Feb. 18-19 2023

An intensive course, both theoretical and practical, will interest those who intend to seriously indulge in foraging and hiking safely: two days indoors on February 18 and 19, and one day in the forest next summer. (In French)

Course

March 29 2023

On Sunday March 26, in the morning, take part in our outdoor mushroom cultivation workshop. Grow your favorite species yourself in the garden, on logs or on other nutrient substrates. (In French)

Workshop

April 5 2023

On Wednesday evening, April 5, attend a conference on wild local mushrooms. This recreational event will allow you to better enjoy the next foraging season.       (In French)

Talk

A Mushroom for Christmas?

Few mushrooms have stoked as many legends as the fly agaric. Thought to kill flies, experience does not confirm the species's efficiency in this respect, sprinkled in a bowl of milk in the medieval manner.

Another myth: in 1931, Coca-Cola's publicists were inspired by it when they imagined the red and white costume of Santa Claus. In fact, the jolly good fellow had already been illustrated in an American periodical in 1863, with no reference to the mushroom.

Nevertheless, in Germany, these dehydrated amanitas decorated Christmas trees. Reindeers feed on it. Additionally, in the rituals of several cultures, the species has been consumed under the auspices of shamans (arriving through the shamney?). Jesuits had noted such a custom among the Algonquians in 1626.

Hallucinogenic and toxic, the species contains muscimole with intoxicating effects. In the context of psychotherapy assisted by psychedelics, attention is focused rather on psilocybes, whose psychoactive substances (psilocin) and effects differ.

A recent book attempts to fill this gap, mostly on the basis of social media samples. Microdosing with Amanita muscaria joins the many others on the subject of hallucinogenic mushrooms in our bookstore.

Psychotropics

Destroying Angels and Co.

Fly agarics are part of the genus Amanita which has some of the best species, like Jackson's amanita, but also the deadliest. Every gatherer must know this fearsome genus. White amanitas are the most lethal: their ingestion causes nine out of ten deaths by mushroom poisoning worldwide. Mycoboutique offers the best reference books on the subject, including the prodigious Amanitas of North America to idenrtify each species of the genus, the scholarly Cyclic peptide toxins for the chemistry poisonning, and the educational card game Mycocards Amanita edition.

Halloween

While foragers have just put away their baskets, youngsters are going out to collect Halloween candies. At Mycoboutique, mushroom picking continues year-round: West Coast chanterelles take over after the local ones, and fresh cultivated species galore.