VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 260

AIR DATE: 01 06 2023
TRANSCRIPT

OPEN ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Open Animation))

BLOCK A


((PKG)) THE MUSHROOM KING
((TRT: 22:00))
((Topic Banner: The Mushroom King))
((Credits:
Directed and Produced by: Aaron Fedor and Kathleen McLaughlin
DP and Drone: Aaron Fedor
DP: Clint Bolduc
Editor: Kyle Dubiel
Additional Camera: Mike Hiltz
Thanks to William Padilla-Brown, his family, Justin, Leslie, and the whole Mycosymbiotics Team

Sr. Executive Producer: Euna Lee
Commissioning Editor: Zsuzsanna Geller-Varga
Supervising Editor: Elizabeth Arrott
Copy Editor: Kevin Enochs
Special thanks to Yolanda Lopez))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 6 male))
((BLURB: A self-taught mycologist and citizen scientist teaches Mycology))
((ADDITIONAL IN INFO: VOA visits, William Padilla-Brown, a self-taught citizen scientist and mycologist whose passion for mushrooms is leading to new discoveries as he teaches others and works to build a healthier, more sustainable world.))
((NATS))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Oh, dude. Oh, dude, that's just a cluster of like mycelium and rock and dirt. That's not even mushroom at the bottom.
((NATS))

((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I could literally do this for the rest of my life. Just hang out on the woods, sitting on the ground, looking at mushrooms with my homies. Don't get much better than that. If you could figure out how to look at mushrooms for the rest of your life with your homies. Don’t get much better than that. If you could figure out how to look at mushrooms for the rest of your life with your homies, you won.
((MUSIC))
((Text on screen: THE MUSHROOM KING))
((Courtesy: Alan Rockefeller))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I grew up in the cities and my parents didn't really have much of a connection with nature. I only knew the forests and I only knew trees from the side of the car while we were driving, and it was usually just a blur.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Mushrooms first came on my radar in high school, I think, because a lot of kids were trying them. It was a thing that was just going around. I started really exploring it. I was like this is where there's potential for me here in rural Pennsylvania, where everything else is illegal that I'm interested in.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I can do something that is okay and acceptable and something that nobody else is doing. There was nobody in like a 60-mile radius [100km] growing any mushrooms. There was nobody that I could go learn from to go about growing mushrooms. Like nobody can teach me about mushrooms, but if I started doing this, somebody will pay me to learn about mushrooms.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I dropped out of high school. So that was like probably one of the craziest things for my mom because she was like coming from such an academic background and wanted me to go to college and all this kind of stuff. But I assured her that I didn't want to stop learning.
((Courtesy: Alan Rockefeller))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Fungi can be used for medicine. Fungi can be used for materials. Fungi can be used for remediating soils, cleaning air, creating alternative materials, incredibly valuable mushrooms, incredibly delicious mushrooms, and all sorts of incredibly medicinal mushrooms from the Cordyceps to the Reishi.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Mushrooms really give you kind of superpowers like every single different mushroom has some ability associated with it. Every single mushroom has some essence associated with it. You know, from being able to boost your immune system
((Courtesy: Alan Rockefeller))
to boost your brain function to, you know, make your heart stronger or be able to get more oxygen into your body. I find it really incredible to be able to associate with these different things in different ways that, you know, may make me a better person or if not, bring me closer to understanding more about nature. I find them all to be like little keys or little riddles or little clues into a bigger mystery that is the life that we're experiencing.
((MUSIC))
((Text on screen:
Will taught himself permaculture, physics, mycology and more through books and the internet.
He started growing mushrooms in his closet.))

((MUSIC))
((Text on screen:
At 20, after the birth of his son, Leo, Will quit his restaurant job and started cultivating mushrooms full time.))
((MUSIC))
((Text on screen:
He founded MycoSymbiotics and launched a mushroom and arts festival.))
((MUSIC))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Definitely walking on mycelium right now. Mycelium is the body and mushrooms are the fruit.

((Courtesy: Alan Rockefeller))
In every healthy ecosystem, there's all sorts of fungi that are connecting as a network across, you know, every step that we take.

((NATS))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Alright, we need to take these. This is a patch that we did with our last class.

