Agroecological mushroom center for research, cultivation, learning and healing in West-Asturias

Asturias

Semi-intensive outdoors oyster cultivation.

Dénes, Csilla and Siddiq on a trip at the ocean-side. Siddiq is a mushroom experience facilitator

Updated 2 months ago

About us We are four Hungarian friends who co-organize a mushroom-based agroecological sanctuary in West-Asturias, North Spain to live more nurturing and resilient life and to work with mushrooms, individuals and communities in regenerative forms. Csilla (40) is an artist and agroecology organizer, Dénes (38) is a systems biology researcher, Robi (50) is a visual artist and psychologist, Szilva (44) is a psychologist and environmental resource manager. We share the time of the year, sometimes, sometimes just some of us are on site. We are interested in commoning the space on longer term. Csilla is also taking care of another local project, Isla en el Papel with her partner, who is a galician permacultural designer. We don’t take care of children at the moment, but we have a dog and soon donkeys and sheep. About the area and our place Our place, a large house with 1,5 ha land surrounded by small villages, grazing fields and forests (where even wolfs dwell) and situated 30 minutes from Atlantic ocean coasts. We are 1 km from the river of Eo, where we fish and paddle when it has its season. The region is abandoned and misused by natural resource exploitation, but more and more people come to live and start projects, form solidarity circles and organize against extractivist operations (eucalyptus monocultural plantations, windmill installations, battery parks, mines etc). Local people are very helpful and careful, they support each other in larger works around their houses, they use land collectively, they care for animals and celebrate together. Our house, called Casa Armida is a nearly 150 years old classic galician slate and clay house, connected to 1,5 ha of land, which is south facing, well lit, humid and clay-based, sometimes heavy winds hit it from the south. Our activities and approach We grow mushrooms on eucalyptus logs and waste streams of local forest management and plant-based industries. We forage and grow medicinal and teaching plants and mushrooms to create mushroom extracts and other edible and healing produce. We host educational events in person and online in complex agroecological approach of working with mushrooms We organize individual and group experiences with medicinal and teaching mushrooms. We are functioning in a non-profit structure and accept donations to host and mentor people with migratory backgrounds. We are also inviting artists and scienticts for applied mycologial and bioart based work and collaboration. We are in the forming of a cooperative, where in a distributed farming system we work together with a network of farmers to enhance organic mushroom consumption. We work according to principles of applied sciences, artistic research, agroecology, socio-ecological regeneration and also include spiritual and mental wellbeing practices in our work and everyday life. We are working with mushrooms, cultivating, foraging and harvesting them. We work in laboratory setting and farm setting, manipulating different organic materials in more and less sterile conditions, amongst different temperatures, oxigen and ph levels, following our protocols. We also collaborate with our neighbors, using their facilities and plant matter to cultivate mushrooms, and grazing each othersanimals on each others lands. We plan to engage in plant propagation activities and cultivate rootstocks and seedlings of mostly fruit bearing, medicinal and mycorrhizal plants. We organize workshops about identification, cultivation and processing. We also guide people in cultivation online. We organize retreats of plant medicine, bodywork and meditation. We host beginner and more experienced people who work with mushrooms, herbs and healing. We are at the beginning of our journey and still setting up our working sites and facilities, as well as creating more comfortable living spaces. An ideal day starts with work-meditation, continues with physical work, being completed with computer work in a free flow. Approximately 3 hours of harder, 3 hours of lighter physical work and 3 hours of computer work. Of course as a guest in work exchange, you can work 4 hours and spend the rest of the day according to your needs. We cook from locally harvested and sourced organic food, bake our own bread, ferment a lot. We go for excursions, meet and help neighbors and visit the oceanside to swim or surf. Conditions and needs WWOOF-ers stay in a collective dormitory and meditation space of the house, that can be found in the attic. We have indoor and outdoor toilets and showerplaces. We eat local and organic, mostly vegan food, exchange with neighbors and forage a lot. We are happy to support our guests individual diet needs and adapt to their rhythms. We are looking for people with basic manual labor skills, who know how to use tools to build simple structures and maintain permaculture or regenerative land, and who have basic knowledge of plants, fungi, and animals. Most importantly, we look for resonance and collaboration, rather than ordering necessary physical work. We need people who are self-motivated and -directed and can work independently with a little guidance, what more - have their own interests and research and eager to share their knowledge and prctices with us. People who are ready to start their own projects or join an existing one with a sense of care, curiosity and maturity. We would like to work for one month minimum with one person and after the first week we would like to revisit the decision of collaboration, based on shared experience and felt resonance. Besides continuous research, learning and organizing for eco-social regeneration, we enjoy bringing new ideas to life. Csilla likes to surf and go to long mushroom forays. Dénes is into cooking and hardware hacking, like biycles and rocket mass heaters - amongst others. Robi is gardening and cooking a lot and taking care of the animals. He is also making bioart works and land-art installations. Szilva has lot of sensitivity for everything that is alive and enjoy low-tek building. She has strong practices of self-research, body-mind techniques.