Who we are
Ben Gibson
Ben is the founder and head grower at The Fungi Folks farm. Having fallen deeper and deeper down the Fungal rabbit hole over the past few years, he graduated from his bedroom laboratory and set up the farm in South Wales in 2022, with the help of Dewi.The realisation that you can grow mushrooms at home, and make potent medicinal extractions from them was what first attracted him into the world of mushroom cultivation. Through his work with The Fungi Folks, he is committed to sharing his enthusiasm for this diverse Kingdom of life, and hopes to invite people into the fantastical world of Fungi, encouraging engagement with, and connection to these beautiful and mysterious organisms.
Dewi James
Resident elder of the Fungi Folks team and a life-long explorer of nature, Dewi brings a wealth of experience to the table. In his role, he supports the production team, lending not only a helping hand but also offering valuable and sound words of advice
David Gibson
As the Fungi Folks' CTO, Dave uses his technical knowledge and experience to build and develop the website. He loves to visit the farm to understand more about the fascinating work that goes on there and to help out with a bit of graft where he can.
Why Mushrooms?
Mushrooms are incredible functional foods.
They are high in protein, low in calories, rich in vitamins, minerals, and other bioactive medicinal compounds – and of course very tasty. They are enjoyed in their myriad forms in other cultures as a matter of tradition spanning centuries, whereas we in the West are a little late to the fungal party...
Fungi are nature's master chemists.
They produce a fantastic array of bioactive compounds. In this sense, researchers across the globe have been investigating the health potential of mushrooms for many decades now, only beginning to scratch the surface of the possible applications.
The medicinal use of fungi stretches far back into history.
Modern scientific studies serve to reinforce the knowledge gained from centuries upon centuries of experience. Much of this wisdom comes from different Asian medicinal traditions, however many of the species described are also native to the UK.Our vision is guided by mycelium
Why Cordyceps
Although we grow many species of mushrooms here on the farm, we have a particular focus on Cordyceps. They are an especially fascinating mushroom. In the wild, they are entomopathogenic, meaning that they parasitize insects. They have been used medicinally in Asian cultures for many centuries, and this rich history coupled with modern scientific research, and the increasing number of testimonies from our clients continues to intrigue us, and motivate us to work with Cordyceps.
Bioregional
Fungi are incredible – they are the hidden driver of ecosystems, pervading every corner of this earth from the driest deserts to the deepest seas. Their function within ecosystems is principally to recycle. They skirt the boundary between life and death, reconstituting dead organic (and inorganic) matter into new life. In this way, they create the soil and in doing so they are the source of our sustenance. In the same way, fungi can perform a similar role in human culture and systems.
They can take "waste", and transform it into something alive: mushrooms! We are facilitating this by growing mushrooms using sawdust from the local sawmill, Wentwood Timber Centre. Where possible, we integrate into the local ecosystem of our Bioregion, using local by-products to grow mushrooms. In doing so we honour the transformative power of fungi to create new life from what is accessible nearby.
Local
Our food system relies upon increasingly elaborate and complex supply chains that span the globe. This ‘just in time’ system upon which our supermarkets operate is inherently unstable and during the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced it’s precarious nature.
Local food systems are inherently more resilient, more sustainable in the face of the coming crises, have lower fossil fuel inputs in distribution, and help to weave together local communities.
Supporting local farms keeps money within local economies, creates jobs for local people, and does not fund the unseen exploitation of labour and degradation of the land in distant countries through industrial agricultural practices. Sometimes we do use inputs from afar; we make sure to pay a premium for quality products that value food producers.
Sustainability
When thinking about sustainability and environmental impact, mushrooms are a fantastic crop. Compared with other crops they require a tiny amount of water, they can be farmed vertically and so use very little space, they have very low energy input, and grow on many abundantly available by-products. It is our duty as mushroom farmers to harness the incredible power of these organisms to transform materials perceived as waste (sawdust/straw/etc.) into high quality nutrient dense food.
Our farm is powered in part by an on-site solar array, and we are experimenting in ways we can reduce our impact and dependence on extractive and polluting fossil fuel based energy systems. One example of this is that we are using waste sawdust to power our mushroom substrate sterilizer. This is usually done with high powered electric elements, but our trials with sawdust have been very promising so far!
Another avenue we intend to investigate is the use of compost power to generate hot water to heat our farm and methane (natural gas) to be used as fuel. This is a brief look into some ideas and developments we are pursuing at the moment, with many more things to tinker away with in the future… in any case, we will be calculating the greenhouse gas emissions we accrue and taking measures to offset them.
Community
Fungi are nature’s connectors. The ‘root’ system of fungi – mycelium – exists as a branching matrix of cells, weaving its way through the soil, connecting the vast majority of plants together in a giant, dynamic, decentralised network.
In this sense, we strive to mirror the fungi by connecting and empowering people and communities. Through helping to organise events such as the first Fungi Fest held in Autumn 2022, we aim to grow the mycelial network of mushroom folk.
Through holding courses, we intend to share the skills and knowledge of fungal cultivation and tincture making to make it accessible and adaptable. Our aim is to inspire people to get involved in mushroom cultivation, connect with one another and with the land through working with fungi.