Foraging for Knowledge with The Mushoom Society

Near the tippy top of the Beehive State, you’ll find a snapshot of life that that can only be appreciated in person. Logan is a slice of Everytown USA, with the glimmer and charm of that old-fashioned Americana. Formed by Mormon settlers in 1859, the small city comes with its fair share of midwest hospitality and outdoor opportunities that traveler who needs a break can indulge.

Stuff to do: The Mushroom Society, Zootah, Woodsy Art Cafe

Place to stay: The Anniversary Inn, The Riter Mansion, Baugh Motel

Good eats: Herm’s Inn, Tandoori Oven, Angie’s

One of the many gifts of mycology that the President of the Mushroom Society of Utah (MSU) Aimée Nguyễn describes is its valorization of slowness and connection. Nguyễn’s own introduction to mycology was both intimate and cultural — as a child, her mother took her mushroom hunting in the forests of France, digging in the dirt together before preparing lunch. Mycology reentered her life during the pandemic when she began cultivating her own oyster mushrooms, reinvigorating her interest in fungi and leading her down the “black hole” that is mycology. An avid learner, Nguyễn created an after-school curriculum for her middle-school students and extended her lessons to MSU, continuing to develop her knowledge through forays, lectures, personal research and discussions with the MSU community.

Whether foraging for edibles, learning to cultivate or wanting to participate in citizen science, the “growth mindset” and curiosity that fungi inspire keep people coming back for more. The forays which MSU leads are particularly rewarding, with Nguyễn commenting that she’s never known someone who felt sufficiently satisfied after partaking in a singular outing. “It’s literally a treasure hunt,” Nguyễn says.

While many Utahns who join MSU already enjoy the outdoors, forays require you to engage with nature in a different way. “A big part of mushroom hunting is slowing down and paying attention,” Nguyễn says. “You’re walking the same amount of steps as if you’re going to that peak, but you’re covering this tiny area because you are observing every single little inch of that area.” It is this slowness that imbues childlike wonder and an intrinsic connection to the outdoors. “You’re just sitting in the dirt, which we don’t do as adults, right?” Nguyễn says.

Mushroom foraging also requires an attunement to nature — being conscious of precipitation, snowfall, the seasons and the health of forests. MSU advocated for the Boletus edulis, or Porcini mushrooms, to be established as Utah’s state mushroom, as it denotes the health of the forests. There has been a decline in these mushrooms over the past several years, and MSU hoped that naming it as the state mushroom would “bring awareness to the fact that our forests can be healthy [and] have been healthy, we just need to pay attention and support that.”

Amongst the many lessons to be learned through mycology are these: curiosity is spurred through attentiveness, and growth is forged while practicing the art of slowness. “Getting to be with the mushrooms, to look for them [and] to hold them, helps people appreciate that whole system a lot more, not just the mushrooms,” Nguyễn says. Next time you’re outdoors, try slowing down and see what it might inspire in you.

Read more stories based out of Logan:
WhySound: A Home for DIY Music in Logan
Logan’s Heathen Church: Mind-Blowing Science and Beer

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