Okay.
Well, we were going to take these woodchips further but we’re going to do the patch here because the bag is broken.
In the forest, a branch falls on the ground. The first thing that's going to get at that is usually a fungus. Some type of fungi is going to get in there and start breaking down the cellulose and the lignin. That's what most plants and trees are made of…these two materials, cellulose and lignin. So, the mushrooms will act as a primary decomposer.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
One of the coolest things about mushrooms, which is backed even more now that we understand that we're part of a super taxon called, Opisthokonts that includes animals
branching off the kingdom fungi some hundreds of millions of years ago.
((Courtesy: Alan Rockefeller))
For me, what is really exciting about them is that they give us this like overarching understanding of biology, you know. You can break them apart and clone them very easily, and that same principle can be utilized for cloning plants and even cloning animals with more intricacies involved. So, I feel like they give us this like very basic template of what life is and how we can interact with it. And then you can translate those understandings into, you know, other fields of biology which I find really exciting. And that's a whole world that most people won't ever be able to see unless they're looking at a microscope.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))

We've been educating people for seven, eight years now.
Thousands and thousands of people with our standards of how we grow mushrooms, how we make an extract. So, we're working on figuring out how to develop this certification because our name stands strong in the mycological community.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Here in the U.S., a lot of people put an emphasis on indoor cultivation, which as I mentioned, requires a lot of electricity. Here outside in the forest, we're surrounded by fresh air, lots of oxygen. There's wind blowing all of the time. We don't need a fan. We never have to worry about fresh air exchange here. And every time it rains, we get an abundance of mushrooms. We're going to head to our lab in Lemoyne from here now.
((NATS))
((Justin Knaub
MycoSymbiotics Production Manager))
I want to name something. Let's make it a goal to find something we get to name.

((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
A mushroom.
((Justin Knaub
MycoSymbiotics Production Manager))
Mushroom, plant, bug.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
We'll find something….
((Justin Knaub
MycoSymbiotics Production Manager))
…something undescribed…
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
…in our journeys.

((Justin Knaub
MycoSymbiotics Production Manager))
We got to name it like something fun like boogie woogie.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))

Dude, do you know there's that one mushroom called, Spongicus [Spongiforma] squarepantsii?
((Justin Knaub
MycoSymbiotics Production Manager))
No.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Yes dude, there is a mushroom with the genus name, Spongicus [Spongiform] and the species name is Squarepantsii.
((Justin Knaub
MycoSymbiotics Production Manager))
Let’s get it.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Back in 2015, after I launched the first festival, one of my friends found a Cordyceps mushroom during the event and he gave it to me. I was able to clone it in my side bedroom here in this house. I started looking all over the internet on how to grow it and there was almost no information in English on how to grow these mushrooms. And everybody's like, "Oh, you can't grow it. All the information's proprietary and only people in Asia know how to grow it."
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
So I found most of my insight from watching Thai YouTube videos and just following what they were doing. And from that, I was able to develop techniques and write about them and published my first book in 2017 on how to cultivate Cordyceps mushrooms, which was the first English literature in the world on how to cultivate these mushrooms that was publicly available.
((MUSIC))
((Text on screen:
Cordyceps are valuable because research suggests they can boost energy by improving the way your body uses oxygen.
Source: Healthline))
((Text on screen:
Scientists are also exploring their potential to slow the growth of tumors.
Source: Healthline))
((Text on screen:

Will is pioneering the cultivation of Cordyceps in the United States.))
((Text on screen:

The medicinal mushroom market is expected to exceed $50 billion by 2025.
Source: Grandview Research))

((NATS/MUSIC))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
(singing)
Need a little yoga, transcendence, toxic culture…
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I got another one for you. I made this one when I was like 24 or 25.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
(Singing)
She’s so sweet. She a peach
on a beach with Margari[ta].
Salomons [shoes] on my feet
because I’ll be running through the forest.
No bull but I’m a Taurus…
((NATS/MJUSIC))
((Text on screen:
7th Annual MycoFest Mushroom & Arts Festival
Tamaqua, Pennsylvania))

((NATS))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I can find our sound guy but he's going to be your point person for getting everything coordinated with that.
((Band Member))
All right. Yeah, so once you get the sound guy, bring out the back line in.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Anybody got a eye on Chad? Yaadcore's band needs a drum kit. It was in something that they sent us that I didn't see. So, they need a drum kit.
((Leslie Avila
MycoSymbiotics Operations Manager))
A drum kit like…a whole drum set.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Yeah.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
And so, I incorporated MycoSymbiotics in 2015 and started the MycoSymbiotics Mushroom and Arts Festival. My son was about to be one years old that year. I recognized if I did something and I called it an annual event and I was able to keep it up for a while, that maybe one day I could give it to him. This hike takes about an hour and a half, and with this many eyes, I would be surprised if we didn't find something that hasn't been described to science yet.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
About to get it. Let's grow.
((Foraging Group))
Let's grow.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Whenever I got into mushrooms, I thought that I had to go travel far and wide because I thought I had to go to Asia to find the Reishi and the Cordyceps. I thought I had to go to Mexico to find the magic mushrooms. And as I started walking around in the forest around me, I realized I had every single one of the mushrooms that I was interested in, right here in the woods around me.

