Is it in focus? I have to imagine what the framing and the composition is going to look like tomorrow, or two days from now, or a week from now. That is a transformational experience because you have to put your mind into the mindset and the intention of the flower or the fungi, thinking where it’s going to grow, how big will it get, and if you’re right, boy, it’s a rush. If you’re wrong, it means you just gotta do it all over again. – [Narrator] Louie and his team consulted mycologists, fungi experts, on how to grow mushrooms in an environment free from bacteria and bugs for the film. But which was the most photogenic fungus? – Lion’s mane had these little kind of tiny tentacles that would emerge They would wiggle in this really beautiful wave-like pattern. I say roughly, you know, the ratio of success to failure, it’s roughly about one out of six, maybe one out of 10. It’s extremely difficult to do. When I’m shooting the closeup of the fungi growing, we create a miniature set. Moss, and logs, and rocks. Time-lapse macro cinematography. Your depth of field is very shallow. We use macro lenses, 100 millimeter Canon, 180 millimeter Canon, and the 35 millimeter micro lens. So naturally audience won’t be focusing on the background. If I’m doing a more of a master shot, where we used for example, motion control, we will put up a blue screen and then we will composite in a sky or a forest to really make it believable. To be able to move the camera was something that was impossible to do in special effects prior to motion-control cinematography. So with motion-control, they took cameras and combined it with computers to do a repeat move, meaning it shoots one frame, it stops, shoots another frame and stops, and you have this controlled dolly move while the mushroom is growing. Basically it’s dolly track in a tripod head that now has little motors on it that enables the computer to program a pan, a tilt, and the length of the move on the dolly, as well as control the camera and focus. All these things have to be working together as if it was a real time shot. – [Narrator] But one critical component of the fungi story was impossible to film using traditional techniques. – The mycelium is like the tree and the mushroom is like the apple to the tree. – [Narrator] The mycelium, an underground root-like system that branches out, kind of like the internet, connecting plants and trees to each other. – You got a couple of problems here. A, no light. B, smaller than the eye can see. It’s only one cell thick. So what we did was we used scanning electron microscopic photography for the electron microscope to work. They work in a lab on a giant slab of concrete ’cause any vibration would ruin the shot. You take the specimen and you put it under the microscope and you bombard it with electrons, and you get most extraordinary close-up detail that is unimaginable to the human eye. We used those images as a reference for computer generated animators to use and we created these incredible shots of traveling through the mycelial network. – [Narrator] Throughout his career, Louie has pushed the envelope of our visual language, both in terms of tech and artistry. He also pioneered the stock footage industry. The company he formed to license his vast library of clips was eventually bought by Getty Images. – I started shooting time-lapse four decades ago by looking at time-lapse clouds back in 1970 when I pioneered the first 35 millimeter cameras that could go outdoors and shoot one frame at a time. Shooting fungi, and flowers, and plants, I basically have a camera rolling 24 hours a day, seven days a week. – [Narrator] From commercials, to IMAX, to feature films, it’s impossible to not have seen the work of Louie Schwartzberg at some point in your life. – I love to film hummingbirds. Again, looking at life from their point of view enables you to realize that all of life has a different metabolic rate and I think all of life has a different frame rate. So for example, a mosquito on your arm, you know, having a little drop of blood, it takes a look at that hand coming towards it in ultra slow motion and has plenty of time to take off because its metabolic rate, its lifespan is way shorter than our lifespan, and our lifespan is way shorter than a redwood tree’s lifespan. This reality of, you know, real time human point of view is not the only point of view, and that’s really the beauty of cameras and time-lapse cinematography. It’s actually a time machine. You know, you can talk about this stuff in scientific terms, you could have Einstein explain the theory of relativity, but until you see it, you really don’t get it. The longest thing I’ve ever shot was a mouse rotting. You can say that decomposition is the end of life. I argue that it’s the beginning of life. You see this kind of rippling of the fur and then that kind of dissipates, and then you see some bones, and then you see the grass grow up in between. To observe the pattern and the rhythm of how it decomposes is actually really beautiful. – [Narrator] Louie’s art has given him a unique perspective on nature, time, and the nature of time. – What I’m really engaged with is really trying to understand the intelligence of nature and how we can live in harmony with it. That means at times using a time-lapse camera to be able to observe it in their timeframe. It’s a shared economy under the ground where nutrients and food are shared for ecosystems to flourish without greed. I personally believe that should be the model for how we should live our lives. We should take that wisdom from below the ground and bring it above the ground.
