My guest today is William Padilla-Brown, a mycologist, teacher, and social permaculture practitioner. I’ve known William for a long time and as you’ll hear us mention, we’ve wanted to do this interview for years. I’m thankful that we finally had the opportunity. He has a unique background as a citizen scientist and educator working to propagate mushrooms, study them using molecular biology, and to share what he learns with the world through classes and an annual mushroom and arts festival, Mycofest. https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/WilliamPadillaBrown.mp3

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Visit our Partner: Food Forest Card GameDuring the conversation today, William shares how we can get involved as citizen scientists to explore the genetic makeup of mushrooms, as well as plants and insects, with readily available supplies and skills we can learn with less study than you might expect. We also dig into his work on breeding mushrooms and the role that molecular biology plays in understanding mating types to create viable strains with the characteristics we are looking for, rather than having to breed out to random chance. We end with how you can get started, reflection on how we hope the explosion of mycology might extend to other disciplines, and some of his work on growing algae for food. Where to find William Padilla-BrownMycosymbioticsMycofestFacebookInstagramYouTubeCognitive FunctionCognitive Function Instagram

Giveaway: Cordyceps Cultivation Handbook Vol. 1

I’m always impressed by William continuing to push the edges of his work with mushrooms, mycology, and food systems, and make this knowledge accessible to everyone around him. From setting up the right environment for growing fungi to how to identify different types to how to propagate and now how to create gene sequences, he develops his knowledge and skills and then shares what he’s learned. His interest, built on books and workshops, allowed him to become an expert in mycology in his own right in five years. Now he’s conquering microbiology and gene sequencing to get even better at what he already does. Imagine where he’ll be in another five years. Or ten. Or twenty. I reflect on this because I’ve re-created myself every decade or so of my life. I studied computer science and worked in Information Technology through my late teens and twenties. Leveraging those skills, a few years in college radio as a DJ, and finally taking a permaculture design course, became a podcaster. I took all that and went back to school to learn about resource management to better understand permaculture while honing my interview skills to get better at drawing out people’s personal narratives. Now I go back to my years as a storyteller as a teenager and in my 20s and consider how we can tell better stories and integrate them into our lives, change ourselves, and transform the world. I believe that each of us has the ability to become experts in multiple areas. We can do this in non-traditional ways, through personal reading and study, the University of YouTube, mentorships, immersive internships. The hard part is deciding what we truly care about. Once we know what gives our life meaning, we can climb onto the shoulders of the giants that came before us and see horizons they’ve only dreamed about. What do you love so much that you’ll take the first step towards the edge of human knowledge and use your passion to add to our collective understanding? Let me know:

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Until the next time, spend each day learning more about what you love while taking care of Earth, your self, and each other. Additional ResourcesRyan Paul Gates (Instagram)Fungi for the People

Mushroom Mountain – Tradd CotterMycelial Connection – Willoughby ArevaloFungi Perfecti – Paul StametsRadical Mycology – Peter McCoyOxford NanoporeNational Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)MiniPCRNew York Genome CenterGenBankGenewizOrganic Grower’s School

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