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The 4th Annual Cumberland Fungus Fest – an interdisciplinary exploration
September 28-30, 2023
Walks, talks, workshops, crafts, specimen tables, kids activities, Thursday evening Fungus Science Pub, Friday Fungus Market & Fungus Bazaar, Saturday Fungus Feast and more.
Cumberland’s Fungus Fest is proudly sponsored by our good friends at
Harmonic Arts, Elevate and Cumberland Brewing
Harmonic Arts, Elevate and Cumberland Brewing
We respectfully acknowledge that we live, work and play within the forests, lands and waters of the unceded traditional territory of the Pentlatch, Eiksan, Sathloot and Sasitla people, known collectively today as the K’ómoks Nation, and we are grateful for the opportunity to be part of the stewardship of this special place.
Family Fun All Weekend
Admission ($30 for adults and $5 for Under 16s)
Includes exclusive access to register for guided walks as of September 15th!
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ALL THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY EVENTS REQUIRE A FUNGUS FEST PASS.
Guided Walks and Fungus Feast require an extra ticket.
*registration & payment links will automatically be sent to all pass holders.
Walk up tickets available for Science Pub & Fungus Bazaar ($10-$20 donation).
Forest Feast is a separately ticketed event.
All photos by Viable Options Photography of Cumberland.
All Weekend
Online & On App
Cumberland Forest Bio Blitz
Sign up to take part in the iNaturalist Cumberland Forest Bioblitz running from September 28th through to October 15th or bring your specimens in person to Fungus Fest and we’ll document them there!
Fun Fungus Links – check out this cool, curated collection of mushroomy goodness.
We are fortunate to bring together amazing mycology minds to share their knowledge, explore with us, and teach us new things!
Thursday Sept 28
3-4:15pm
Harmonic Arts
After School Fungus Fun!
Take part in a hands on fungi themed art project! Join Candice from Full Baskets for this hands on after school (suggested ages 9 + or with an adult) weaving with locally harvested invasive species as a way to support nature, and be creative!
4-6pm
Guided WALK with Andy MacKinnon
Join Andy for a wander through the wonderful world of the Cumberland Forest, exploring forest ecology, fungus and the wonders of this mature second growth ecosystem. Registered guests leave from the Yellow Gate at the bottom of Sutton Road at 4 pm
4-6pm
Guided WALK with Megan Rose
Guided Walks with this stand up comic, improvisational performer, musician, wild edible mushroom forager and mycophile from Denman Island.
4-6pm
Guided WALK with Kent Brothers
Exploring the “The Nature of Fungi” through the various ecosystems of the Cumberland Forest and Wetlands. Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ Outside the Harmonic Arts Building
4:30-6pm
Harmonic Arts
TALK with Madeline Christie – “Mushrooms & Mortality: Death Discussions”
This event will be a safe and welcoming space for anyone interested in discussing all things death and mushrooms. Our focus will be on topics such as natural burial, decomposition, psilocybin therapy at end of life, medicinal mushrooms and herbs for grief and loss, and much more. Anyone who wants to have meaningful conversations about death is welcome. Let’s come together to explore these important topics and learn from each other. See you there!
7-10pm
Cultural Centre
SCIENCE PUB: What Fungus has Taught Us about Life the Universe and Everything!
Fun filled, licensed event with a very special panel of mycologists, naturalists, forest ecologists, foresters and knowledge holders including Heather Soo, Dawn Copeman, Kent Brothers, Andy MacKinnon and more. This multi media convergence of fungi knowledge holders will make you laugh, learn and fall in love with fungi.
*drop in admission available the CCFS Science Pub. $10-$20 donation at the door.
Friday Sept 29
All Day
Harmonic Arts
Specimen Table!
Under the covered area in front of Harmonic Arts you’ll find Fungus Fest Central. Throughout the day check in at the Specimen table. Contribute what you find and discover the discoveries of others. Presenters and knowledge holders will help with ID.
9-11am
Guided WALK with Andy MacKinnon
Exploring the forest ecology, fungus and the wonders of this mature second growth ecosystem protected by the Cumberland Community Forest Society. Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ outside Harmonic Arts
10-11am
Cultural Centre
WORKSHOP with Circular Harvest
Join the Circular Harvest Farm Co. for a discussion about what the circular economy is, how mushrooms can be a model for business practices, and how you can implement the circular economy through mushroom growing by using upcycled materials and containers. Learn more here.