hello youtube this is rj welcome back to another episode of old man of the woods so we have been wanting to make this video ever since our water mushrooms can eat series over the years we found lots of edible mushrooms but there ain’t many that are toxic because unfortunately or unfortunately i would say only a small fraction of the mushrooms are poisonous one thing you need to know about poisonous mushrooms is that there’s no rule of thumb for you to just recognize them in a snap you have to do it by brute force have to first identify them then decide whether it is poisonous or not there’s no easy way out with that said there could be some quote unquote general principles as for what mushrooms not to eat we will get there when we discuss more examples specific examples later for now if you really want a quick and short advice i would say be particularly alert to those in natural colors white beige light yellow brown for example remember what they lack in color they may well make up for in toxicity another thing is it is completely safe to touch most of the poisonous mushrooms with your bare hands the toxins cannot penetrate your skin though it is always a good idea to wash your hands after handling mushrooms there is one exception perhaps the asian fire coral mushroom is highly toxic it is said that even touching it could cause skin inflammation but even this is highly controversial right first mushroom of the day the false parasol chlorophyllum molybdites one of the most commonly misconsumed poisonous mushrooms why because it is whitish in color looks almost like an albino version of the portobello mushroom or a gigantic butter mushroom pretty safe huh in addition these summer mushrooms grow on lawns not in the woods very readily accessible so why now grab some free gift from mother nature wrong don’t eat any mushrooms from your backyard unless you can tell they’re edible ones like the shaggy mane or the meadow mushrooms most of the lawn mushrooms are not worth eating and many of them are poisonous the false parasol is also called the vomiter consuming it will make one vomit have a bad diarrhea and gut cramps on the stomach these symptoms will occur within a couple of hours of consumption so far no one has died from miseating this mushroom however it may be deadly to dogs and other livestocks so be careful if you have easy access to this mushroom your dog might too the false parasol features a long straight stipe and a white cap on top just like a parasol but why false you may wonder well because it has an almost identical twin the person mushroom macrolabioda procera which is edible and has a pleasant nutty flavor there are multiple ways to tell the twins apart and the most straightforward one is to check their gills the mature false parasol has greenish gray gills and the parasol has whitish gills this is because the former yields unique olive green spores while the latter produces pale pink spores the color of spores does not always match that of the gills but in this case it does the false parasol is also called the greensport lapiota remember here green means poisonous though not always the second mushroom today is jack-o’-lantern omphalotus illudens it is a gorgeous orange mushroom that you can expect to see in mid-fall it grows near tree roots or on stumps and clusters like a giant bouquet of flowers in full bloom mis-consuming this mushroom can cause nausea throwing up abdominal cramping and sometimes diarrhea it may also affect the liver function but it won’t kill you partly thanks to its vibrant color people tend to avoid this mushroom we all have heard people saying that bright colored mushrooms are poisonous right however the jack o’ lantern has multiple delicious lookalikes and all of them are also very bright in color this alone shows the old wisdom doesn’t always hold if you want to learn more about those edible lookalikes we have a video on that but for now let’s get back to the check or lantern this mushroom really lives up to its common name in that it is pumpkin oranges overall including its cap gills stem and flesh the flesh may be of a lighter shade yet it is still orange also beneath its cap there are gills running down to the stem remember these two features and you won’t be confused with any of this edible lookalikes because none of the others has the same combination our third poisonous mushroom is significantly smaller than the first two it’s way less common at least in our area we’ve been searching for this mushroom for years but only got to meet it earlier this summer it is the sulfur tuft mushroom hypholoma fasciculare this light yellow mushroom is fairly easy to identify flip the cap you will see light yellow with olive green hues yeah the gills has like a greenish hue maybe it’s a sulfur tuft it grows in clusters so that’s a typical sign of sulfur tuft yeah if you remember our first mushroom the false parasol also has greenish gills because they are tinted by the green spores but for the sulfur theft the green comes from the gills themselves and it actually yields dark purple spores you can see its spore print in this spring do you think it’s green or it’s brown it’s very hard to tell i think it’s brown the base color of the cap is is yellow so yes for this reason there are usually dark shades in between the gills on mature specimens the sulphur tuft does not have much meat plus it is very bitter so it seems very unlikely that people would harvest and eat them by accident however these mushrooms usually grow in very tempting big clusters and their bitterness may be concealed within a meal so watch out don’t get them mixed into your edible harvest the clinical effect of the sulfur tuft is mainly gastrointestinal irritation some common symptoms include vomiting abdominal pain and a diarrhea yet it is not a fatal mushroom the symptoms will usually resolve within several hours the fourth mushroom is the common earthborn mushroom yes it is a ball-shaped mushroom without a regular cap and stamp and the spores are stored inside of the ball the earth ball is pretty hard when young its skin is dark yellow or brown in color the inner mass is initially white but will soon turn black as it grows don’t get it confused with the edible puff ball which is firm but puffy and have white flesh and don’t think you stumble on some delicious truffles when you find some earthborn mushrooms unless you misidentify the earth balls for some edible mushrooms you are not likely to digest them by mistake ingestion of this mushroom can cause gastrointestinal distress as well unlike the first four mushrooms the mis-consumption of our fifth mushroom galerina marginata can have disastrous consequences you know this when you learn its common names deadly galerina the funeral bell and the autumn skull cap yep you’re warned naturally good deadly gotta write on the ring zone the toxins found in this mushroom are amatoxins the lethal dose of which is around 0.1 milligram per kilogram of human body weight the deadly galrina can cause severe liver dysfunction and kidney failure in the first day of ingestion the victim will not display any symptoms though the toxins are actively working in the next 24 hours there will be vomiting and bloody diarrhea then things seem to get better before they get worse the victim appears to recover but the final stage quickly follows in which the clotting factors in the blood get destroyed liver and kidney failure occurs which