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Omni Commons / BAAM / SweetGreen 3-28-2018

Re-cap on Bay Area Applied Mycology Monday night at Omni Commons in Oakland Ca.
Large group, many first timers. Discussion ran around scheduling hikes to go check on current fungi based projects. One such project is to monitor eucalyptus tree stumps that have been inoculated with mycelium. This is to test strength of mycelium in breaking down the stump and reusing new sprouts vs commercial chemicals which are a hazard to wildlife. A march for science in April, BAAM is approved to set up a mushroom booth to sell product and raise funds.
Mike directed the meeting while Jill, who has a degree in mycoremediation requested help teaching kids about mushrooms. Seth, who works the lab in the omni commons in Oakland, talked about pay for teaching mycelium workshops to raise funds as well as hold an income. Great collaboration among fellow BAAM members. 
Within the Omni Commons there are dozens of groups working to make the world a better place.
From Free Access to WiFi, open source patented insulin, food not bombs, BAAM, and more. It’s great to see a work space being utilized in a do-ocracy.

Tuesday Farm tours with SweetGreen, I was the intern for the day. Orion drove us to Sebastopol and we arrived at Gourmet Mushrooms at 10:45. We received a detailed tour of their facility.
They are one of the few that use reusable bottles.
Machines to mix ingredients, fill bottles, cap bottles, cool/mist. Steam and cook. Huge chambers for them to grow in. After each session, they deep clean. 
We received a chefs choice of mushrooms before having lunch at a small glamorous place. Next was a lemon tree farm. The youngest trees were 1 year and already producing fruit. Meyer lemons. The woman managing the farm has designed and managed farms in Kenya, India, and all over the world. Creating seed packets such as salad mix. Intruding from 30 to 600 variaties of seeds. She loves arugula and loves organic. 
Today marks my last day in California. I have too many people to say goodbye to.



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