Founded in 2011, the RMC began as a response to the wide-ranging popularity of a zine (or pamphlet) entitled Radical Mycology, which had been written by Peter McCoy two years prior. With its original presentation of the potential for fungi to influence a range of cultural, political, and philosophical movements, the small, self-published text raised the notion that not only were fungi interesting, but vitally important to the resilience of all of life. Despite its eclectic approach, this powerful message resonated across social spheres, leading to the clear need for a gathering of minds around these curious ideas.
The first RMC was initially intended to be a small gathering, but it quickly evolved into a event with nearly 300 people from around the world! Over the following six years, four more Convergences were held in Washington, Illinois, New York, and Oregon, with each incarnation bringing a new suite of teachers, attendees, and insights to take part in the ever-evolving notion of a revitalized human-fungal relationship.
Though touring the event helped share its skills and information with a wider variety of communities, the logistical challenges of planning the RMC from the ground up each time proved to take energy away from manifesting the best event possible. So, this year, for the sixth Radical Mycology Convergence, we are excited to be holding the gathering in the same location for a second time, so that the RMC becomes more richly experiential for all involved, and more rooted to the land that hosts its growing community.
The 2020 RMC is already looking to be our most engaging to date, with many new events and interactive installations to take place, as well as an increased capacity to host over 500 mycofolk throughout the weekend. Over the five days of the RMC, fungi-lovers, artists, activists, and permaculturalists of all stripes come together to take part in mushroom hunts, art shows, outdoor fungal installations, and workshops on topics ranging from fungal ecology and mushroom cultivation, to medicine making and mitigating pollution via mycoremediation – all while meeting hundreds of like-minded people from around around the world! The RMC is the first event of its kind and one that is truly unlike any other!
Underlying our approach is an emphasis on enhancing quality of life for all of the world's inhabitants, just as the fungi do so well. Likewise, our ethos is largely influenced by ideas found in radical or deep ecology, in which all beings are seen as having an inherent value and interdependence. We value the fungi not just for what we as humans can get from them, but for what we can learn from them – insights that we believe can guide our mycoculture toward a more empowered future while shifting assumptions about the importance of the so-often misunderstood Fungal Queendom. To some, this alone is a radical notion.
At the heart of the RMC there has always been an intention to build a mycelial network of like-minded fungi advocates through the sharing of the event’s rarely-encountered topics. As such, our approach is founded in a design process that is DIY-inspired and an intent that is grassroots-promoting. The RMC's site is rural and workshops take place outdoors (weather permitting), or in a variety of barn-type spaces – a rustic and real setting that emphasizes the natural beauty that fungi offer.
Likewise, the unifying and far-reaching topics covered at the RMC draws together people of all backgrounds, political stances, and lifestyles. We encourage all participants to come to the RMC with an open mind and an excitement to learn from this variety of perspectives and to discover new ways of working with and appreciating fungi. Though not a traditional event in some senses, we strive to make the entire RMC a safe, comfortable, and inspiring space for learning new information, having new experiences, and making new friends.
Much of the event emphasizes community building, sustainable lifestyle practices, and personal empowerment via the skills and the unique insights that mycology offers, while also addressing means to reduce ecological disturbance and human (mis)management of the world's finite resources. This is a distinct (and radical) shift from the more traditional approach of working with macro fungi – which has long-focused on the identification, toxicology, and consumption of foraged species (“How can I use fungi?”) – toward an emphasis on applying the science and art of mycology to improve the health of our lives and landscapes (“How can I work with fungi?”).
We see all of this as a natural evolution from the foundations laid by the mycologists of the last two centuries: a step from theory into practice and from domination toward allyship with the Fungal Queendom. We warmly invite anyone interested in participating in the Radical Mycology Convergence to come, learn, help out, or teach for we are the extreme, or radical, or leading edge of the rapidly expanding mycoculture of history, which is now myceliating the world!
Advance the Mycoculture
The RMC promotes the growth of all aspects of mycology – from its traditional and citizen science research base, to its intersections across the arts, history, and cultures. We see the current state of mycology as the starting place of an unexplored aspect of the human endeavor and encourage an open mind for engaging with all that mycology offers, so that it most fully flourishes.
Grow A Healthy Community
All are welcome to the RMC and to take part in defining the next era of the human-fungi relationship. The RMC encourages the growth of everyone’s personal relationship with mycology, as well as the unmediated expression of that unique perspective.
Learn From the Fungi
The RMC promotes embodying the many lessons found in the unique traits and roles of fungi. Patterns of resilience, co-operation, self-reliance, stewardship, and healing are found in all aspects of mycology, and are infused throughout the RMC. We encourage everyone to seek new means for mirroring these traits in their lives and in their exchanges with others and the environment.
