May The Spores Be With You - with Darren Springer

Darren Springer is a mycologist, organic horticulturist, teacher and researcher. In this episode we discuss the role of mushrooms in cosmology, panspermia and the transhumanist theories of his teacher Kilindi Iyi, organic technology, healing trauma through psychedelics, the role of food within community, the alchemy of composting and cultivation as a transformational process.

We begin with a recording of the oyster mushrooms that are growing in the disused coalholes at Somerset House. This is where Darren takes the coffee waste from the café to grow the mushrooms, which in turn supply the café and restaurants.  This is part of the onsite Edible Utopia programme, where Darren lectures on mycology and mushroom cultivation.

We end with a meditative journey from Darren. We have also co-created a t-shirt campaign to raise funds for the GROW project at Totteridge Academy where Darren is involved in setting up an accredited Mushroom Academy for school students to introduce them to mycology and to develop skills and knowledge around health and well-being, sustainability and regenerative culture. Go to Everpress and look for May the Spores be With You to support the project.

You can explore more of Darren’s work via his Edible Utopia project at Somerset House, various lectures and workshops, his Talking Slop podcast and in his May the Spores Be With You article in the Earth edition of our Wild Alchemy Journal. You can find him at darrenlebaron.com and @darren_le_baron