Hey fellow passengers, it's Mimi. My most sincere hope is that, by now, I'm growing on you, not unlike a fungus. You know what they say, falling in love is like eating mushrooms, ‘you never know if it's the real thing until it's too late.’

Today, my guest is Dr. Michael Beug. If you don't know who he is, you may be familiar with some of his proteges, including Paul Stamets, and many others who studied under Dr. Beug. He taught chemistry, mycology, and organic farming at Evergreen State Collage in Olympia, WA, for 32 years, now retired, but that hasn't slowed him down! He's had a very interesting career and I can't wait for you to hear some of those stories from his life.

Fungi are so critical to everything that we do in agriculture. They synthesize a truly limitless array of secondary metabolites and have played a role in the great phylogenetic tree of life since it crept out of the ocean. Dr. Beug is very passionate about the intersection between fungi, chemistry, agriculture, and the particular moment in which we all find ourselves in the modern age.

Mentioned in the show...

Take Podcast Host Natalie's Survey!

Mushrooms of Cascadia

Ascomycete Fungi of North America

Folks who make the show possible...

Real Organic Project for a whole farm certification program to distinguish crops grown in health soils.

RIMOL Greenhouses quality greenhouses and high-tunnels.

Johnny's Selected Seeds vegetable, flower, and cover crop seeds.

Tilth Soil amazing compost-based living potting soils and soil blends.

... and, as always, our work is powered by the folks who support us every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on our brand new forum at notillgrowers.community.chat