Our Mycelium Network
Mycelium are the network of fungal threads of hyphae, under the ground and on dead wood, that resemble thick spider webs! Mycelium is considered the ‘body of the fungi’. Where as the mushrooms you see popping up out of the ground or growing on a tree, are the ‘fruiting’ part that contains the mushroom's equivalent of seeds, called Spores.
If you can picture the Mycelium as an Apple Tree, it makes up the roots, trunk, branches and leaves. The ‘Mushroom’ is the equivalent of the Apple, fruiting only at a certain time of the year and not for very long!
Did you know that the Fungi Kingdom evolved longer with the Animal Kingdom?
Meaning that we are more closely related to Mushrooms then we are to Plants! (if you believe in evolution)
There are also more Fungi Species than Plant Species on the Planet!
Amazingly, Fungi have developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the trees and plants around them! Fungi are able to get deep into the soil and provide the plant with nutrience their roots can't reach; in exchange the plants give the fungi glucose (sugar) that they make from having Chlorophyll!
They also have evidence of Communication going on between the plants/ trees through the mycelium, to exchange nutrience and help each other!
The Bean in Nature Team is very much a cohesive mycelium network!
The roots at our base, is a love of nature and the drive to care and give back to it. The trunk is Marisa, our founder and director that created Bean in Nature and keeps our stability. The branches are the teachers and parents that hold up the program and support its viability.The leaves are the Children that keep everything alive! And the mycelium network beneath us all, is fed each time we give back to the program in some way, help out each other or help take care of mother earth!
…Want to Learn more??…
Here is a Trailer about a book and movie with more on info on mushrooms and connections to trees/plants!
“There are more living beings in a handful of soil, then their are human beings on earth” -Hidden Life of Trees -Trailer Quote
THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES Trailer (2021)
If you want to Learn more about Mushrooms I recommend…
(up to your discretion to Skip the ‘Magic Mushroom’ Part)
Fantastic Fungi, Official Film Trailer | Moving Art by Louie Schwartzberg
Or the Audio Book … “Entangled Life” by Merlin Sheldrake