Se nourrir et se soigner avec des champignons de nos forêts!

"Forests are one of our key assets in tackling today's climatic, environmental and social challenges. As well as producing timber, they are a breeding ground for biodiversity and our main carbon absorber, essential for the quality of our water, air and health. The value of forests to our society cannot be monetised. It is time to consider them as a common good" (paragraph from the Charter of the Réseau pour les Alternatives Forestières: Network for Forest Alternatives)

My name is Nando and I discovered my first wild mushrooms around ten years ago in Portugal, thanks to some friends with experience in identification. 

La Grotte aux Champignons was born in 2020 out of this fascination with the world of mushrooms and countless adventures exploring the forest. With the help of my brother, Rodolfo, we began by growing oyster, shiitake and piopino mushrooms in a small cave quarried from a rock face.

Project Mission:

- Protection of ecosystems and preservation of endangered native mushroom species
- Cultivation of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms
- Development of a range of mycotherapy products
- Spreading knowledge through training and educational activities
 

Reproducing Wild Mushroom Species

After a great deal of study, I have acquired the necessary knowledge to be able to reproduce mycelium - the living organism that mushrooms eventually fruit from. I'm now able to reproduce any wild varieties of gourmet or medicinal value.

Process of cultivating oyster mushrooms cloned from the wild:

After many years of exploration and research, which I have been lucky enough to share with family and friends, we have found some quite extraordinary and rare varieties: These have included Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), Chaga (Inonotus oliquus), Maitake (Grifola frondosa) and Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus).

Today, to achieve self-sufficiency in mushroom production from start to finish, the project is moving from the Cave to the Barn.

The project is starting a new cycle on my friend Thibault's family farm: thanks to his friendship and support, the barn is now the place where my project can continue to grow and evolve.

Furthermore, I now have the support of my friends Luis and Filipe (pictured with me in the cover photo), who are also passionate about the world of mushrooms and have decided to join me in this adventure. With their great enthusiasm a new dynamic is being put in place, based on friendship, a collective vision and co-creation of the whole project!
 

Protection of threatened ecosystems and reproduction of indigenous species

As someone who is very close to life in the forest, I have regrettably observed that the biodiversity of our local woodland is gradually being destroyed by repeated clear-cutting. Many mushroom species are disappearing along with their habitat; ancient and fallen trees... yet these mushrooms are full of molecules that help to balance the health of ecosystems and have great potential to serve humanity.

We are committed to carrying out one of our primary missions in the service of Nature: to promote and reproduce indigenous varieties in order to preserve biodiversity, which is currently under threat. Our mushroom culture bank will preserve these local varieties, enabling us to reintroduce them into the wild as soon as possible.
In addition to this is the great privilege and pleasure of being able to reproduce them on our farm and offer people mushrooms of the highest possible quality.

We also offer outings to discover and identify wild mushrooms. 
With our local collective, Forêtlium, we have bought 7 ha of forest for preservation as well as to carry out research and interventions to increase its biodiversity. We will do this using Mycoforestry (the implementation of fungi to enhance forest ecosystems) and Sylviculture techniques, in accordance with the Réseau pour les Alternatives Forestières (Network for Forest Alternatives).

Production of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms

We will be growing (with organic AB certification), local varieties of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms and offering them locally at markets, grocery shops, school canteens and restaurants as fresh produce. Some of the varieties are already in our culture bank:

Development of a mycotherapy range

Producing concentrated extracts of medicinal mushrooms is also one of the primary motivations for this project.
Mycotherapy, or mushroom therapy, is a branch of naturopathy based on ancient and often forgotten medical traditions. 
Today, scieentific evidence is emerging about the effectiveness of these traditional medicines, which are being used more and more in cancer research for their immunomodulating effects.
Mushrooms are superfoods, adaptogens and immunomodulators. They are rich in minerals, vitamins, trace elements, amino acids, fibre, enzymes, natural antibiotics, microbiota-friendly polysaccharides and antioxidants. Most of these medicinal compounds present in mushrooms are found nowhere else in nature.

What will the funding be used for?

The transition to the barn will give us the space and conditions we need to make the project sustainable and self-sufficient.

To do this, we need your support so that the project can flourish!

The funding will be divided into 3 stages:

• 1st stage 4 500€: Renovation of the barn
  
  Our 150m2 mushroom barn with its beautiful traditional roof structure dating from the 1700s requires work to prepare for mushroom production. Essentially we need to have a healthy and sterile environment, which is not at all the case at the moment. 
  
  -Laying a wooden floor
  
  -Installation of plumbing and electrics
  
  -Insulation
  
  -Ventilation system
  
  -Heating system
   
• 2nd stage 7 500 € : Construction of an autonomous mushroom farm
  
  - Mycelium reproduction and mushroom innoculation laboratory + Equipment: Hepa filters, laminar flow hood, stainless steel tables and shelves.
  
  - Incubation and Fruiting chamber grow tents + Equipment: heating system, humidifier, hygrometer, LED lighting
  
  - Substrate preparation space + Equipment: steam steriliser
   
• 3rd stage 12 500 € : Mushroom processing and production of Medicinal extractions
  
  - Construction of the space + stainless steel tables and shelves
   
  - Professional dehydrator
  
  - Commercial refrigerator

Rewards for Donations
 

As Miimosa is a French only website, we are unable to offer a direct link to the Rewards in English – therefore the simplest way to make a donation is to translate the page using your browser and select a reward from ‘Counterparties’ section.

If you have any problems making a donation please email us at lagrotteauxchampignons@protonmail.com

For postage to the rest of Europe and the United Kingdom we can offer the following rewards with delivery, if you would like to make a more sizeable donation we can arrange a tailored reward for you. For deliveries outside of Europe we may require an additional postage fee.

For 20 euros or more

• La Grotte aux Champignons sticker

A self-adhesive sticker of the official logo, hand-made by Atelier Yocha

 
For 35 euros or more

• Dried mushrooms 

For those who do not live locally, a packet of dried mushrooms to flavour your meals (varieties and availability depending on production and progress of the project)
 

For 55 euros or more

• Mycotherapy

Logo sticker + 30ml bottle of double hydroalcoholic extraction of medicinal mushrooms

 
For 80 euros or more

• Mushrooms + Mycotherapy Kit

Pack of dried mushrooms + 30ml bottle of double hydroalcoholic extraction of medicinal mushrooms
 

 We'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read through the project and would like to help make this adventure a reality!

Donations can also be made by cheque. 
If you have any questions about the crowdfunding campaign or the mushroom farm, send us an email at
lagrotteauxchampignons@proton.com