could lead to death and all this happens within seven days of consumption must be yeah i think it’s deadly galerina let’s compare it to the velvet food mushroom both appear in wintertime and they can resist the cold temperature in our 10 winter edible mushrooms video we compared deadly galerina to two tasty mushrooms that look like it the honey and the velvet foot check it out if you want a step to step identification beige so it’s very easy to identify to differentiate or stay away from all little brown mushrooms because first you shouldn’t eat any mushrooms you don’t know and little brown mushrooms are notoriously difficult to identify and second deadly galerina is not the only deadly little brown mushroom pholiotina rugosa for example grows on pacific northwest and is also fatal our sixth and seventh mushroom belong to the same genus amonita they’re the destroying angel and the death cap very ominous these two mushrooms contain amatoxins as the deadly galerina so they also can damage the liver and kidney and sometimes a transplant is required here sac like vulva the destroying angel which includes Amanita bisporigera in the east ocreata in the west and the magnivelaris in conifers is an all-white mushroom take a look at its structure this is important white cap beneath which are crowded girls white stem with a little skirt hanging on it this is called the partial veil it covers the gills when the mushroom is young there’s also a universal veil that encloses the whole mushroom at its earliest stage a mushroom egg it once was when the mushroom cracked the shell and get tall the universal veil degenerates into a sack-like vulva hugging the base of the stem you have to dig deep to see it the death cap amonita feloidus has the exact same structure but the cap takes on a yellow to greenish color especially towards the center now i only saw the death cap once and it was not a very typical specimen but this photo from wiki will demonstrate the color difference both mushrooms are fairly common the destroying angel on eastern america in summer and the death camp more on west coast in fall they are quite meaty and innocent looking not a far cry from the common bottom mushroom and strikingly like the asian straw mushroom therefore the two account for by far the most deaths due to mushroom poisoning in fact many members in the amanita family are poisonous though not mortal such as amanita abrupta and amanita cokeri so unless you’re very familiar with wild mushrooms you should always keep your guard up and avoid amanita mushrooms luckily the members in the amanita genus are easy to recognize they basically share the same color and structure as the destroying angel with some variations some are darker some have scales on the cap some without a ring some without a vulva but when you see anything similar drop it of course you may strike down some non-american mushrooms like lapioda’s for example but that’s actually a good thing because this leather genus also contains poisonous mushrooms plus you won’t miss anything special what is quite counterintuitive is that the one choice edible mushroom in the amanila genus the caesar’s mushroom is fire orange in color so don’t judge a mushroom’s edibility by its color if you can’t resist the temptation do it the other way around never trust the innocent looking ones so all the mushrooms showed in this video are found in pennsylvania maryland virginia and delaware if you know any common poisonous species but it’s not included this video that must because i haven’t got the honor to meet it i hope you enjoyed today’s video and know better what not to eat there are many toxic mushrooms that are not covered here like the yellow stainer fool’s funnel false morel deadly webcap and so on and so forth i’m looking forward to meeting them in the future and introducing them to you as well until next time future and agent uc i’m looking forward to you
now mushrooms have been around for a very very long time a mushroom is a fungus and you wouldn’t think that a mushroom could act like a medicine but it has some powerful effects that can mimic actual drugs so it’s quite amazing so let’s go through seven and talk about some of the effects that these these certain nutrients and mushrooms can create the first one is the reishi mushroom it has the ability to increase natural killer cells natural killer cells are pretty ninja cells they basically can kill cancer cells and destroy viruses this mushroom also can increase the number of white blood cells amazing it has anti-cancer effects of course this is one of them right here it can decrease fatigue and help stabilize blood sugar i’m going to put some references down below and all these points right here now these mushrooms do a lot more than what i’m talking about i’m just talking about the main effects that it can create shiitake mushrooms 83 of all the shiitake mushrooms come from japan and they have the same amino acids as meat they can decrease ldl they can also lessen the plaquing the amyloid plaquing in the brain they have properties of decreasing blood pressure and even one study indicated that it can inhibit leukemia which is a blood cancer fascinating then we get lion’s mane which can prevent dementia it’s great for focus concentration memory why because it can increase the cell growth in the hippocampus which is the area that if you lose this you lose your memory and by the way as a side note you can also lose the hippocampus by being vitamin b1 deficient zinc deficient and by consuming a high carb diet that’s why keto is very beneficial this part of the brain can regenerate okay then we have chaga it’s antibacterial it’s antiviral and it’s anti cancer pretty cool all right cordyceps and this is used by a lot of athletes it’s good for exercise performance exercise endurance strength it’s an adaptogen so it helps you cope with stress and lessen the effect of stress in the body there’s actually 22 studies just on what it can do for chronic kidney disease by lessening this disease fascinating they can prevent arrhythmias and then we get turkey tail mushrooms powerful powerful powerful anti-cancer it supports the immune system it increases monocytes and phagocytes which actually help clean up a lot of the garbage and also kill off microbes then we have maitake mushroom this is an adaptogen so it’s good for adrenal stress increasing your ability to cope with stress good for anxiety and it’s anti-cancer so what’s the common thread with all these mushrooms they nearly all have powerful anti-cancer properties which is quite fascinating hey before you go real quick i have a course entitled how to bulletproof your immune system it’s a free course i want you to take it and here’s why here’s you here is your environment everyone is focused on this over here avoiding your environment but what about here what about strengthening your immune system that’s what’s missing this course will show you how to bulletproof yourself and so you can tolerate and resist your environment much better by strengthening your own immune system i put a link down in the description right down below check it out and get signed up today
