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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2005)
BY JULIA CARR Beyond Micophobia Loving fungi at the Mushroom Festival. S hards of sun fell through skylights at Mount Pisgah’s new white oak pavilion and illuminated hundreds of mushroom species sprawled across long tables set up at the 23rd annual Mushroom and Plant Festival on Sunday. By 10 am already hundreds of parked cars lined the hill climbing up to the arboretum where a com- munity formed as vast as the mushroom kingdom itself and gorged on portobello burgers, slurped chanterelle chowder, sipped apple cider, and rummaged through local plant and mushroom species. The festival was sponsored by Cascade Mycological Society, an educational non- profit organization of beginning to expert level mycologists. This year’s show of a total of 350 mushroom species was the second highest ever and attracted prominent mush- room community figures like Nancy Weber of Corvallis, daughter of world-renowned mycologist Alexander Smith. In the afternoon, Weber was approached by an elated mushroom enthusiast, Molly Widmere, who carried a palm-sized speci- men of human feces in a Ziploc bag collect- ed because it hosted a rare species of “cup fungus.” As Widmere approached her mentor with the specimen, the fungus “poofed” (a temperature-induced spore release) in Weber’s face just as she chomped down on a granola bar. Unfazed, Weber continued chewing, identified the species, and went about her business. The feces species is an example of the vast role the mushroom kingdom plays in our world. “From edibles to decomposers,” said Marcia Peeters, biology instructor at LCC, “Fungus helps us so we aren’t walking on layers of detritus — even our own.” Other unidentified species weren’t as crude. People of all ages lined up with vari- ous fungi to be identified at a station where experts like Joe Spivak of Lorane, cultivator and collector for 20 years and LCC instructor for seven, stayed busy throughout the six- hour festival. Spivak is one of many who say we live in a “mycophobic society” (fear of mushrooms). Parents warn children not to touch mushrooms because they are poisonous, when actually you cannot get poisoned by touching any species of mushrooms. There are more than a thousand species in the So in order to avoid being poisoned, know your species! Again, most mushrooms are edible, although they won’t necessarily taste good. Others range from slightly poi- sonous to downright deceiving. Some poi- sonous ones even replicate the gourmet edi- ble mushrooms. Chanterelles have a doppel- ganger that if eaten by mistake will leave you with a nasty stomachache, wishing you had double-checked your mushroom manual. One such manual, known as the mushroom hunter’s bible, is David Aurora’s Mushrooms Demystified. Naturally, size, shape, color and odor all contribute to species identification, Freeman Rowe, a local mush- room community legend, identifies a Ganoderma mush- room found in Texas. Oregon forests alone, and according to Spivak, who’s cultivated and hunted mush- rooms for 20 years, most of them are not poisonous. “And of the poisonous mush- rooms, most do not kill,” Spivak said. Granted, some amanitas (the white-spot- ted, red mushroom under the hookah- smoking caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland) are so potent they could destroy your liver. but another major factor is where they grow. The mushroom is the fruit of mycelium, the largest organism in the world. Phellinus weirii grows around Douglas firs in the Cascades and can exceed a mile across. Mycelia live underground in a symbiotic relationship with trees. A Douglas fir, for example, cannot grow above six inches high without mycelium to transfer water and min- erals to its roots. Jolene Marl of Horton cultivates shiitakes (Lentinus edodes) and makes tinctures for her business, Cougar Ridge. She drills holes into white oak tree logs and inserts dowel plugs impregnated with mycelium. Customary in Chinese medicine, shiitake tinctures have amino acids and vitamins that help boost the immune system and lower blood levels of cholesterol. So where did all these mushroom advo- cates come from? Who’s responsible for much of Eugene’s outpouring of mycological knowledge? The man who started the mush- room festival nearly three decades ago: Freeman Rowe. “I’ve watched it start as a baby and grow into a fully functioning adult. It comforts me to know that after I go, the festival is strong enough to carry on without me,” said the 75- year-old Rowe from behind the species iden- tification table under the pavilion. As Rowe and I sat discussing the evolving Oregon mushroom scene, sparkle-eyed fans interrupted us repeatedly to grasp his hand and say hello like old friends. Even after all these years, Rowe would shuffle in his seat with raised eyebrows, speak in excited tones, and share innumerable stories about the mushroom kingdom. Several mycologically conscious advo- cates blossomed under Rowe’s 30-year pro- fessorship at LCC, and now work for the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, and also infiltrate much of Eugene’s mushroom community. Rowe said he moti- vated his students to understand that “The forest cannot exist without its mushroom associates.” Rowe taught students to see the forest and the trees. It’s all one single flour- ishing entity connected underground by mycelium and roots, rather than a market commodity. Best in Show Of the 350 total species at the show, 40 of those were new this year to the festival. Judged Best in Show: Lyophyllum “Fried Chicken.” First Place: Phaeolus schweinitzii. 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