((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I’d say, yeah, we have some Ophiocordyceps here. Does somebody have a basket I can put some of the stuff in that I have already? Yeah, sometimes these little things are like the craziest medicinal things that you can find. Let's not get too spread out because I want to keep us towards a loop to the lake. I don't know what this is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Text on screen:
The mushrooms found during the festival will be brought back to the lab for research.
Experts warn never to eat mushrooms that are not properly identified.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Yaadcore
Musician))
MycoFest, how you feeling?
Give thanks to the Lord. Give thanks to the energy.
My name is Yaadcore, coming to you all the way from Kingston, Jamaica.
As I said earlier, do you love reggae music?
((NATS/MUSIC))

TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up…
((Banner))
Mushroom King
continues

((NATS/MUSIC))

BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM)) 

BLOCK B


((NATS/MUSIC))

((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I won't remember anything until Monday. I still am processing things that have happened over the past couple days. So many interactions have happened and so quickly that I'm not able to actually like get happy or sad and have that full emotion. So, Leo loves it. He told me actually yesterday night, he told me, "Thank you for making this." And he starts to ask me questions like, "Why did you start your business?” or “Why are you doing this?” or “Why do you want to grow mushrooms?" Or all these kinds of things. And I did it all because of him. So, I tell him that's why. And he understands it. And that's the best.
((NATS/SOT))
((Naim Davis))
Yes.
So, Mr. Brown. I never really got to sit with you too much just yet, but I am wondering a question I asked to them. Who… I am wondering who…is Mr. Brown?
Hey look, I was the one and only Rastaman Nayah [Jamaican reggae group]. And we specialize in these works because it's a big work we have to do, you know. We got to heal up the heavens and the earth. The heavens and the earth in disorder. And this is how we coming. This is what they sent I and I to do in this generation. Bring forward these tools and these jewels, instruments that help us navigate the multiverse. Keep us oriented so we don't get lost in the sauce of illusion and distortion. He get the crown. He is the Mushroom King. He is the Mushroom King in this generation. He wear the crown. Anybody objects? I got any objections?
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Everybody right here, you all are in a dream I had.
((Crowd Member))
Hell, yeah.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
You all are able to experience something that I wish was here. Whenever I was younger, I had to travel so far. I had to deal with so many people telling me I was crazy. I had to deal with so many people kicking me out of places. And now we all get to experience this together. This gives me hope for my children. How many are we going to teach?
((Crowd Member))
Ten thousand.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Let's grow.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
That's my dad, if anybody didn't know.
((William’s Dad))
It's pretty awesome, pretty awesome to try to raise a child and then turn around and have them teach you.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I can't even talk right now. I can talk about mushrooms though. That's one thing I can always talk about, no matter what. Yeah. So this one I'm excited for. Anybody know what this is? Anybody seen this one yet?
((Crowd))
We got that one.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Who got that one?
((Crowd Member))
Me and Julio.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
This one is my favorite, one of my favorites of the season. They're about to be very, very abundant. This is our local cauliflower mushroom, Sparassis crispa. Very, very, very… Sparassis spathulata.
((MUSIC))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
A lot of people have recognized the value in what we're creating and we've re-identified wealth with healthy ecosystems and healthy communities. Not only just by saying that, but I've been traveling around the U.S. connecting with people, educating people, and really spending time with these individuals and building a network of social equity.
((NATS/Music))
((Text on screen:

Telluride Mushroom Festival
Telluride, Colorado))
((NATS))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I wonder how Les is doing. I’m going to check the Square [payment system] as soon as I get back into service. How much do you think we made? You want to guess? $2500?
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Every year except for one that I’ve been here, I’ve been doing talks or workshops and stuff like that. One year, I just came out and vended. That was pretty chill.
Well, it goes until 6 [o’clock]. We’ll see. More people were going to come in on Friday.
Look at these lodges out here though. People really be like snowmobiling and skiing to each other.

TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up…
((Banner))
Mushroom King
continues

((NATS/MUSIC))

BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


BLOCK C


((NATS/MUSIC))
((Text on screen:

Telluride Mushroom Festival
Telluride, Colorado))
((Festival Singer))
(singing)
Is this
conversation and
concurrently,
virtually…
((Text on screen:
In its 42nd year, the Telluride Mushroom Festival is the largest mushroom festival in the United States.))
((Festival Singer))
(singing)
Changing as the seasons,
blended in cohesion in unison…
((Text on screen:
Top mycologists from all over the world gather to give classes and lectures, share research, and go on mushroom forays.))
((Festival Singer))
(singing)
As one…
voices as one as one down the street…
((Text on screen:

