Instagram Story Viewer

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

How do you protect hidden fungal networks? Protect the trees they support. New research published in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range.

Co-led by Dr. Camille Truong and Dr. Adriana Corrales, the findings highlight that endangered ancient conifers, called Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), shelter an enormous amount of fungi belowground that have helped the forest, a massive carbon sink, survive and adapt over millennia. Removing one tree can destroy an entire underground community of forest helpers that took thousands of years to assemble.

These forests are now threatened by land-use shifts, climate change, and major infrastructure projects, including a proposed road that would run just a few hundred meters from alerce forests, increasing the threat of fires, tourist pressure, and invasive species.

These huge millennial trees serve as an “umbrella” that protects soil fungal diversity and we need to protect this diversity both above and belowground.

Read the paper in our bio.

Congrats to all the authors: Camille Truong ( @golondrelle ), Adriana Corrales ( @adricorrales33 ), Bethan Manley ( @bethanmanley ) , Michael E. Van Nuland, Justin D. Stewart ( @thecrobe ), Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake ( @merlin.sheldrake ), Giuliana Furci( @giulifungi ), E. Toby Kiers ( @tobykiers ) & César Marín ( @genestogaia ).

Massive thank you to Universidad Santo Tomás ( @santotomas_ustsantiago ), Universidad Austral de Chile ( @universidadaustraldechile ), Universidad de La Frontera (Chile)( ufro.temuco), Fungi Foundation ( @fungifoundation ), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( @royalbotanicgardensvic ) , and the University of Melbourne in Australia ( @unimelb ).

Photos by Tomás Munita ( @tomas.munita )

#SoilBiodiversity #MycorrhizalFungi #Fungi #ForestEcology #ConservationScience

We’re thrilled that our new product is on sale now!

Sheldrake & Sheldrake Chipotle Shoyu is made by extracting the liquid essence of Sheldrake & Sheldrake Chipotle Hot Sauce and combining it with an organic oat shoyu made in the fermentation house by our partner and koji wizard Jonathan Hope.

The result is a mouth-watering umami liquid – think soy sauce with a gentle heat – that brings a deep, rich tone to anything you add it to.

We’ve been using it in everything from stocks, to soups, to rice dishes, and to steamed and roast vegetables. You can use it wherever you might normally add salt to wake up flavour and add a deeply satisfying dimension to your dishes.

Stocks are limited, so don’t delay!

If you’re in the UK and want your orders to arrive in time for Christmas, please order by December 15th. For international orders, please order on the day of the drop – Friday December 5th.

Also on sale is a new batch of Sheldrake & Sheldrake Fermented Chipotle Hot Sauce - now aged in oak barrels that originally housed Canadian maple syrup and then Scottish rum. As ever, you can use the sauce like a spicy, smoky ketchup as a condiment, or as the basis for stocks or sauces – a smoky, spicy, umami tonic. 

As ever, our sauce is made using two types of fermentation which gives a particularly rich and complex flavour. First we grow the koji fungus on organic jasmine rice. Enzymes produced by the fungus break down starch resulting in a golden umami liquid (Shio Koji). To this we add the remaining ingredients and let the lacto-fermentation do its work (lacto-fermentation is how sauerkraut and kimchi are made). To keep the sauce is stable at room temperature, we add a splash of apple cider vinegar at the end of fermentation. We never pasteurise, which means that the sauce that reaches you is alive and bustling with health-giving microbial allies.

We ship internationally and 99% of the time we don’t have problems. Very occasionally, sauce is held up on route. If you don’t receive your sauce within a couple of weeks, please reply to your email confirmation message and we will resolve the situation.

Be well!

Important landmark moment for fungi and the environment: the United Kingdom has just published a revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and, rectifying a glaring omission from the last version, this flagship environmental strategy explicitly includes #fungi and commits to their conservation.

This is a huge step forward, especially considering that the previous 2023 EIP made no reference to fungi conservation, despite the essential roles they play as ecosystem engineers underpinning soil health, nutrient cycles, food security, climate resilience, and the regenerative capacity of the living world.

