Mico-Logica Alters Our Perception of the Magic of Mushrooms in Oaxaca, Mexico

When we consider mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the primary aspect which traditionally involves thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that’s all changing because of the groundbreaking work of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, via their business enterprise, Mico-lógica.

Based in the village of Benito Juárez, positioned in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (extra commonly known as the Sierra Norte, the country’s predominant ecotourism vicinity), Mico-lógica’s project is threefold: to educate each Mexicans and traffic to the united states inside the low-price cultivation of a selection of mushroom species; to train about the medicinal, dietary and environmental (sustainable) cost of mushrooms; and to behavior ongoing research concerning most suitable climatic regions and the range of substrata for mushroom way of life.

The French-born Mathieu moved to Mexico, and in reality to Huautla de Jiménez, in 2005. “Yes, coming all of the manner to Mexico from France to pursue my interest in mushrooms seems like an extended way to tour,” Mathieu explained in a recent interview in Oaxaca. “But there definitely wasn’t much of an opportunity to conduct research and grow a commercial enterprise in Western Europe,” he continues, “for the reason that reverence for mushrooms were all however completely eliminated by way of The Church over the course of centuries; and I discovered that Mexico nevertheless maintains a admire and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional fee of hongos. Mexico is some distance from mycophobic.”

Huautla de Jiménez is more than a five hour power from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu eventually realized that staying in Huautla, at the same time as keeping an ancient appeal and being in a geographic place conducive to running with mushrooms, might avoid Polka dot Magic mushroom chocolate bar his efforts to grow a commercial enterprise and domesticate full-size hobby in gaining knowledge of about fungi. Mathieu have become cognizant of the burgeoning popularity of Oaxaca’s ecotourism groups of the Sierra Norte, and certainly the Feria Regional de Hongos Silvestres (nearby wild mushroom pageant), held annually in Cuahimoloyas.

Mathieu met Josefina Jiménez at the summertime weekend mushroom event. Jiménez had moved to Oaxaca from place of birth Mexico City in 2002. The two shared comparable pursuits; Jiménez had studied agronomy, and for close to a decade were working with sustainable agriculture projects in rural farming communities in the Huasteca Potosina area of San Luis Potosí, the mountains of Guerrero and the coast of Chiapas. Mathieu and Jiménez became enterprise, after which lifestyles companions in Benito Juárez.

Mathieu and Jiménez are targeting 3 mushroom species of their fingers-on seminars; oyster (seta), shitake and reishi. Their one-day workshops are for oyster mushrooms, and two-day clinics for the latter species of fungus. “With reishi, and to a lesser quantity shitake, we are additionally teaching a truthful bit about the medicinal uses of mushrooms, so extra time is needed,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it is predominantly [but not exclusively] a direction on cultivation.”

While education seminars at the moment are best given in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez plan to extend operations to include each the valuable valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The object is to have a network of producers growing specific mushrooms that are optimally ideal for cultivation based totally on the precise microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and as a result as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to exclusive climatic regions is exquisite. “The oyster can be grown in a mess of various substrata, and that is what we’re experimenting with proper now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on products which might in any other case be waste, inclusive of discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (consisting of the fibrous waste produced in mezcal distillation), peas, the common river reed referred to as carriso, sawdust, and the list is going on. Agricultural waste which may additionally otherwise be left to rot or be burned, every with unfavorable environmental implications, can form substrata for mushroom cultivation. It must be stated, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a rather sustainable, inexperienced industry. Over the beyond several years Mexico has in reality been at the fore in lots of areas of sustainable industry.