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| Photo courtesy of Greg Sanchez (CMS past president) |
In spite of the drought in most of the region, this year’s
Telluride Mushroom Festival 2012, sponsored by the Telluride Institute, saw
plentiful fungi of all kinds, as the heavily loaded identification tables in Elks Park
demonstrated this past weekend.
One of my favorite edibles is looked on askance by many – Hawk’s
Wing (Sarcodon imbricatus, formerly Hydnum imbricatum). As Wikipedia notes:
“It is reported as edible but of poor quality in the United States by some sources, but
as deliciously edible by others.” Being in the latter camp, I felt
wonderfully vindicated when a dish made of its toothy flesh won the Chefs
Cook-off this year at the Wilkinson Library.
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| Sarcodon imbricatus on Lizard Head |
We learned from flamboyant University of Wisconsin
mycologist Tom Volk (both arms covered in rainbow-hued mycelial tattoos and
sporting wildly dyed forelocks) that unbaked bread dough, taken in quantity,
could make one drunk, thanks to its yeast content – yeast being a eukaryotic
microorganism classified in the Kindom [sic] Fungi, with 1500 currently
described species. We also got a hands-on lesson in manipulating yeast to make
kombucha and mead from Ken Litchfield of Merritt
College in Oakland, California.
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| Tom Volk |
Ethnobotanist Kat Harrison traced the introduction of
entheogenic shrooms into Western culture and then compared techniques of use
from traditional Mazatec shamans in southern Mexico where she’s conducted years
of enthnobotanic research to our own initiatory attempts to incorporate sacred
visions into a post-industrial American society unscientifically fearful of
anything psychedelic. A panel discussion of hallucinogenic mushrooms as
medicine emphasized the growing body of scientific knowledge proving their
value, from relieving cluster headaches to providing life-changing experiences
of balanced wholeness with the universe.
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| Kat Harrison |
Professional jazz singer Ruthie Ristich of Boston showed a film
and gave a talk that acquainted us with the legendary East Coast mushroom guru
Sam Ristich, her father, who charmed and tutored legions of mushroom seekers,
including our own resident mycologist Gary Lincoff.
And Lincoff led a special Ophir foray up the Waterfall Canyon trail that culminated in a gourmet mushroom feast, prepared by amazing chef Lisa Dahl of Sedona’s Cucina Rustica, at Bob Kingsley’s spectacular OPUS Hut on the San Juan County side of Ophir Pass. It was my first time ever over Ophir Pass, made all the more thrilling by our driver’s announcement that he was running out of gas on the long climb up the San Miguel side. A friendly jeeper saved the day and gave us enough petrol to make it down safely.
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| Chef Lisa Dahl serving hors d'ouevres |
And Lincoff led a special Ophir foray up the Waterfall Canyon trail that culminated in a gourmet mushroom feast, prepared by amazing chef Lisa Dahl of Sedona’s Cucina Rustica, at Bob Kingsley’s spectacular OPUS Hut on the San Juan County side of Ophir Pass. It was my first time ever over Ophir Pass, made all the more thrilling by our driver’s announcement that he was running out of gas on the long climb up the San Miguel side. A friendly jeeper saved the day and gave us enough petrol to make it down safely.
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| John Major Jenkins |
Maya scholar John Major Jenkins explained to us the origins
of the Mayan Calendar long count in Izapa,
Mexico – how it
was tied to startling astronomic observations of the Sun’s conjunction with the
center of the Milky Way galaxy and how it was clearly perceived by the Maya as
a time of transformation, not a Christian apocalypse.
Myco-historian David Rose expounded on Mushrooms in Science
Fiction, Daniel Winkler on Mushrooms in Tibet, and Fungi magazine editor/publisher Britt Bunyard on Mycorrhizatopia –
Fungi as the Puppet Masters of the Universe.
Lecturers including a couple of teenagers – Devon Enke of La
Veta on Oil-eating Mushrooms and Norwood’s
Sklyer Hollinbeck sharing his paper on Myco-Remediation at the Missionary Ridge
Fire near Durango.
Maya Elson and her cohorts alerted us oldster fungophiles to a new developing
group of Radical Mycologists who are marrying social activism to mycology and
holding “convergences” around the country.
Attorney Brian Vicente of Sensible Colorado sought support
for Amendment 64, the Regulate-Cannabis-Like-Alcohol Constitutional Amendment
that will be up for consideration in Colorado’s
November election. It’s a measure that makes good scientific and social sense,
and I’m publicly a supporter along with Rep. Jared Polis and former Rep. Tom
Tancredo (now there’s an unusual conjunction).
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| Anne Enke speaks at Sunday panel while Teresa Frank and Jo Norris look on |
Jo Norris of Arizona’s Rim Institute gave a special workshop on Connecting to the Feminine in Shamanism, and the festival ended with a panel discussion by Norris, Marie Luna, Teresa Frank and Annie Enke on the relationship of plant and fungal allies to world consciousness.
But that’s only the things I got to see and hear. There were
dozens of other lectures and workshops that I missed, as simultaneous events
took place around town in the Palm Theatre, the Nugget Theatre, the Wilkinson
Library, the Swede-Finn Hall, Elks Park, a County meeting room, various foray
locations and even Smuggler Joe’s brewpub – where several tasty myco-medicinal
brews were concocted especially for the festival.
Perhaps most memorable for me, I had the privilege and
delight of leading the annual Shroomfest parade down Colorado Avenue on my
birthday – a great way to turn 67. And after such a thought-provoking and
ground-breaking festival, the Telluride Institute is already planning for an
even better event next summer.
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| Riding the Amanitamobile (Photo by Sara Friedberg) |