It’s easy to look around these days and think to yourself, “Humanity is screwed”. The earth is getting hotter, the planetâs drowning in plastic, and weâre on the brink of a global energy crisis. The human population is growing faster than we can feed and accommodate it, and weâre entering an era of pandemic viruses, the most dangerous of which seems to be stupidity. Things look bleak, but before you start washing your Prozac down with hemlock, there is hope on the horizon. Because a growing body of research is revealing that a weird, ancient and freely occurring life form could help us solve many of the problems we face as a species today. And that life form is fungus. Now, when you hear the word ‘fungus’ you probably think of mouldy bread or that stuff growing on your big toe you’re too afraid to see the doctor about. But, thankfully, fungi are more diverse than that. Depending on who you speak to, there are between 2.2 and 5 million different species of fungi in the world today, and together they form an entirely separate kingdom, making them neither plant nor animal nor bacteria. And though most of us tend to think of plants and fungi as broadly similar, weirdly enough fungi are actually more closely related to us humans than they are to plants. That really does help explain some people, doesn’t it? Fungi also include microorganisms like yeasts and moulds, which are pretty much everywhere. They exist in the ocean, on land and in every natural environment. They’re on your coffee mug, they’re on the International Space Station. They’re all over you and inside you right now. You have my permission to freak out a little bit. The fungal element most people are familiar with is the mushroom, which is essentially the fruit of a fungus. Weâve identified about 20 000 species of fungi that produce mushrooms and, as we shall see later, these vary from the deadly to the delicious to the magical. But the mushroom is only the tip of the fungal iceberg. Below lies a mysterious and often unseen web of fibrous threads that weave over, in and through organic matter. This is mycelium, the vegetative part of fungus. Mycelia help serve fungi’s number one role in the natural ecosystem: eating all the dead stuff. Fungi can’t photosynthesise like plants do because they don’t contain chlorophyll. So, like humans, they need to get their nutrients from other organisms. They do this by decomposing organic compounds: animals, wood, plants, basically anything made from carbon. But, unlike humans and other beasts who eat their food and then digest it, the mycelium likes to do things the other way around, secreting enzymes into or onto whatever itâs having for dinner , to break it down into smaller biological units before absorbing the nutrients. As if decomposing the world’s organic material wasn’t enough of a responsibility, mycelium plays another extraordinary role in natural systems. Spreading throughout the soil, mycelia connect with each other and the roots of plants and trees to form complex communication and distribution networks. When a fungus colonises the roots of a plant, it sets up a win-win relationship known as a “mycorrhiza” By connecting with plant root systems, fungi receive carbohydrates, while in return the plants receive extra water and nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen via the fungi’s mycelium. About 90% of land plants take advantage of this set up, which also helps plants build up their immune systems, making them stronger and encouraging growth. When mycelium first connects to a plant’s root system, it triggers a defensive chemical response in the plant. This process, called priming, makes plants’ immunity reactions faster and more efficient. But the mycelia impact goes far beyond single plants. We now know mycelium networks join up, connecting plants with each other in a subterranean information superhighway. Trees use the mycelium network to transfer carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus between them, helping maintain nutrient balance across many different plants. It appears older trees even help younger ones to grow – a study of seedlings growing in the shade where they are more likely to be short of nutrients revealed they received carbon from donor trees around them via mycelium. And though these discoveries are still pretty new, it seems plants can even use the mycelium net to communicate. Studies have shown that when a single plant is infected with a harmful fungus or attacked by pests, it sends out a warning via the mycelium network, with plants connected to that network showing a more potent immune resistance. Plants that arenât connected never get the message and show weaker immune responses. By studying these stange and complex interactions, scientists believe we may be able to dramatically improve farming techniques that have traditionally destroyed these precious mycelium networks, which – along with the rise in cultivation of edible mushrooms in third world countries, could help in the fight against world hunger. But it’s not all holding hands and âlove thy neighbourâ. Some plants turn the mycelium internet into the dark web by using it for nefarious purposes. Some orchids, for example, have little or no ability to photosynthesise, so they hack into surrounding plants via mycelium to steal the carbon they need. Other plants are even more mercenary. When competing for resources like water and light, they use mycelium to release chemicals into the soil that harm rivals or deter them from growing. This process, called “allelopathy”, is known to happen via tree leaves and roots, but the discovery that fungi are helping to amplify the effect is new. As a reminder of why they weren’t invited to the cool parties at college, many biologists have started calling this dense communication network the “wood wide web”, and some estimate there to be three hundred miles of mycelium under every footstep