This milestone strengthens the momentum created by the advocacy of a growing network across the UK -including @naturalengland, @plantlife.loveplants, @kewgardens, and the @fungifoundation- and reinforces the country’s leadership on the global stage, reflected in the Fungal Conservation Pledge co-launched by the governments of the UK (@defrauk) and Chile (@mmachile), which has already been signed by 13 countries.

📷 @giulifungi / @mateobarrenengoa

#fungi #uk #chile #environmentalpolicy #defra #funga #fungifoundation

Important landmark moment for fungi and the environment: the United Kingdom has just published a revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and, rectifying a glaring omission from the last version, this flagship environmental strategy explicitly includes #fungi and commits to their conservation.

This is a huge step forward, especially considering that the previous 2023 EIP made no reference to fungi conservation, despite the essential roles they play as ecosystem engineers underpinning soil health, nutrient cycles, food security, climate resilience, and the regenerative capacity of the living world.

This milestone strengthens the momentum created by the advocacy of a growing network across the UK -including @naturalengland, @plantlife.loveplants, @kewgardens, and the @fungifoundation- and reinforces the country’s leadership on the global stage, reflected in the Fungal Conservation Pledge co-launched by the governments of the UK (@defrauk) and Chile (@mmachile), which has already been signed by 13 countries.

📷 @giulifungi / @mateobarrenengoa

#fungi #uk #chile #environmentalpolicy #defra #funga #fungifoundation

Important landmark moment for fungi and the environment: the United Kingdom has just published a revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and, rectifying a glaring omission from the last version, this flagship environmental strategy explicitly includes #fungi and commits to their conservation.

This is a huge step forward, especially considering that the previous 2023 EIP made no reference to fungi conservation, despite the essential roles they play as ecosystem engineers underpinning soil health, nutrient cycles, food security, climate resilience, and the regenerative capacity of the living world.

This milestone strengthens the momentum created by the advocacy of a growing network across the UK -including @naturalengland, @plantlife.loveplants, @kewgardens, and the @fungifoundation- and reinforces the country’s leadership on the global stage, reflected in the Fungal Conservation Pledge co-launched by the governments of the UK (@defrauk) and Chile (@mmachile), which has already been signed by 13 countries.

📷 @giulifungi / @mateobarrenengoa

#fungi #uk #chile #environmentalpolicy #defra #funga #fungifoundation

Important landmark moment for fungi and the environment: the United Kingdom has just published a revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and, rectifying a glaring omission from the last version, this flagship environmental strategy explicitly includes #fungi and commits to their conservation.

This is a huge step forward, especially considering that the previous 2023 EIP made no reference to fungi conservation, despite the essential roles they play as ecosystem engineers underpinning soil health, nutrient cycles, food security, climate resilience, and the regenerative capacity of the living world.

This milestone strengthens the momentum created by the advocacy of a growing network across the UK -including @naturalengland, @plantlife.loveplants, @kewgardens, and the @fungifoundation- and reinforces the country’s leadership on the global stage, reflected in the Fungal Conservation Pledge co-launched by the governments of the UK (@defrauk) and Chile (@mmachile), which has already been signed by 13 countries.

📷 @giulifungi / @mateobarrenengoa

#fungi #uk #chile #environmentalpolicy #defra #funga #fungifoundation

My tour, the Secret Life of Fungi LIVE, has finished in the UK! Thanks to all of you who came! It’s been a wonderful journey.

It’s been an honour to work with the wonderful Simon McBurney as Creative Director, and my brother Cosmo Sheldrake on sound design.

In the show I ask how fungi can help us imagine a future that’s possible. It’s a journey into the strange and beautiful world of fungi - and the ways that these remarkable organisms might help us renew and refresh our sense of what’s possible at this time of crisis and transformation.

I’m taking the show to Australia at the start of December. See link in my bio for dates and tickets.