10-11:30am
Hands-On Tent
WORKSHOP with Dawn Copeman
Fungus Inspired Lino Cut Block Printing
11am-1pm
Guided WALK with Kent Brothers
Exploring the “Nature of Fungi” through the various ecosystems of the Cumberland Forest and Wetlands.
11am-1pm
Harmonic Arts
WORKSHOP
Mushroom Growing Made Simple with Candice Cullum from the Alberta Mycological Society
11:30am-12:30pm
Cultural Centre
TALK – Andy MacKinnon talks Mycohetrotrophs
Mycoheterotrophs are a group of distinctively weird vascular plants. And like most distinctively weird things, Andy MacKinnon finds them fascinating! Mycoheterotrophs lack chlorophyll, and the missing pigment has two important effects: these plants aren’t green (they’re usually white or pink), and they can’t manufacture their own food through photosynthesis. These odd plants derive their nutrition from fungi.
12-1pm
Hands-On Tent
WORKSHOP with Amy Crook
Magic in the Dye Pot: a rainbow from Dyer’s polypore (Phaeolus schweinitzii). Join me for a demonstration of the range of colors that can come from the Dyer’s polypore by varying concentration and additions of iron. We’ll discuss fibre preparation, mordants and the dyeing processes.
1-2pm
Harmonic Arts
TALK with Arzeena Hamir
Soil, Carbon, Fungi and Regenerative Agriculture. Join local food security advocate and farmer Arzeena Hamir of Amara Farms for an engaging conversation about the connection between food secuity and fungus.
1-2pm
Cultural Centre
TALK – Kent Brothers
“The Nature of Fungi”. An overview of what fungi are, their diversity, ecology, and relationships with humans”
1-3pm
Guided WALK with Dawn Copeman
Forest oddballs, fungal and otherwise. Ghost pipes, ground cones, pinesap, bloody tooth fungus and slime molds!
1-3pm
Guided WALK with Andy MacKinnon
Exploring the forest ecology, fungus and the wonders of this mature second growth ecosystem protected by the Cumberland Community Forest Society.
2-3pm
Cultural Centre
Workshop with Dr. Michael J. Hathaway
What a Mushroom Lives For: Matsutake and the Worlds They Make
Hathaway is a cultural anthropologist with two central interests. First, he is deeply interested in China’s place in the modern world, looking at how little-known dynamics there have created world-spanning effects in surprising realms such as feminism, environmentalism, and Indigenous rights. His aim is to disrupt the typical assumptions that globalization emerges solely from the West. Second, Hathaway is doing what he can to foster a transformation in scientific understandings based on colonial assumptions of the natural world.
Hathaway’s recent work examines the global commodity chain of the matsutake, one of the world’s most expensive mushrooms, following it from the highlands of the Tibetan Plateau to the markets of urban Japan. In it, he asks what happens when we imagine “world-making” not to be capacity exclusive to humanity, but as a part of all organisms, including the seemingly humble fungus? This work has culminated in a new book, called What a Mushroom Lives For: Matsutake and the Worlds They Make (Princeton University Press, 2022).
2:30-4pm
Harmonic Arts
Workshop with Adrian Oberg
Transitioning with Psilocybin
Accepting loss, feeling grief, facilitating connection, metabolizing energy, and revealing possibility – as we move from one phase of our lives to another this mushroom-produced compound can help us to navigate transformation. Personal and professional stories of psilocybin-assisted transitions display the interconnectedness of life and embrace alternative approaches to the inevitability of death.
3-5pm
Guided WALK with Heather Soo
Underfoot & Underground: How Mushrooms Mold our Carbon Future. Ever stepped over a patch of mushrooms and wondered about the world beneath? Beneath our feet lies an intricate web of life, rich with secrets and stories. Join us on a journey where we’ll dive deep into the hidden universe of fungi and unravel their pivotal role in shaping our planet’s carbon destiny. Discover the silent assistants of carbon capture, the mycelial magic, and the incredible ways in which fungi fortify our soils. As we stroll amidst the Community Forest’s beauty, we’ll illuminate the unsung heroes beneath us, revealing how every step we take is supported by the fungi’s diligent dance with carbon. This isn’t just a walk; it’s a deep dive into the very fabric of our forest’s future. Come, tread lightly and listen closely. The future of carbon is underfoot & underground!
3-5pm
Guided WALK with Kent Brothers
Exploring “The Nature of Fungi” through the various ecosystems of the Cumberland Forest and Wetlands.
3-4:30pm
Hands-on Tent
WORKSHOP with Candice Cullum
Weaving a mushroom drying tray with invasive plants gathered right here in Cumberland. Reclaim the landscape and build your own functional drying rack with Candice Cullum from the Alberta Mycological Society.
