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A guide to some of the principles that have helped me with my mushroom botanical business over the past 7 years

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How to Make a Living With Botanical Medicine (Without Selling Your Soul)

Behind the scenes look with the process behind using sound waves (ultrasonic) to craft potent extracts.  

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Making Lion's Mane Tincture With Sound

When science of natural medicine merges with herbal alchemy, magic happens.  Check out this behind the scenes look at our Primal Botanical Blend and our thought process behind how we use functional mushrooms and herbs together.

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Crafting an Herbal Mushroom (Ultrasonic) Extract

Explore fungal ecology through their primary ecological niches, from insect eating mushrooms to the web of interconnectivity in forest ecosystems

Mushroom Symbiosis: The Interconnection of Our World

Within this podcast style interview we are lucky to be joined with Dr. Anna Sitkoff, ND.  Dr. Sitkoff is a Naturopathic Primary Care Physician and an authority on medicinal mushrooms and how they may support autoimmune conditions.  Our conversation extends beyond autoimmunity and has numerous gems I believe helpful for anyone looking to deeper their understanding of medicinal fungi and ways fungi may better support your daily life.

Healing Autoimmunity with Mushrooms (Dr. Anna Sitkoff, ND)

This is a lens through which we can better understand the intelligence that we’re working with here - the intelligence of the natural world. This is relevant because it is the thing that lies on the other end of the relationship with our interactions with plants and fungi.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Unlike humanity which exhibits its traits of intelligence through human culture and our sentient consciousness, the chemistry of plants and fungi reveal their intelligence through a biochemical or phytochemical dimension of interconnection with their ecosystems.&nbsp; Their chemistry is communication with their environment, including us.&nbsp;&nbsp; This chemical language carries information, triggers adaptation, and shapes communities of life and confer unique experiences to us.&nbsp;&nbsp; We can think of it less as consciousness and more about biochemical cognition.&nbsp;&nbsp;We are constantly interacting with this intelligence because we are immersed in its chemistry. We breathe plant volatiles, ingest phytochemicals, cultivate with fungal metabolites around us, and live inside ecosystems saturated with signaling compounds.&nbsp; We take in this intelligence and it confers unique states of being.&nbsp; From incredible shifts in consciousness to subtle changes in our own internal physiology, this direct interface can shape our thought processes, immune function and behavior.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In extraction, we don’t simply pull out active ingredients.&nbsp; These extractions are selective translations of an organism’s signaling architecture into a new medium.&nbsp; In fungi, Beta-glucans, for example, help translate physical environmental changes into biological responses.&nbsp; They exist within the cell wall of fungi and are some of the first ‘sensory’ signals that translate to pressure, damage and shifts in the environment that signal internal pathways. Our system recognizes and responds to these messengers that contribute to signaling within our own bodies when we interact with them, specifically within the immune system.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;In plants, volatile organic compounds (VOC's) evaporate within the environment and send signals to other organisms.&nbsp;&nbsp;Tulsi, or Holy Basil, contains volatile terpenes and acids that act as microbial defense and repels insects within the ecosystems while at the same time, signal to the regulation of human hormone function, like cortisol.&nbsp;&nbsp; We coevolved alongside plant and fungal chemistry through this constant interaction.&nbsp; The extracts you create are therefore a technology of ecological interface between you and the natural world.&nbsp; Unique combinations of chemistry are dependent on the means, method and materials of extraction which we will explore within this course.&nbsp; Ultimately,&nbsp; not only do we acknowledge the deep level of intelligence of plants and fungi within the field of extraction, we intentionally immerse ourselves with it in a fundamentally unique way. Within this context we look to the biodiversity of compounds and their cascading roles of support within human life and their holistic support on multiple physiological systems simultaneously.&nbsp; The diversity of complexity of phytochemistry mirrors the interplay of diverse effects they have within the human system, and we can turn to this chemical matrix for our own personal growth and evolution.

The Ecology of Phytochemistry

When we consider tincture making, in its early alchemical origins, with the advent of distillation, ethanol became a prevalent and powerful medium.&nbsp; Many have a difficult time appreciating its abilities, so we wanted to shed some light on the essential process of saturation, or maceration.The latin word "macere"&nbsp;means to soften, to steep, or make tender by soaking.&nbsp; When we think of the traditional tincture, we often consider this method to be a primary stage of the process.&nbsp;&nbsp; Maceration is the gradual breakdown over time.&nbsp; The consistent contact of the solvent with the materials (the ‘mark’ or ‘body’) over time soften its structure and make the compounds accessible over time.&nbsp;&nbsp; Ethanol has a talent for penetrating cellular structures, disrupting cell membranes (such as lipid layers of fats) while deactivating proteins and enzymes present - one of the reasons this solvent is an excellent stabilizer for preservation.&nbsp; Ethanol extracts, opens, stabilizes and preserves at the same time ~ Ethanol itself is a product of fermentation.&nbsp; Without getting overextended into the fungal world, its important to take a step back and appreciate that ethanol is a form of alcohol that happens as a byproduct of fermentation when yeasts, a form of unicellular fungi, breaks down sugar into ethanol and CO2.&nbsp; This byproduct is responsible for the spirits we enjoy in spirits like beer, gin, tequila and the process itself is a vital step in the processing of food like sourdough bread, chocolate, tea and so many others.&nbsp; Through distillation, very high concentrations of ethanol can be achieved through separating that ethanol from other parts of the spirit. This high proof concentration is helpful for using a very pure form of ethanol.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ethanol is very volatile, which means it evaporates at a relatively low temperature.&nbsp; It should come at no surprise that those same volatiles found within plants bond nicely with ethanol.&nbsp; The aromatic compounds like terpenes can be infused in an ethanol solution and confer the lighter expressions of plants.&nbsp; It also means that it is temperamental, which means you want to make sure you’re working in sealed environments.&nbsp;&nbsp; Ethanol is very efficient at disrupting cell membranes, entering the cells, pulling compounds from materials.&nbsp; Due to its chemistry, it is very antimicrobial, which means it naturally preserves and stabilizes solvent mixtures.&nbsp; Finally, it works in great synergy with water, helping stabilize the solvent while pairing with another solvent that elicits elements different than the ethanol.As you will see as you move forward in your extraction artistry, ethanol presents a seemingly elegant and beautiful expression, oftentimes more clear and refined than water - although water can pull powerful elements as well.

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