Book Recommendation: Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets

If you can't tell from my previous posts, Paul Stamets is an inspiration to me these days. Paul Stamets has created a mushroom masterpiece with the info packed book on mushrooms. It is an invaluable source of data for anyone interested in forward thinking, medicinal mushrooms, herbalism, health, nature, mushroom hunting, cooking, and of course: saving the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium_Running

White House acknowledges importance of pollinators

Fact Sheet: The Economic Challenge Posed by Declining Pollinator Populations

Pollinators contribute substantially to the economy of the United States and are vital to keeping fruits, nuts, and vegetables in our diets. Over the past few decades, there has been a significant loss of pollinators—including honey bees, native bees, birds, bats, and butterflies—from the environment. The problem is serious and poses a significant challenge that needs to be addressed to ensure the sustainability of our food production systems, avoid additional economic impacts on the agricultural sector, and protect the health of the environment.

Economic Importance of Pollinators:

• Insect pollination is integral to food security in the United States. Honey bees enable the production of at least 90 commercially grown crops in North America. Globally, 87 of the leading 115 food crops evaluated are dependent on animal pollinators, contributing 35% of global food production.
• Pollinators contribute more than 24 billion dollars to the United States economy, of which honey bees account for more than 15 billion dollars through their vital role in keeping fruits, nuts, and vegetables in our diets.
• Native wild pollinators, such as bumble bees and alfalfa leafcutter bees, also contribute substantially to the domestic economy. In 2009, the crop benefits from native insect pollination in the United States were valued at more than 9 billion dollars.

The Challenge of Pollinator Declines:

• The number of managed honey bee colonies in the United States has declined steadily over the past 60 years, from 6 million colonies (beehives) in 1947 to 4 million in 1970, 3 million in 1990, and just 2.5 million today. Given the heavy dependence of certain crops on commercial pollination, reduced honey bee populations pose a real threat to domestic agriculture. 
• Some crops, such as almonds, are almost exclusively pollinated by honey bees, and many crops rely on honey bees for more than 90% of their pollination. California’s almond industry alone requires the pollination services of approximately 1.4 million beehives annually—60% of all U.S. beehives—yielding 80% of the worldwide almond production worth 4.8 billion dollars each year.
• Since 2006, commercial beekeepers in the United States have seen honey bee colony loss rates increase to an average of 30% each winter, compared to historical loss rates of 10 to 15%. In 2013–14, the overwintering loss rate was 23.2%, down from 30.5% the previous year but still greater than historical averages and the self-reported acceptable winter mortality rate.
• The recent increased loss of honey bee colonies is thought to be caused by a combination of stressors, including loss of natural forage and inadequate diets, mite infestations and diseases, loss of genetic diversity, and exposure to certain pesticides. Contributing to these high loss rates is a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder (CCD), in which there is a rapid, unexpected, and catastrophic loss of bees in a hive.
• Beekeepers in the United States have collectively lost an estimated 10 million beehives at an approximate current value of $200 each. These high colony loss rates require beekeepers to rapidly, and at substantial expense, rebuild their colonies, placing commercial beekeeping in jeopardy as a viable industry and threatening the crops dependent on honey bee pollination. The loss rates have driven up the cost of commercial pollination: for instance, the cost of renting honey bee hives for almond pollination rose from about $50 in 2003 to $150-$175 per hive in 2009.
• Some of the viral agents that are impacting honey bee colonies are also now reported to be adversely affecting native pollinators, such as bumble bees, and the pollination services they provide.
• Population declines have also been observed for other contributing pollinator species, such as Monarch butterflies, which migrate from Mexico across the United States to Canada each year, returning to overwinter in the same few forests in Mexico. The Monarch butterfly migration, an iconic natural phenomenon that has an estimated economic value in the billions of dollars, sank to the lowest recorded levels this winter, with an imminent risk of failure.

Administration Actions:

In response to the challenges to commercial bee-keeping, the President’s 2015 Budget recommends approximately $50 million across multiple agencies within USDA to: enhance research at USDA and through public-private grants, strengthen pollinator habitat in core areas, double the number of acres in the Conservation Reserve Program that are dedicated to pollinator health, and increase funding for surveys to determine the impacts on pollinator losses.

Building on this budget initiative, President Obama today issued a Presidential Memorandum on Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators that takes a number of important steps to tackle the problem of pollinator declines, including:

• Directing the Federal Government to use its research, land management, education, and public/private partnership capacities to broadly advance honey bee and other pollinator health and habitat;
• Establishing a new Pollinator Health Task Force, co-chaired by United States Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency, to develop a National Pollinator Health Strategy. The Strategy will include: a coordinated research action plan to understand, prevent, and recover from pollinator losses, including determining the relative impacts of habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and other stressors; a public education plan to help individuals, businesses, and other organizations address pollinator losses; and recommendations for increasing public-private partnerships to build on Federal efforts to protect pollinators;
• Directing Task Force agencies to develop plans to enhance pollinator habitat on federal lands and facilities in order to lead by example to significantly expand the acreage and quality of pollinator habitat, consistent with agency missions and public safety; and
• Directing Task Force agencies to partner with state, tribal, and local governments; farmers and ranchers; corporations and small businesses; and non-governmental organizations to protect pollinators and increase the quality and amount of available habitat and forage.