4-5pm
Cultural Centre
TALK – Andy MacKinnon – A Natural and Cultural History of Magic Mushrooms in BC.
Magic mushrooms have been employed in spiritual practices in Mexico and Central America for millennia. The visionary powers of these mushrooms first became known to the world in 1957, and in the early 1960’s they sparked a social and cultural “psychedelic revolution” in BC. The discovery that magic mushrooms grew commonly and abundantly in British Columbia helped make Canada’s westernmost province a focal point of social change. Recent advances show promise for carefully monitored treatment of some psychological disorders.
5-6:30pm
Harmonic Arts
PANEL – Mushrooms, Death, and Harm Reduction
Join local counsellors, harm reduction support workers, and advocates for an open discussion about the emerging use of psilocybin for trauma therapy, counselling, and end of life care.
7-10pm
Harmonic Arts
FILM SCREENING
A series of film screenings and slide shows from local and visiting artists, photographers and presenters. Fabulous visuals, awesome soundtracks, fascinating content, Pull up a chair and cozy around the (propane) fire.
7-11pm
Cultural Centre
Fungus Bazaar
Tonight we celebrate the fabulous world of fungi! Join us for this fun filled fungus and forest themed artisan market, live music from Stephen Hamm the Theremin Man & Space Junk Removal Service, performance art, Elixir and Hard Bar, film and photography screenings, and more!
Walk ups can attend for a $10-$20 donation to CCFS
Saturday Sept 30
9-11am
Saturday September 30th is National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
Our event cyclically falls on this date which causes us to pause and assess our activities, commitments and work toward reconciliation and decolonization. On Saturday morning we will pause most of our programming and Cumberland Forest and Fungus Fest volunteers and community partners will participate in “Healing through Land & Culture : Trauma Informed Cultural Safety Workshop” with N’alag̱a / Kaaw Kuuna- Avis O’Brien who will share her story highlighting intersectionality of colonial genocide, systemic separation from Indigenous identity, land & culture, and mental health & addiction struggles that come as a result of these facets. She also explores how Indigenous folks can heal through a connection to land and culture and how settlers can contribute to a community that is rooted in belonging and Indigenous cultural safety will also be offered.
We encourage each of you to find your way to give presence to this day and to learn more about how each of you has a role to play in decolonization and reconciliation with indigenous peoples. Here is a good place to start
9-11am
The Fungus Connection— A family-friendly fungi forest waltz and connective art project
Spores, polypores and mushrooms, oh my! Unite with fellow mycophiles and Fianna Nature Mentors: RootZ and Kat, as we explore this mysterious bridge between death and rebirth. Together we will tread soft and slow, play sensory games, and unearth mysteries to discover who hides with Step-Moss, Sword-Fern and Nursery-Log. The polypores have faces waiting to be “gnomed”, and we have the tools to find them. A sharpened-branch becomes a pencil for Ganoderma applanatum canvas. With possibilities of spore-printing and healing brews, we will let our curiosity guide our every step into the forest of our imagination as we deepen our mycelial minds. Here is an invitation for the young and young-at-heart to play amongst the small and mighty of the Cumberland forest. Join us in connecting and creating with the micro and the minutia, and this visionary world beneath our feet.
Children: please pack a snack, and a fairy-guardian along for the fun!
Family ticket with children registered.
11am-1pm
Guided WALK with Dawn Copeman
Changing the landscape: Exploring the historic human uses of forest from foraging, to farming to industry.
1-3pm
Guided WALK with Andy MacKinnon
Join Andy MacKinnon for a foray through the Cumberland Forest forest and discover what wonders await us on the forest floor and right in front of our eyes!
1-3pm
Guided WALK with Kent Brothers
Wander the woods and uncover the nature of fungus with local mycologist and knowledge holder extraordinaire Kent Brothers.
1-4pm
Harmonic Arts
ÑAWI: Weaving Andean Offerings for Reconciliation.
Drop in Weaving Station with Juliana Bedoya
Ñawi, or eye motif, is the characteristic rhombus of the fabrics and offerings produced in many parts of the Andean world that have been present in various communities across the American continent for millennia. Join community-engaged environmental artist Juliana Bedoya to explore these woven sacred geometries and weave small concentric rhomboid designs using locally gathered plant materials considered invasive combined with colourful threads. This is an invitation to engage in this creative practice as an act of reflection about the complex history of the ancestral lands we are on, in reference to participants’ own interwoven territories converging in the so-called town of Cumberland and the Comox Valley at large.