BBF is located in the small farming community of Mulino, Oregon, approximately 25 miles south of Portland. A diversified and certified naturally grown vegetable and mushroom farm, BBF is entering its fourth season to provide non-GMO, open pollinated, and heirloom produce, mushrooms, and herbs to farmer’s markets and restaurants in the surrounding area. Farm owners Anna and Ryan have over 10 years of experience in herbalism, farming, and mycology and are the primary stewards of the land’s 40 acres (also, they are great, and you should really get to know them!).
The site has some areas that are wheelchair accessible, but the grounds are mostly unpaved and gently sloping. Some workshop spaces are outdoors and spaced several hundred yards apart, though most are close together and either indoors or shaded. Though September tends to be prior to the start of the rainy season in Oregon, we suggest all attendees prepare for autumn weather (e.g. cool and moist) as you make your way to the RMC.
* Please note that Brown Bottle Farm requests that no outside pets come on site with RMC attendees. If you have a registered service animal that you must bring with you to the RMC, please contact us prior to registering to discuss your needs. Thank you for your understanding.
The RMC is passionately envisioned by a small group of lifelong fungi-lovers based in the Portland area
Peter McCoy
Peter McCoy is a systems-oriented mycology educator with nearly 20 years of experience across a variety of applied mycology fields. A Portland native and founder of Radical Mycology and the Radical Mycology Convergence, Peter has pioneered numerous original perspectives and methods for applied mycology and modern ethnomycology. He is the founder of MYCOLOGOS, the world’s first mycology school (Portland, OR), and the author of Radical Mycology: A Treatise on Seeing and Working With Fungi (Chthaeus Press, 2016), a 650-page book on mycology that has been hailed as one of the best books on medicinal mushrooms, mushroom cultivation, and mycoremediation written to date, and a milestone for the progress of mycology as a people’s science.
A globally-recognized leader in the modern mycolcultural revolution, Peter is a dedicated teacher, mushroom farmer, herbalist, permaculture designer, community organizer, artist, and author with a ceaseless desire to expand the human-fungal relation.
Laura Kennedy
Laura Kennedy is co-owner and co-founder of Rise Up Remedies, a certified organic medicinal herb farm and small batch herbal apothecary based just outside of Portland, Oregon.
Her love affair with fungi began during her first permaculture design course, which was held on a shiitake farm in the Finger Lakes region of NY in 2014. Since then, she has worked at several outdoor and indoor mushroom farms, practiced aseptic lab cultivation skills, and has integrated fungi into her farm system. In addition to her work on her farm, Laura investigates the world of mycomaterials as lead mycologist for a biomimicry focused design firm working to create mycelium-based products.
Alongside her passion for exploring the many roles that fungi play in ecosystems, she interfaces with this important Queendom as a mushroom forager, medicine maker, and photographer.
Jason Scott
Jason Scott is the founder and curator of Feral Fungi and AlcheMycology. He is a mycologist, ethnobotanist, and spagyricist who has studied the history, philosophy, and practices of traditional Hermetic Alchemy for the past seven years. He has a background in ethnobotany and plant medicine that started on the Big Island of Hawaii, and that he has carried back with him into his home in the Pacific Northwest. Born and raised in Oregon, Jason has an intrinsic interest in the Fungal Queendom and all of its aspects – from cultivation and mycoremediation, to historical and cultural relationships, and most specifically their medicinal application.
Jason has studied various healing modalities including Ayurveda in Nepal and Western Herbalism across Oregon and Washington. He has contributed to Radical Mycology: A Treatise on Seeing and Working With Fungi (Chthaeus Press, 2016) and Verdant Gnosis Volume 3 (Revelore press, 2017) exploring the connections between Alchemy and Mushrooms. Jason is on an ever-deepening journey of education to understand the practical applications of his interests, and the golden threads that connect them.
Anna WIlson-Falk & Ryan Falk
Ryan and Anna have been land custodians at Brown Bottle Farm for 4 years. They are professional wild foragers, Certified Naturally Grown farmers, mushroom enthusiasts, seed stewards, and herbalists. They work towards a harmonious connection between people, food, medicine, and the wild natural beauty around us all. It is with great joy that they share their experience with the RMC community.
Kelsey Jennings
Kelsey is an herbalist, horticulturalist, and a fungi enthusiast with a passion for native ecology. She helps manage Feral Fungi, a company based out of Oregon City that crafts mushroom spagyric tinctures. Prior to her work with Feral Fungi, she worked for WishGarden Herbs as their education and outreach specialist in the Pacific Northwest, teaching classes, leading herb walks, and organizing events.
She has spent time installing and maintaining various native gardens. Most notable was her work during the recent restoration of the Environmental Learning Center at Clackamas Community College.
In her spare time, Kelsey can be found wandering through the forest, playing in her garden, and advocating for potato bugs. She helped organize the volunteers during the last RMC and looks forward to helping out again this year!