The wonderful reishi mushrooms you can see in the photo above is by the gifted reishi sculptor @mycomyth.

The show features incredible footage by @planet_fungi,
@wvanegmond_micro, Anand Varma, Patrick Hickey, and the team at AMOLF, in Amsterdam, among others. Please check out their work: extraordinary artist-scientists making fungal life visible in new and remarkable ways.

Photos @carsten_windhorst

My tour, the Secret Life of Fungi LIVE, has finished in the UK! Thanks to all of you who came! It’s been a wonderful journey.

It’s been an honour to work with the wonderful Simon McBurney as Creative Director, and my brother Cosmo Sheldrake on sound design.

In the show I ask how fungi can help us imagine a future that’s possible. It’s a journey into the strange and beautiful world of fungi - and the ways that these remarkable organisms might help us renew and refresh our sense of what’s possible at this time of crisis and transformation.

I’m taking the show to Australia at the start of December. See link in my bio for dates and tickets.

The wonderful reishi mushrooms you can see in the photo above is by the gifted reishi sculptor @mycomyth.

The show features incredible footage by @planet_fungi,
@wvanegmond_micro, Anand Varma, Patrick Hickey, and the team at AMOLF, in Amsterdam, among others. Please check out their work: extraordinary artist-scientists making fungal life visible in new and remarkable ways.

Photos @carsten_windhorst

My tour, the Secret Life of Fungi LIVE, has finished in the UK! Thanks to all of you who came! It’s been a wonderful journey.

It’s been an honour to work with the wonderful Simon McBurney as Creative Director, and my brother Cosmo Sheldrake on sound design.

In the show I ask how fungi can help us imagine a future that’s possible. It’s a journey into the strange and beautiful world of fungi - and the ways that these remarkable organisms might help us renew and refresh our sense of what’s possible at this time of crisis and transformation.

I’m taking the show to Australia at the start of December. See link in my bio for dates and tickets.

The wonderful reishi mushrooms you can see in the photo above is by the gifted reishi sculptor @mycomyth.

The show features incredible footage by @planet_fungi,
@wvanegmond_micro, Anand Varma, Patrick Hickey, and the team at AMOLF, in Amsterdam, among others. Please check out their work: extraordinary artist-scientists making fungal life visible in new and remarkable ways.

Photos @carsten_windhorst

My tour, the Secret Life of Fungi LIVE, has finished in the UK! Thanks to all of you who came! It’s been a wonderful journey.

It’s been an honour to work with the wonderful Simon McBurney as Creative Director, and my brother Cosmo Sheldrake on sound design.

In the show I ask how fungi can help us imagine a future that’s possible. It’s a journey into the strange and beautiful world of fungi - and the ways that these remarkable organisms might help us renew and refresh our sense of what’s possible at this time of crisis and transformation.

I’m taking the show to Australia at the start of December. See link in my bio for dates and tickets.

The wonderful reishi mushrooms you can see in the photo above is by the gifted reishi sculptor @mycomyth.

The show features incredible footage by @planet_fungi,
@wvanegmond_micro, Anand Varma, Patrick Hickey, and the team at AMOLF, in Amsterdam, among others. Please check out their work: extraordinary artist-scientists making fungal life visible in new and remarkable ways.

Photos @carsten_windhorst

My tour, the Secret Life of Fungi LIVE, has finished in the UK! Thanks to all of you who came! It’s been a wonderful journey.

It’s been an honour to work with the wonderful Simon McBurney as Creative Director, and my brother Cosmo Sheldrake on sound design.

In the show I ask how fungi can help us imagine a future that’s possible. It’s a journey into the strange and beautiful world of fungi - and the ways that these remarkable organisms might help us renew and refresh our sense of what’s possible at this time of crisis and transformation.

I’m taking the show to Australia at the start of December. See link in my bio for dates and tickets.

The wonderful reishi mushrooms you can see in the photo above is by the gifted reishi sculptor @mycomyth.