A popular speaker at the festival, Will, this year, is focused on selling his products and foraging with his team.))
((Festival Singer))
(singing)
One love language of harmony…
Voices sung as one as one…
((Art Goodtimes
Founder, Telluride Mushroom Festival))
Hey, William.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
How you feeling?
((Art Goodtimes
Founder, Telluride Mushroom Festival))
Hey, I'm wonderful. I'm alive here.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Yeah.
((Art Goodtimes
Founder, Telluride Mushroom Festival))
Give three breaths.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
You're feeling good. I'm loving that energy. Standing in a box.
((Art Goodtimes
Founder, Telluride Mushroom Festival))
What are you doing in a box?
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Just making sure my feet don't get wet.
((Art Goodtimes
Founder, Telluride Mushroom Festival))
Yeah, yeah. Well, you're way outside the box, this man. Way outside the box.
((Louis Schwartzberg
Director, Fantastic Fungi))
But he's in my movie.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
All right.
((Festival Attendee))
Thank you.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Let's get it. Let's get Louis a medium in a myco.
((Leslie Avila
MycoSymbiotics Operations Manager))
He's a medium?
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Yeah.
((Leslie Avila
MycoSymbiotics Operations Manager))
No, this is a large in a white.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Okay.
((Leslie Avila
MycoSymbiotics Operations Manager))
We didn't have any in this color.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
What happened to those?
((Leslie Avila
MycoSymbiotics Operations Manager))
We're selling out.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
We're selling out. Oh, wow.
((Leslie Avila
MycoSymbiotics Operations Manager))
We have the two Ls [size large] and two XLs [size extra-large].
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Well, that's good news.
((NATS))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
We might find other people foraging here but like the only people that forage this spot during the festival are people that Art told where this spot was.
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
The first two spots are where I usually go. I would check those. It’s like a mile difference. So, maybe, it’ll be a little bit different. And it’s like right in the middle between those two camp spots. Yeah, it’s right in the middle between those camp spots. So, I think, that’s the perfect distance between them that the people don’t encroach all the way. Other than that, I think, we might go further than I’ve ever been this year.

((NATS))

((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
This will be fine. Dude, look at these purple mushrooms. Super pretty. Can you see them everywhere? Oh, dude, there's mushrooms everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere you step.
((NATS/SOTs))
We just got out. We didn’t find much yet. Did you come from over this direction? Nice. We might go take our hunting up that way. Where are you coming from?

St. Louis.
St. Louis. It’s a beautiful difference, huh? We came out from Pennsylvania. This is very different.
Oh yeah, I bet.
Is this your first time here?
My sixth time, but my team, it’s their first time.
Good.

Yeah.
Fun, isn’t it?
Mmhmm. I love it.
((NATS))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
Dude, look at these coral mushrooms. Dude, they're fat. These are coral mushrooms. Some people eat some of these. This is the San Juan Mountain Chanterelle.

((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
First Porcini, Telluride 2022. This is a very special moment. I'd like to give thanks to all my shareholders. Just kidding. In outstanding numbers. Incredible reviews. Yeah, this is great. You know, we’re out here in mother nature, you know, blessed by solar radiation; blessed by, you know, millions of years of unique evolutionary patterns to be delivered this beautiful red Boletus rubriceps, the gem of the moment.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
So, I can't say I've seen myself as king of anything or this or that, but like whether or not humans want to believe it, we are experiencing consciousness together. We're all connected. And the Mycelium is connected in that way where each of the individual tips, to me, is representative of a human having a unique experience that's capable of bringing that experience back into the network.
((NATS))
((William Padilla-Brown
Mycologist, Citizen Scientist))
I didn't believe that magic existed in the world anymore. And in following mushrooms connected me to nature. And in learning about the natural aspects of myself and the natural aspects of this world and the natural patterns, helped me to realize that magic never went anywhere.
((MUSIC))
((Credits:
Directed and Produced by:
Aaron Fedor and Kathleen McLaughlin
DP and Drone: Aaron Fedor
DP: Clint Bolduc
Editor: Kyle Dubiel
Additional Camera: Mike Hiltz
Thanks to William Padilla-Brown, his family, Justin, Leslie, and the whole Mycosymbiotics Team

Sr. Executive Producer: Euna Lee
Commissioning Editor: Zsuzsanna Geller-Varga
Supervising Editor: Elizabeth Arrott
Copy Editor: Kevin Enochs
Special thanks to Yolanda Lopez))

CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect


NEXT WEEK ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Banner))
In coming weeks…
Captain’s Dream

((SOT))
I’ve always wanted a new adventure, a new challenge. The emotions that come with captaining a boat, they run the gamut, from abject fear to exhilaration to complete serenity.
((Banner))
Miniature Art
((SOT))
Just setting up my tin so I can start another painting. I think I’ve done four and this would be my fifth one. No, I think, this would be my sixth one. I did three yesterday and I’ve done two so far today. This is a brand-new tin. I don’t always use the same colors just because I like to keep it fresh and experiment a little bit. If you really feel strongly about your work and you like it a lot, then other people will like it too, I think.


BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


SHOW ENDS