The first question we ask customers is "Do you like mushrooms?" Raise your hand if we've ever asked you that question. It's not to determine whether or not you're is a potential customer, but it helps us figure out how to talk to you. If you tell me you love mushrooms, great! If you tell me no, that doesn't mean the conversation is over.
Because that was me a year ago. I would have walked by my future self, done a double take, let out a yelp, then probably tried to hide because everyone knows you're not supposed to interact with your past self when time traveling. But when I finally overcame my fear of seeing my future self and potentially messing up all kinds of timelines, I would have been incredibly confused. Past me HATED mushrooms. I kicked mushrooms when I found them in the lawn. The only time I ever spent thinking about mushrooms involved how to remove them from my field of vision.
I was a mycophobe. Simply put, I was really disliked mushrooms. But my experience with mushroom was so limited. All I knew were portabellas and buttons (which, by the way, are the same mushrooms, just at different stages of maturity). I knew nothing about what mushrooms could do for me, and I knew even less about their importance to our planet.
Jason introduced me to a whole new world of tastes, textures, mycorrhizal fungi (fungus that create a symbiotic relationship with the roots of a plant) and mycelium. I learned fungi are used in 40% of the medications we taken. I learned we can use mycelium to create completely compostable packing material. I learned oyster mushrooms can lower my cholesterol and my blood pressure.
I have learned a lot over the past year, but to say I am knowledgeable about mushrooms would be premature. I was a Communications major and got my masters in Human Resource Development (both of which I never used thanks to a recession). As I near 40, my life is taking a drastic change of course. I have found a passion, something to push me forward. Something to get excited about. Mushrooms. I hope to inspire other people to get excited about the world of fungi as well.
My past self had never taken the time to look down. Have you? It's amazing what you find when you just look down. You really have to try it sometime.