[Fwd: [southwestearthfirst] EVENT this weekend!!! Decompose Toxins and Cultivate Life!! Sat. Oct. 8th!!]
dirty...@riseup.net
WHEN?
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Saturday, October 8th @ 3pm-whenever, at Turtle Lake Café (848 E. 3rd Ave)
***not a TLR event
WHAT?
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We want to facilitate the creation of free instructional workshop space
for the open sharing of knowledge between mycologists, hobbyists,
activists and earth healers in the southwest. We want to explore ideas of
remediation within our local community and take direct action toward the
realization of those ideas. Workshops will emphasize low-tech and
low-budget techniques that support community building and self-sufficiency
while encouraging independence from corporate, non-local, or
environmentally exploitative materials and/or practices.
This weekend will start off what we hope to be a long lasting,
ever-growing network of radical fungiphiles(fungus lovers) in the south
west. So bring knowledge to share, excitement to learn, and the energy to
act!
* Learn about bio/myco-remediation efforts happening around the world
and discuss how such practices could be translated to our
community
* Practice hands-on techniques to start cultivating native fungus at
home and in your community including:
*
* Cold water straw pasteurization
* Corrugated cardboard inoculation
* Making spore prints
* Native species identification
* more...
* Discuss local environmental and community issues:
*
* Animas River contaminants
* the importance of native species as a response to local problems
* starting a local spore bank network for native and rare species
* Disaster Response Preparation
* Using mushrooms to treat illness
* Local food sources threatened by hydrofraking
* chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides in parks, trails,
meadows, lawns
* Smelter Mtn. Area
* Black Mesa Bio-filtration Project
* more...
STUFF TO BRING FOR WORKSHOPS:
-mushrooms to identify
-corrugated cardboard
-toilet paper rolls
-waste paper
-coffee bags
-excitement!!
-fungus identification books
_***IF ANYONE HAS ACCESS TO A TRUCK THAT WE COULD BORROW SATURDAY IT WOULD
HELP GREATLY!! PLEASE EMAIL US :_
Glenn (vapidrice[at]riseup.net)
Becky (pipisana[at]msn.com) or
Beth (559) 346-8661
WHY?
----------------
Through the use of powerful enzymes, it has been discovered that certain
mushrooms are able to break down not just organic matter into fertile
soil, but also toxic chemicals and other waste products of industrial
civilization into non-toxic compounds. Mushroom species have been
discovered that can break down petroleum products, effectively cleaning up
off shore oil spills. Other are readily able to ?soak up? and sequester
heavy metals such as cadmium, radioactive cesium, mercury, lead and
arsenic from polluted soil, concentrating them into the mushroom's
fruiting body for easy disposal (a reason why you should NEVER eat a
mushroom that was potentially grown on substrates carrying heavy metals,
they just do such a good job of cleaning!). Through the intentional
introduction of the right species at the right times, humans can
methodically harness the power of our fungal allies to heal damaged
environments.
Like the underground networks of mushrooms, we network together to share
these skills and knowledge. After digesting the overwhelming amount of
fungal wisdom accumulated in the Northwest this summer, we decided that
the information gained needs to be shared with everyone interested,
independent of capital gains and social reputation. The land and the fungi
call for the formation of a direct action earth healing group in our
community.
Consider the life cycle of mushrooms, especially the mycelial stage, as a
metaphor for the way humans can choose to interact in and with Gaia, our
one world. As an endless cycle of growth, decay, networking, sharing, and
purification this cycle is a process both beautiful and enchanting,
complex and intriguing (so much more than the life-giving destruction its
job as decomposer appears to be). Just as mushrooms use their abilities to
share nutrients with plants and break down toxic chemicals to keep their
microcosm cleaner and healthier, so can we as humans live committed to the
health of our planet through our natural role as stewards and care takers
of the land. Like the mushrooms?and their mycelium?that form from
individual spores to flourish and co-exist with nature in harmony, so too
can we choose to spend our existence interconnected with each other and
the planet to grow and live better, fuller lives. Mushrooms teach us how
to care for each other, how to see life as a perpetual cycle of
interdependence, a fragile balance between give and take where not one
species dominates but all rely on each other. They help us reconnect with
and accept an often denied and feared aspect of the wheel of life, that of
death and decay. Let's spread these spores!!! Both literally and
metaphorically we can inoculate our communities and directly aid the earth
in its natural healing process!
Thanks! If you have any question, please let us know!
Becky (pipisana[at]msn.com)
Beth (559) 346-8661
Glenn (vapidrice[at]riseup.net)
Andrew Somers
let me know how it goes