you take through the forest. Nicknamed the humongous fungus, the largest living organism on the planet is proof of this. Growing in ancient woodland in Oregon is a single giant fungus estimated to be 2,400 years old. The mycelium of this armillaria ostoyae, popularly known as the honey mushroom, covers an area as big as 1,600 football fields and is more than 5 kilometres across. It extends an average of one metre into the earth, but above ground the only evidence of its existence are clumps of honey mushrooms that sporadically bloom after itâs rained. For human beings, mycelium has other uses which may be critical to getting out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves. The fantastic qualities of different fungi, especially their ability to break down carbon-based substances, promise potential miracle solutions to many of the environmental problems weâre facing. And it’s impossible to talk about these possibilities without mentioning Paul Stamets. Paul is a mushroom hunter, mushroom cultivator, and mycologist – someone who loves mushrooms so much they study them as a job. He even wears a hat made of mushrooms, and that should tell you all you need to know. Paul and his team have grown rare strains of fungi which have seemingly mystical medicinal properties while also discovering new potential for well-known mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms, for example, could help clean up oil spills. Stamets has developed a strain that is saltwater resistant and eats hydrocarbons, the organic compounds in petroleum and natural gas. One trial showed an oyster mushroom strain could reduce diesel contaminants in soil from 10,000 parts per million to just 200 parts per million in about four months. The mycelium of the whimsically-named stump fairy helmet mushroom can break down PCBs, cancer-causing chemicals once used in the manufacture of various electronic equipment. In fact, fungi could be the solution to one of the biggest environmental contaminants we have: plastic. There are estimated to be more than 150 million tonnes of plastic in our oceans, and by 2050 there might be more plastic than fish. The problem with plastic is it takes forever to break down and usually creates toxic pollution in the process. But in the last few years, scientists around the world have discovered more than 50 types of fungus that can eat plastic. The fungus pestalotiopsis microspora is capable of surviving entirely on polyurethane – the main ingredient in plastic – and can even break plastics down into new, safe fungal tissues. Mycelium isnât just getting rid of the plastic weâve already produced, either – itâs also being used to create alternatives to plastic packaging, which can take thousands of years to biodegrade. Beyond packaging, mycelium is a surprisingly versatile and durable material in general – the mouldy spores that grow on agricultural waste, or on old cardboard, are being converted into faux leather, textiles, furniture, and even coffins. Mycelium composites can also be made strong enough for use as a building material in the form of bricks, meaning there are implications for the construction industry too. Whether mycelium building materials could offer a solution to some of the estimated 1.6 billion people worldwide who live without adequate housing remains to be seen, but they certainly have the potential to dramatically improve the sustainability of an industry that uses over 400 million tons of building materials in the UK alone each year as well as creating an additional 100 million tons of waste. Fungi can do all of this because their cell walls are made of a molecule called chitin, which is bendy and tough. Fungi are so tough, in fact, that they help break down rock into soil. They may also be able to help reverse the soil damage caused by mass commercial agriculture, since they’re good at decomposing organic compounds and can break down some contaminants in soil, like pesticides. Pollutants may also be removed from water using mycofiltration, a process of harnessing cultivated mycelium to filter water. If cleaning up the planet and replacing high-environmental impact materials wasnât enough, fungi may also be playing a far greater role in preventing climate change than was previously realised by helping trees absorb CO2 more quickly and slowing the process of decomposition that releases carbon from forest soils. These fung-tastic solutions to environmental problems are exciting and relatively new, but fungi have been powerful sources of medicine for thousands of years, particularly in the east. Thereâs the Reishi mushroom, which supports the immune system, promotes weight loss, encourages better sleep, and eases depression. Lion’s mane mushroom is excellent for the mind. It may even prevent Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis by stimulating the development of nerve growth factor, the stuff that helps grow new neurons in the brain. Turkey tail mushroom contains a compound called polysaccharide-K that stimulates the immune system. This compound is so effective in treating cancer it’s an approved prescription drug in Japan. Turkey tail has been linked with resistance to leukaemia cells, improving survival rates for people with certain other cancers, and improved immune systems for people receiving chemotherapy. There are many more examples of fungi medicine, but Western medical science only really cottoned on to this fairly recently. In 1928, medical physician and scientist Alexander Fleming returned from vacation to find an unusual bacteria-munching mould growing on a petri dish in his lab. This fluffy white mass would become penicillin, the world’s first commercially-produced antibiotic. Fungus is also behind the drug cyclosporine, which helps prevent rejection of transplanted organs. An ancient and near-extinct mushroom known as agarikon was first documented in 65 AD in Materia Medica, the first known manual of herbal medicine, and is possibly the longest-living mushroom on earth. Itâs also the focus of intense medical study for its potential in helping us fight viruses which, as you may have noticed, have been a bit of an issue recently. Agarikon contains antiviral molecules new to science, and initial studies show impressive activity against viruses such as pox, swine flu, bird flu, and herpes. The fungus also has potent anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. In ancient Greece, it was recommended in the treatment of consumption – now known as tuberculosis – and it might prove to be a