In line with these efforts, the Federal Government will also work to restore the Monarch butterfly migration using research and habitat improvements that will benefit Monarchs as well as other native pollinators and honey bees. These actions support the February 2014 Joint Statement by President Obama, Prime Minister Harper of Canada, and President Peña Nieto of Mexico to renew and expand collaboration between North American nations to conserve the Monarch butterfly.

Taken from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/fact-sheet-economic-challenge-posed-declining-pollinator-populations

Paul Stamets - PT 2. - The Future is Fungi [how to save the planet]

Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world

CHAGA HUNT (pt.2): Making Tea

The following is my first attempt at making Chaga tea. I heated the Chaga for about 20 minutes at a low boil (or just below boiling). This allowed the water to become dark quite quickly. The colour has hints of red like many common teas - but this is no common tea. It is tea of the birch fungus. (I suppose you have to be a little adventurous for this type of thing...) The smells and process are reminiscent of a sugar shack and boiling down sap to make maple syrup. Perhaps this is more Canadian than I originally thought.

I then transferred the Chaga with the hot water 

to the slow cooker and let it steep for about 4 hours. 

Once complete the colour was quite dark in appearance. Not unlike coffee. The taste was pleasantly surprising. I have read that it has hints of vanilla and coffee. For me the flavours have hints of maple and a subtle bitterness of a dark tea. There is a definite familiarity to the taste. 

I have now had about 10 cups of Chaga tea over the last 5 days. I have blended it with coffee at 50% which is a delicious combination. I have also tried it with both honey and agave nectar. The natural sweeteners definitely enhance the already sweet undertones - but in my opinion - the subtle beauty of the flavour can be masked by adding too much sugar. I recommend it "black". Enjoy it for its essence.

CHAGA HUNT: The search for nature's miracle cure in Northern Ontario

After first hearing about the Chaga mushroom on CBC radio my thoughts wandered to the romantic notion of "the hunt". Mushrooms have a mystical nature, with sometimes medicinal properties and magical powers - not to mention a scary quality as many are poisonous. But Chaga was described as something different. For a novice mushroom hunter - this sounded attainable. As my research began to show, the Chaga mushroom is not as scary as one might think. This hidden and somewhat rare mushroom could be found in my own backyard. Further research has shown this to be an incredibly beneficial and medicinal mushroom - almost to the point of absurdity. The list seems endless to what it can potentially cure and provide for positive health and stability. In addition to consumption - it has been used throughout history as tinder to start fires providing its common name "Tinder Fungus". Many consume Chaga by making tea. Attached are some photos from my first hunt and few other interesting images and videos on the subject.

Check out Wiki Link Here for more info!

Chaga is usually found on birch trees.

Up close and personal - 

Chaga does not look like something edible. 

It looks like burnt / charred wood. 

Something you would find in a fire pit.

This is not a typical mushroom. 

"The best live among us in disguise"

Sometimes you need to get creative... 

I found that other hunters had already collected some of

the larger "low lying fruit". A little work can pay off.

Beyond the rough exterior is a beautiful golden orange interior.

My harvest. Cleaned up using a hatchet and a wood rasp. 

Next step is to fully dry and then attempt my first batch of tea.

The following are some online videos expounding on the benefits of Chaga:

How to make Chaga tea:





A list of the reputed benefits of Chaga...

courtesy of www.chagamountain.com

• Anti-aging
• Anti-allergic
• Anti-bacterial
• Anti-Cancer
• Anti-genotoxicity
• Anti-inflammatory
• Anti-microbial
• Anti-mutagenic
• Anti-oxidant
• Anti-tumor
• Anti-viral
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Bacterial Diseases
• Blood Pressure High (Hypertension)
• Blood Pressure Low (Hypotension)
• Blood Purification
• Bronchitis
• Candidiasis (yeast)
• Cardio-Vascular
• Crohn’s Disease (CD)
• Diabetes
• Fungal Growth
• Gastritis
• Heart Disease
• Hepatoprotective
• HIV
• Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Immune Support / Enhancer
• Influenza
• Intestinal Worms
• Kidney Tonic
• Lower Cholesterol
• Liver / Hepatitis
• Pain Relief
• Parasites
• Parotid gland
• Pulmonary Diseases
• Skin Ailments
• Stomach Ailments
• Stomach Disease
• Tuberculosis
• Ulcerative Colitis (UC)