We begin the session with an in depth farm tour at Myer's Mushrooms in El Paso, TX. Andre explains, from start to finish, his production method including a break down of his equipment, lab, and grow spaces where he produces up to 200 lbs of mushrooms a week in less than 600 sqft. The second half of the session will be a demo from the Central Texas Mycological, showing five lo-tech ways to grow mushrooms outdoors. So whether you are looking to start or refine a commercial mushroom operation or just grow some tasty fungi in your backyard garden, this session has something for you!

Andre Gutierrez learned to produce food in the southwest region while co-managing La Semilla Food Center's non-profit 13 acre community farm and their "farm fresh" market program. There here worked under many grants, including the National Institute of Food and Agriculture USDA Grant CFP (community food project) and Agricultural Marketing Service USDA Grant LFPP (local food promotion program), constructing basic farm infrastructure, building soil health using cover crop rotations, co-hosting public workshops and food safety trainings for the community, helping create and manage a mobile market that provides access to fresh and local food in the region's food deserts as well as training and working with youth and interns. During that time, OG Farms was created, where he and his dad first began producing organically grown specialty chiles, co-founded a local chile company and are currently producing organically grown hemp. From chile farmer to indoor mushroom grower, his indoor grow operation produces 100-200lbs of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms per week in less than 600sqft and once held monthly hands-on mushroom production workshops pre pandemic, educating the West Texas community on gourmet mushroom production.

Angel Schatz is a resident in Austin, Texas originally from the St. Louis area. She worked in digital design and animation for 15 years. More recently, her work has moved to the analog world where she focuses on digital content and leadership around food systems, helping others build resilience in everything from foraging, urban gardening, and doing art.

Peri Newman is Co-Director of the MycoResearch Station, a fungi education center in Austin. She holds a degree in City Planning from Appalachian State University, where she focused on sustainable agriculture within the urban environment. She is also a master gardener and is permaculture certified. Peri thinks everyone should know what the fungal kingdom is up to just underneath our feet.