Wrapping with mushrooms

A big mushy thank you, and an apology!

Hello all of you mush folk!

A big mushy Thank You for being a part of Running with Mushrooms, and an apology!

2023 was wild: I took a career break to run with mushrooms, with no idea what would happen. 3 months’ sabbatical kicked off a world mushroom tour, with mycelium leading me from chat to chat.

Now, Running with Mushrooms has interviewed over 50 mushroom folk, in 5 countries!

First, the apology: I’ve done 50+ ethnographies and only shared a fraction publicly. There are two reasons for this. As a strategic insights person my work typically lives on client desktops, in boardrooms, at conferences and workshops. High impact with little reach. As an introvert my personal life typically hides from socials and social media. Sharing publicly is unnerving territory! Bear with me, I’m learning.

The insight and inspiration from these 50+ humans (and their fungi) doesn’t deserve to hide on my hard drive. A lot has happened behind-the-scenes and I promise to be better at sharing in 2024!

Below some highlights and thank-you’s

Have a fungtastic festive season!

Some highlights include:

• growing a micro Substack community from around the world—UK, US, South Africa, Kenya, Canada, UAE, Ireland, Belgium Thailand, Chile, Mexico, Vietnam, India and 20 more countries! Hello to all of you!

• sharing raw chats as a podcast [Listen here on Spotify | Apple podcasts | Amazon podcasts | Pocketcasts | TuneIn]—with my husband generously helping with sound!

• road-tripping Uganda and sharing the inspirational stories of how people are working with mushrooms for positive social change—like the awesome work of Nourish All, Hodari Foundation and Rwamwanja Rural Foundation in Uganda’s refugee settlements—read here and listen here

• going underground and around South Africa’s psychedelics scene with a grower of sacrament; a prominent activist and facilitator of group journeys; the phenomenal founder of Psychedelic Society SA; and a specialist micro-dosing consultant

• touring Kenya’s mushroom farms with Mycelia & Foods Ltd and Makuno Organic Mushrooms to learn about building innovation, value-addition and the button business—read here and listen here

• connecting mycophiles and the myco-curious across borders—like introducing Kenyan mycopreneurs to showcase their goods at a mushroom festival in Uganda

• sleuthing till we got to the bottom of Uganda’s mushroom kombucha—a healthy fizzy drink or sexual stimulant?

• shroom shopping in Vietnam, contemplating the nature of a spiritual relationship with mushrooms in the diet

• geeking out about urban mushrooms and learning how to shift narratives from fungi fear to fascination, with Mike of London Fungus Network and London National Park City—listen here

• connecting with the finest mushroom folk at UK’s first All Things Fungi Festival, incl. a chat with Marios Levi of Fungi Foundation’s 3Fs Initiative, about embracing the 3rd F: Flora, Fauna, Funga—read here and listen here

• and so many more; sorry I can’t mention everybody here!

• (👆stay tuned for more of these stories to be released!)

• being dramatically interrupted by malaria but learning some valuable life lessons in the process—read the diary here

• and much more ♡

The future is weird, because this project is weird!

Running with Mushrooms is a research study being reported publicly. It’s a tour of personal curiosity that needs to fund itself. It’s purely exploratory, scaring the crap out of my strategic mind. It’s throwing spores in the air and seeing what fruits.

Coming up in 2024, I’m aiming to launch…

• A boutique insights consultancy for the mushroom industry—I’m working with a couple of phenomenal mentors who are helping to shape this (and bursting at the seams to get it going!)

• A semiotic analysis of the UK and US functional mushroom category, based on 100+ products that I’ve gathered (will your product be in here?? 👀)

• The first Spore-Report, unpacking a myco-cultural trend from diverse and often conflicting perspectives (Expect tensions! And solutions.)

I owe big thank yous to people:

THANK YOU to the 50+ amazing mushroom folk who’ve given their time and insight, hung out with, gone foraging and geeked out. Can’t wait to share all of your stories—one week at a time.

THANK YOU to my husband, friends and family, and to you (the reader) for your support! Keep sharing the terrible mushroom memes. I’m all for it.

THANK YOU to the folks who pulled me through malaria which nearly derailed everything [diary of that here].

And thanks to my pal Dali Tembo for sharing the most appropriate life advice:

Happy holidays ♡