Ñawi, translated as eye, is also used to indicate a place where something sprouts, to look or listen, as well as protection. Understanding this concept as a shoot system from where sprouts happen, or as a place of junction and manifestation, participants will reflect on their place in the cyclical continuity of this land and all our human and more than human kin. The spirit of this workshop emerges as a way to honour the ancestral and traditional keepers of the land and from the artist’s longing to Indigenize our presence in this territory through stewardship, creative expression and cultural significance that can grow our sense of belonging.
Born in the Colombian Andes, Juliana Bedoya is a community-engaged environmental artist who supports individuals and community groups to establish their own cultural significance through skill sharing, including all stages of ethically harvesting and processing raw plant materials for art-making and environmental art practice. Respectfully using ancestral skills and traditional knowledge that navigates across cultures, and mainly working with garden trims or the so-called “invasive plants”, this work also aims to support local ecological restoration that fosters native ecology.
1:30-3pm
Invitation to play with fungus in the wild open classroom with Heather and RootZ
Here’s an invitation to meet us in the Cumberland forest with the fungus among us.
As experienced Nature Educators, we look forward to sharing our approach on a topic that feels risky, some wont even go there.
We wish to share our practice that is both safe and encouraging of curiosity.
Come live the lessons and explore introductory activities, stories, games, and sensory experiences.
Here’s fruit for you to share your passion with nature and the fungus kingdom with others.
3-4:30pm
Guided WALK with Jenn Laing
Learn to BioBlitz!
Join Jenn Laing, who has spearheaded our Cumberland Fungus Fest bioblitz from the beginning on a walk and workshop on how to gather data through iNaturalist on as many species as you can in a short period of time (usually a week). People will locally input their observation of diversity, in this case in the fungal world, on this app and we’ll see how we do in ID’ing in the big world of fungi! Please download the app iNaturalist before attending and bring your smart phone if you have one.
3-4:30pm
Hands-On Tent
WORKSHOP with Candice Cullum
Weaving a mushroom drying tray with invasive plants gathered right here in Cumberland. Reclaim the landscape and build your own functional drying rack with Candice Cullum from the Alberta Mycological Society.
3-5pm
Guided WALK with Heather Soo
Underfoot & Underground: How Mushrooms Mold our Carbon Future. Ever stepped over a patch of mushrooms and wondered about the world beneath? Beneath our feet lies an intricate web of life, rich with secrets and stories. Join us on a journey where we’ll dive deep into the hidden universe of fungi and unravel their pivotal role in shaping our planet’s carbon destiny. Discover the silent assistants of carbon capture, the mycelial magic, and the incredible ways in which fungi fortify our soils. As we stroll amidst the Community Forest’s beauty, we’ll illuminate the unsung heroes beneath us, revealing how every step we take is supported by the fungi’s diligent dance with carbon. This isn’t just a walk; it’s a deep dive into the very fabric of our forest’s future. Come, tread lightly and listen closely. The future of carbon is underfoot & underground!
3-4:30pm
Cultural Centre
WORKSHOP with Philippa Joly
Medicinal Uses of Local Mushrooms
Join community/ clinical herbalist Philippa Joly to learn about the hidden healing uses of some local fungi.
We will get hands-on together to make and sample some delicious tea, learn the best way to extract medicine from these mushrooms and dive into the nuance of the immune stimulating powers of these fungi. Bring a notebook and a pen.
4-5pm
Harmonic Arts
Andy MacKinnon‘s Fungi Round Up!
Check out the specimens gathered this year, learn a fungi song or two and celebrate the wild and wonderful fungus amongus
6:30 doors, bar and auction
7- 9:30 event
Cultural Centre
CUMBERLAND FOREST FEAST!
Join the Cumberland Community Forest Society for the 1st Annual Forest Feast! Presented in partnership with The Farmers Kitchen local food security organization Lush Valley, this feast features wildly delicious foods from local forests, farms and waters.
Held on the final night of the 4th Annual Fungus Fest, diners can expect a wide variety of tastes, textures and tantalizing offerings from unusual quarters. Tickets include a multi course meal served family style (8 people per table), special elixir mocktail offerings and a delectable dessert. Vegetarian meal option is of course available. A small silent auction featuring forest and fungus themed art, and live music will round out the evening offering.
Tickets are $70 per person. Only 144 tickets are available for sale. You can also purchase a full table for 8 (only 5 full tables available for sale).
The Forest Feast fundraising dinner directly supports indigenous led reconciliation and decolonization workshops, projects and partnerships in 2024 in the Cumberland Forest and Perseverance Watershed.