Bees Need Medicinal Mushrooms? This Is No Joke!

This isn't the 'big article' I've been promising, although, let's just say, that one would be right up Paul Stamets' alley. Matt and I saw him and Louis Schwartzberg at the Moore Theater for Mushrooms and the Mycology of Consciousness. I even got to meet Paul!

After my 'big article', I'll properly write something about this, but for now, here's Paul (and his Amadou hat) on how he discovered that bees naturally depend on medicinal mushrooms such as reishi and red-belted polypore as part of their immune defenses.
` With these mushrooms becoming more rare, and environmental stress increasing, honeybees and native bees are becoming more sick. Thanks to him, it has been discovered that feeding these mushrooms to the bees greatly prolongs their lives and could prevent colony collapse! Clinical trials are currently underway.



There's a lot to this presentation, and even more in the one that we went to. I will save that for later on, after my next 'big article', which is nearly finished. I'd have had it up already if it weren't for a few things coming up, but at least this darned cold seems to be 'virtually gone' after nearly two months.
` A couple weeks ago, I found some bluish-gray turkey tail and had some, along with other colors I've found, in a tea. I have not had any red-belted polypore yet, despite the fact that I have an entire bag of chunks. It's very rare that I ever am that sick, so I don't use them a lot, but I feel inspired to do so now.

And, not to leave Louie out in the cold, he's done some amazing videography, with much emphasis on slow-motion and time-lapse. In 2011, he did a film known in the U.S. as Wings of Life, about the pollinating insects, birds and bats that keep the plants going. Here's another little project he's known for:



As for other news, I will continue to resist updating you until after 'the big article'. Which is quite big. A little bigger than intended, even.