This workshop sits in the middle of a series of provisioning workshops that allows us to consider both literally, and metaphorically when and how to prepare for variable needs throughout a cyclical, seasonal year, especially in a time of rapid and uncertain change. While we work with our hands to prepare for bustling warmth in the dark of a long winter, we can gather in conversation to take these metaphors out of the physical realm and into that of more philosophical musings.
Using wood that we provisioned earlier in the winter in our chainsawing workshop, we will begin to prepare for spring food production by inoculating our logs with shiitake mushroom mycelium. Developing a strong relationship with our fungal kin is a key practice in forming diverse, resilient community food networks because they are so quick, easy and passive to grow. Understanding general fungal biology and cultivation is also a great skill to develop for a variety of applications from recycling/composting various forms of organic excess, rehabilitating polluted landscapes, creating biomaterials such as certain forms of synthetic leather or insulation, art, medicine and more. This workshop also invites us to notice the many different time-scales that various forms of life are operating on. In just a few days a dormant log can suddenly be exploding with visible fertility. Watching your mushrooms colonize and then fruit allows you to bear witness to an incredible pace of growth, maturation, and decline.