The show features incredible footage by @planet_fungi,
@wvanegmond_micro, Anand Varma, Patrick Hickey, and the team at AMOLF, in Amsterdam, among others. Please check out their work: extraordinary artist-scientists making fungal life visible in new and remarkable ways.

Photos @carsten_windhorst

What are deep soil fungi?

We sampled for fungi through water, through soil, and through rock to better understand how deep soil fungi help regulate the carbon cycle. Soil carbon at one meter can persist for hundreds to thousands of years and we’re investigating whether deep soil fungi act as a lever to draw carbon deeper into the Earth.

During our joint mycological expedition in Peru with @spununderground’s @tobykiers, @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we visited @Parquenacional.manu, a @UNESCO world heritage site (closed off except to anthropologists and biologists). It is estimated to host the highest terrestrial biodiversity of any protected area on Earth. This research will help us to better understand how fungi can be used as a living infrastructure to pull carbon down into subsoil ecosystems.

Field recordist, anthropologist and musician @cosmosheldrake, joined to capture sounds of underground ecosystems and document @fungifoundation’s interviews with elders, within their mission to help communities to preserve their ancestral relationships with fungi amid the migration of younger generations. 

A very special thank you to the brilliant @Tomas.Munita, documentary photographer capturing social and environmental issues. 

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #funga #hongosdeperu

A wonderful post about Entangled Life by Richard Dawkins:

“Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake is one of the best works of scientific literature I have ever read: intelligent (a scientist can be good at philosophy), informative (I learned so much), inspiring (almost every sentence made me pause for thought), beautifully written (this author has a real way with words). The vignettes of autobiography add to the appeal. A marvellous book.“

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

How can we better understand and protect fungi?

Together with @Merlin.Sheldrake, @Fungifoundation’s @giulifungi, @spununderground’s @tobykiers, and local collaborator Dr. @walter_huaraca, we’re mapping deep soil fungal communities in the high-altitude grasslands of @Parquenacional.manu, Peru. A project spanning North and South America, aimed at collecting ~500 million fungal DNA sequences to better understand the role of deep soil fungi in mitigating climate change.

Though forests are typically prioritized in climate solution strategies, high elevation tropical grasslands can be just as productive. Grasses send huge amounts of carbon to underground fungi and we’re exploring how healthy deep soil fungal communities play a role in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and underground.

In unison, @fungifoundation, together with field recordist, anthropologist and musician @Cosmosheldrake, engaged in conversations with elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities. The interviews were recorded with the aim of documenting the ancestral relationships the communities have with fungi, framed within the Fungi Foundation’s Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines and data sovereignty agreements. Special thanks to @miski.tours.

Special thanks also to @Tomas.Munita for capturing these photos.

#Fungi #ProtectTheUnderground #FungiFoundation #Nature #Grasslands #Peru #Funga #Fungadelperu #Hongosdeperu

My tour, the Secret Life of Fungi LIVE has been going wonderfully, starting with a sold out night at London’s Barbican Concert Hall on Monday.

It’s been amazing to work with the wonderful Simon McBurney as Creative Director, and my brother Cosmo Sheldrake on sound design.

In the show I ask how fungi can help us imagine a future that’s possible. It’s a journey into the strange and beautiful world of fungi - and the ways that these remarkable organisms might help us renew and refresh our sense of what’s possible at this time of crisis and transformation.

Shows run for another week. See link in my bio for dates and tickets.

The incredible footage in this clip is by @planet_fungi and @wvanegmond_micro. Please check out their work: extraordinary artist-scientists making fungal life visible in new and remarkable ways.

🍄‍🟫 3 mushrooms you must know! Merlin Sheldrake lists the fascinating fungi that have been on his mind for National Mushroom Day.

If you want to delve deeper into this mind-bending world, the biologist and best-selling author is shortly embarking on his UK tour, before heading to Australia and New Zealand at the end of the year.

Discover The Secret Life of Fungi Live by clicking the link in bio, or visiting the Fane website.