game-changer in the fight against multidrug-resistant TB. Beyond physical health, though, mushrooms are increasingly being shown to have mental health benefits. Of the tens of thousands of varieties in existence, just a few hundred of them are known to be psychoactive, which is science-speak for: eat one and you’ll trip your balls off. And most of these species have this effect thanks to an active ingredient called psilocybin. I am, of course, referring to the fabled magic mushroom. Rock paintings in Australia suggest eating these special fungi goes back to at least 10,000 BC, while more rock paintings, this time in Spain, show prehistoric people in present-day Europe were blowing their minds in at least 4,000 years BC. Mushroom mythology among the Mayans goes back to 1,500 BC, and. in the 16th century, a Spanish priest called Bernardino de Sahagun wrote about the use of magic mushrooms among the Aztec people. But, when the Spanish conquered much of central and south America, many religious rituals were outlawed and magic mushrooms were forced to go into cultural hiding. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that they resurfaced in western countries. In 1939, two ethnobotanists named Schultes and Reko published a paper in Harvard University Botanical Museum leaflets detailing the use of psilocybin mushrooms by practitioners in Mexico. Just under twenty years later, two mycologists named Wasson and Heim travelled to Mexico to check the story out for themselves. They ate mushrooms under the guidance of a local shaman and then wrote about the experience in Life Magazine in 1957. An editor named the piece “Seeking the Magic Mushroom,” and psychoactive mushrooms have been âmagicâ in popular culture ever since. The article was picked up by Timothy Leary, a Harvard psychologist and big fan of hallucinogenic drugs, who began to experiment with psilocybin. You might know his name from the 1968 Moody Blues hit Legend of a Mind – apparently advocating the use of psychedelic drugs is a good way to win brownie points with rock and roll types. Psilocybin was soon a favourite of hippies everywhere and strongly linked with the growing counterculture of the 60s and 70s. But it wasn’t all free love and psychedelic dream catchers. Around this time, psilocybin was isolated and synthesised by Albert Hofman, the same guy who invented LSD, and used in hundreds of clinical trials. Psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals saw promising results for patients with conditions like depression, anxiety, alcoholism and OCD. But the 70s saw a ban placed on the use of psilocybin for anything other than medical research. Studies ground to a halt, and nothing happened for about thirty years until research started up again in the 2000s. A research group at John Hopkins University was the first to obtain regulatory approval in the US to study psilocybin, though by then it was, in the US and many countries, a Schedule 1 substance, making it as illegal as heroin or crack .But, last year, the University launched the Johns Hopkins’s Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research dedicated to uncovering the medical potential of substances like psilocybin. Using better science, more sophisticated technology and improved methods, more and more academic studies are confirming the hypothesis from 50 years ago: that the active ingredient in magic mushrooms can be a powerful treatment for multiple mental health disorders. So, next time you sneer at a piece of mouldy bread, just remember fungus could help the environment, your body and your mind, and the whole of humanity d. But then throw it away anyway, because saviour of humanity or not, mouldy bread is gross.
PREVIEW Hi! welcome to my another video đ today’s cooking ingredients! enoki mushrooms đ this dish is quite delicious! I’ll tell you the recipe check it out đ cut the bottom a little (If you cut it too much, the mushrooms will be scattered!) look like a sponge cut it into bite-sized pieces enoki mushroom’s friend 1 this friend is short wow! who likes this sound? cut it into bite-sized pieces enoki mushroom’s friend 2 this friend has a big head who’s cleaning the glass now? enoki mushroom’s friend 3 this friend looks yummy let’s make the sauce! red chili paste (Gochujang) 3 Tbsp red pepper powder 2 Tbsp fish sauce 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce 1 Tbsp cooking syrup (or sugar) 3 Tbsp MSG 1 pinch crushed garlic 1 Tbsp do you want extra spicy? then add Korean fire sauce! add some water to mix well cooking oil I like this sound đ” 1- bake mushrooms in an oiled frying pan (1 minute each on both sides) 2- pour the sauce with the right amount of water and coat it with mushrooms 3- boil it for 2~3 minutes while watching the concentration 4- grind the pepper and finish the sound of today’s coke is awesome! đČ are you wearing earphones? and are you ready for the popping sound?! hey wait let’s get started after a cold coke đ€ today, I will measure the time so that I feel I am challenging start! what a popping! crunch sound!! It’s a little loud today, so you can adjust the volume đđ and you know? this dish is really delicious! you should try it too đ maybe it’ll taste better with rice one bad thing is that I get stuck a lot between my teeth every time I eat mushrooms If the video skips while I’m eating it’s just cleaning my teeth you don’t have to imagine! so let’s enjoy it with me until the end đ
As humans, we have an innate attraction to nature. A childlike curiosity. But beware of what you find in the shadows. In Northern California, something deadly is popping up in the forest. This poisonous mushroom is known as the “death cap.” Donna Davis: The forest was just damp. Perfect. Donna Davis went collecting mushrooms one day in 2014. Donna: It’s very magical when you’re there. It really is quite like a treasure hunt. I felt confident enough that I knew what I was doing. But she didn’t recognize the telltale cup-shaped tissue that grows on the bottom of the deadly mushroom. And she mistook young, egg-shaped death caps for something she could eat. Donna: And I made mushroom soup. It was amazingly delicious. One cap has enough toxin to kill a human being. Donna: The next morning I felt really tired and I took a little nap. For the first six to 12 hours you feel OK. But meanwhile, the toxin is quietly destroying your liver cells. Donna: The next thing I knew I was in emergency care. Death caps spread the same way other mushrooms do. Just like this harmless oyster mushroom, a death cap shoots hundreds of thousands of spores into the air. The spores drift into the shadow of California live oaks, where they grow filaments that attach to the trees’ roots. Each fungus filament is about the width of a human hair. Under the microscope, you can see how the white fungus envelops the tree’s pink root tips. This is called a mycorrhizal relationship. The fungus feeds on the trees’ sugars and gives it nutrients in exchange. It’s good for the fungus and for the tree. And that’s how the death cap snuck into California from Europe on the roots of a decorative shrub, in the 1930s. Researchers aren’t sure why the death cap has evolved to be so lethal. What exactly is it protecting itself from? Humans — we’re just collateral damage in some battle that we don’t understand. Scientists like Anne Pringle, from the University of Wisconsin, are doing genetic testing on death caps to see how long they live. If death caps have a short lifespan, it might be enough to pluck them from the ground so the spores can’t spread. Less opportunity for people to eat them. Donna: I remember closing my eyes and seeing like this beautiful path. And all of a sudden everything got really dark. And I thought, “Oh, I’m not supposed to go down this path.” Donna survived. But death caps killed two people in California that year. Donna: It is really brutal. Nature has its own rules. Do you love seeing weird and wonderful scenes from the natural world? Subscribe! It’s a great way to tell us if you think we’re doing it right. Thanks for watching!
Narrator: Farmers grow, harvest, and pack nearly 400 million mushrooms a year in this small Pennsylvania town. Chris: This is Kennett Square, the mushroom capital of the world. Narrator: Here, they cultivate everything from white button and portobello to specialty mushrooms like shiitake and lion’s mane. But the industry’s facing a major problem. There aren’t enough mushroom pickers. Sonya: Demand is starting to rise, but it’s hard to meet that demand if there’s not enough labor. Narrator: One big reason for that is America’s strict immigration laws that are keeping workers away. Without the extra hands, many farmers have been forced to kill off entire crops. It’s estimated more than a million mushrooms every week are getting destroyed. Sonya: You’re are steaming off rooms with mushrooms that could be harvested that just had nowhere to go. Chris: And that’s not just my farm. That’s farms in California and Texas and all over the country. Narrator: And it’s left businesses like this one on the brink. Chris: We’re losing about $50,000 to $100,000 of revenue per month. Narrator: So why is the industry struggling to find workers? And how can it recover? We went to Pennsylvania to find out. All of mushroom life starts here, with compost. Glenn: The mushrooms here are very picky eaters. Narrator: The mushrooms eat a strict diet of recycled mulch, hay, wheat, straw, poultry litter, and corncob. Glenn: So this is the material near the end of the composting process. It’s dark, caramelized. It’s soft. It has a lot of water. Narrator: The mushroom spores, or seeds, are added in. Then it’s aged, pasteurized, and trucked to farms across the county, like this one. Chris: I’m Chris, and I’m a third-generation mushroom farmer. Narrator: Chris’ family has been growing white button and cremini mushrooms since 1938. Chris: Mushrooms are grown indoors so that we can control the environment. Narrator: It all happens on vertical shelves. Workers use this machine to lay the compost down. Then comes the layer called casing, with peat moss, limestone, and water. Chris: This equipment allows us to have the machine do the heavy work. Narrator: It helps get a perfect 1.75-inch layer, so the mushrooms don’t grow unevenly or come up dirty. This panel controls the growing conditions. They want a perfect combination of carbon dioxide, humidity, and temperature. Chris: After 16 days, we’re ready to harvest. Narrator: But it’s harvesters who are hardest to find. Chris: We’re always harvesting. The only day we don’t work is Christmas. That did not stop because of the pandemic. Our workers were considered essential. Now that the economy started to pick back up, we’re down 20% on our workforce, and it’s been a major impact on our business. Narrator: The mushrooms are grown and harvested in three breaks, or phases, meaning each room will get picked from three times, starting with the biggest mushrooms. Then they’ll wait for the little ones to mature. Narrator: Mushrooms double in size every 24 hours, so pickers have to move quickly. Each armed with a knife, a cart, and tons of boxes. They harvest every mushroom by hand. Daniel: You kind of twist the mushrooms, you don’t put no dirt. Sonya: 220 mushrooms to fill up a 10-pound box. Daniel: 10 an hour. That can give you a good prospect. Some people, they do more than 15, 16 an hour. They’re fast. Narrator: Daniel Beltran and his daughter, Sonya, run Masda Farms, just up the road. Daniel: I’m the second Mexican to grow mushrooms in the whole United States. Narrator: Daniel worked as a mushroom picker for over 12 years. Daniel: And I was thinking on my mind, I said, “I hope one day I get a farm.” Narrator: Today, he and Sonya own 25 mushroom houses. Daniel: We probably need close to what, 80 harvesters every day, and we have 60. Narrator: Today, harvesters work up to 12-hour days to pick as many mushrooms as they can. Narrator: But they still can’t keep up. Chris: We should be harvesting 10 rooms of mushrooms every day, and we usually only can get to seven or eight rooms. Narrator: In the leftover rooms, the mushrooms will be steamed off, meaning they’ll be destroyed. It’s a race against time, because mushrooms grow so quickly. Waiting even one day means … Narrator: And customers don’t like that, so the value decreases. Chris: We’re about $0.35 a pound instead of a dollar a pound. Sonya: It kind of like, hurts a little bit, thinking of — seriously, there’s nowhere that you could probably put this, and there really isn’t. There’s nothing you can do. Narrator: It gets even worse for specialty mushrooms that require even more labor. Like these shiitakes at Phillips Mushroom Farms. Pete: It usually takes three days to pick the whole house. That’s still all done by hand, so it’s still labor-intensive. Narrator: Or these maitakes. Pete: Each one of these logs has to be moved by hand. Put them on a shelf to spawn-run, then we take them off the shelf and bring them down here, put them on this shelf to pick, and then we have to pick them. And then