📸 Cuphophyllus cheeli by @partial_veil

I’m thrilled to announce a set of Australia and NZ tour dates in December.

I’m having a LOT of fun on the wild ride of developing the show: an immersive experience where science meets storytelling.

I’m trying to create new ways that we can see things from a fungal point of view. And explore the many ways that thinking about fungi makes the world look different.

There are so many ways that fungi can help us as we move forwards on this changing planet. What can we learn from them? How can they change the way we understand ourselves? How might we work with them to adapt to the radical change of our times?

Join me in December. Tickets are available at the link in my bio I’m thrilled to announce a set of Australia and NZ tour dates in December. Tickets are available at the link in my bio @faneproductions

Photo @tomas.munita

A new batch of Sheldrake & Sheldrake hot sauce is ON SALE NOW!

Link in bio.

Stocks are limited so don’t delay!

Our new production facility is up and running and is looking beautiful! And we’re thrilled that this is the first batch of sauce to be aged and conditioned in oak barrels. They housed Canadian Maple syrup, then Scottish rum, and now sauce — and they add some wonderful notes to flavour.

Like the last few batches, the sauce now contains kombu — cured, edible kelp — which brings depth and dimension. As ever, you can use the sauce like a spicy, smoky ketchup as a condiment, or as the basis for stocks or sauces — a smoky, spicy, umami tonic.

We’ve been working on a couple of exciting new products which should be ready soon, so stay tuned!

Our sauce ships in fully compostable packaging grown out of fungal mycelium and hemp stalks.

For those of you in North America, it’s worth placing Christmas orders now to ensure they reach you in time. We ship internationally and 99% of the time we don’t have problems. Very occasionally, sauce is held up on route. If you don’t receive your sauce within a couple of weeks, please reply to your email confirmation message and we will resolve the situation.

As ever, our sauce is made using two types of fermentation which gives a particularly rich and complex flavour. First we grow the koji fungus on organic jasmine rice. Enzymes produced by the fungus break down starch resulting in a golden umami liquid (Shio Koji). To this we add the remaining ingredients and let the lacto-fermentation do its work (lacto-fermentation is how sauerkraut and kimchi are made). To keep the sauce is stable at room temperature, we add a splash of apple cider vinegar at the end of fermentation. We never pasteurise, which means that the sauce that reaches you is alive and bustling with health-giving microbial allies.

A new batch of Sheldrake & Sheldrake hot sauce is ON SALE NOW!

Link in bio.

Stocks are limited to don’t delay!

Our new production facility is up and running and is looking beautiful! And we’re thrilled that this is the first batch of sauce to be aged and conditioned in oak barrels. They housed Canadian Maple syrup, then Scottish rum, and now sauce – and they add some wonderful notes to flavour.

Like the last few batches, the sauce now contains kombu – cured, edible kelp – which brings depth and dimension. As ever, you can use the sauce like a spicy, smoky ketchup as a condiment, or as the basis for stocks or sauces – a smoky, spicy, umami tonic.

We’ve been working on a couple of exciting new products which should be ready soon, so stay tuned!

Our sauce ships in fully compostable packaging grown out of fungal mycelium and hemp stalks.

For those of you in North America, it’s worth placing Christmas orders now to ensure they reach you in time. We ship internationally and 99% of the time we don’t have problems. Very occasionally, sauce is held up on route. If you don’t receive your sauce within a couple of weeks, please reply to your email confirmation message and we will resolve the situation.

As ever, our sauce is made using two types of fermentation which gives a particularly rich and complex flavour. First we grow the koji fungus on organic jasmine rice. Enzymes produced by the fungus break down starch resulting in a golden umami liquid (Shio Koji). To this we add the remaining ingredients and let the lacto-fermentation do its work (lacto-fermentation is how sauerkraut and kimchi are made). To keep the sauce is stable at room temperature, we add a splash of apple cider vinegar at the end of fermentation. We never pasteurise, which means that the sauce that reaches you is alive and bustling with health-giving microbial allies.