we also have to throw it away. There’s six touches in the course of this thing’s life cycle. Every touch is a person, which are hard to come by nowadays. Narrator: But the labor issues don’t just stop at harvest. They can also be felt at the packing level. Meghan is the third-generation of her family to run Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms. Meghan: This pallet of mushrooms was just brought in from our farms, and then we get it in to one of our two coolers. Everything is labeled so that we know exactly what farm it came from, the date it came in, and how many pounds are brought in, and it’s all in our system so we can easily trace back all of our product. Narrator: Meghan has machines to wash and cut the mushrooms, and even to wrap and label the boxes. But everything in between, from topping off a box to tracking and weighing, is done by hand. Meghan: And then it’ll get put in a flat at the end and get palletized to go out to the customer. Narrator: Mother Earth delivers mushrooms as far as Denver, Texas, and Boston. But getting them there is tough with so few workers. Meghan: So, it used to just be harvesters that were harder to get. Now it’s at our harvesting level, at our supervisor level, at our quality assurance level, even our office staff level. Truck drivers have been really hard to find, as well. The problem is, is that they can’t get them harvested at the farms, that means we don’t have the mushrooms for the packing facility. It’s a complete ripple effect. Narrator: So how did the industry’s labor problem become so dire? Well, it starts with Kennet Square’s history of immigration. Quakers, a Protestant Christian group, were the first to grow mushrooms here in 1885. As the story goes … Chris: Originally, a Quaker farmer who grew carnations tried to grow mushrooms under the beds of the carnations, and he was successful. Narrator: The Quakers then hired Italian immigrants to do the hard manual labor. The Italians then started hundreds of mushroom farms of their own in the area. From the 1950s to the 70s, former sugar cane workers from Puerto Rico settled into Kennett Square and took over picking the mushrooms. But when they began asking for higher wages and better working conditions, farm owners fired them and hired Mexican immigrants instead. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed an immigration bill that gave legal status to certain undocumented agricultural workers who came into the country before 1982. Daniel: That really, really helped for all the Mexican workers. Most Mexicans work in the mushroom industry for, I would say, at least 40 years. Narrator: They built Kennett Square into America’s mushroom capital. It now produces 60% of the country’s product. But that population of Mexican immigrants is aging out of this work, and their kids have chosen other career paths. Daniel: We started getting people from Central America now. Narrator: Even before the pandemic, these new workers began leaving for other industries. Leo: There’s people that say, “Oh, like, you go to construction or you go to landscaping, make more money.” Narrator: To make things worse, strict immigration laws in the US have suffocated the legal flow of Central and Latin American workers. Because mushrooms are a year-round crop, the industry doesn’t qualify for the H-2A temorary worker program, which allows immigrants to come into the US and work in seasonal agriculture. The labor crunch is affecting every mushroom farm, both small and large. To entice the few pickers left, farm owners are offering perks: higher pay, housing, and transportation to and from work. Chris: Our harvesters work on a piece rate, we pay them per box. My average harvester earns over $14 an hour, but I have some harvesters that make over $20 an hour. I would like to pay them more. The company just can’t afford to yet. Agriculture in general, and mushroom farms specifically, work on very thin margins. So when we can’t harvest 10% of our product, we’re definitely losing money. Narrator: Chris is losing $40,000 in revenue a week. Glenn: For this current year, we probably have lost somewhere in the middle of $250,000. Daniel: It’s millions around. Sonya: Yes. Daniel: It’s not thousands. It’s millions, realistic. It is painful. Chris: If this happens, farms will either have to reduce their scale and fill less growing rooms, or they eventually would have to shut down. Narrator: All together, Chester County’s mushroom farmers lost $168 million in 2020. And that has a significant effect on the market, which is booming in popularity. Chris: For the last 10 years, we’re seeing a demand increase of 3% to 5% every year. Narrator: Sales in grocery stores have gone up by 15% in 2021. Chris: Customers are asking every day to fill their orders, and we just don’t have enough mushrooms to do that. So it’s difficult to want to expand, want to provide all the orders that they want, and then see mushrooms just go to waste. Narrator: The solution for the labor issue isn’t an easy one. Farmers have already automated much of the process. Some have turned to growing bigger mushrooms. Meghan: If you grow a larger mushroom, it actually makes it a lot faster for the harvesters to pick them, so we can get them quicker here, and get them out to our customers and do it with less labor. Narrator: The American Mushroom Institute is pushing the Senate to pass the Farmworker Modernization Act. The bill would extend the H-2A temporary program to the mushroom industry. That way, immigrants could get an agricultural worker visa to pick mushrooms. Chris: We need more migrant workers, we need more ability to bring people up to the country. Just like our grandparents did — they came up and worked two jobs and worked hard to make a better life for ourselves. And we need to continue to have America do that for new immigrant populations. Narrator: Others in the industry are considering robot pickers, though not everyone thinks they’re the best option. Leo: You can’t really get a machine to be as delicate as a person’s hand to choose exactly which mushroom. You also have to have, like, the eye to see which one is ready to pick. Narrator: Robots like this are still three years away. Until then, farmers will keep putting out the call for anybody to come help pick mushrooms. Daniel: Every mushroom gives you an extra day of life. So if you eat 20, 20 extra days. Leo: Actually, I don’t even like eating mushrooms. I don’t like the taste. I don’t like any of that. But like, I like seeing how they grow, you know?
