Throughout most of her day-to-day life, Rachel Zoller is a mom, an office administrator, and an educator. But when she heads off into the fields and woodlands of North America she becomes “Yellow Elanor,” a specialist in all things fungi related.
Rachel holds out a black cup fungus she found during our hike in the woods.
Through workshops and – especially – her YouTube channel and Instagram account, “Elanor” provides detailed information about edible and medicinal mushrooms, while also giving a clear heads up on which species of fungi out there might make you sick, or are even deadly poisonous.
Just a few weeks back, Rachel/Elanor and I headed up a mountainous trail on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge, where we hunted for mushrooms and talked about… Well… About a wide variety of mushroom related topics.
This was a really fun episode to make AND a physically challenging episode to record: myself, I was wearing about 20 pounds of audio gear strapped to my body as I huffed and puffed up the mountain trail.
Oh! And do be sure to listen all the way through to the very end, where there’s a last minute mushroom encounter that… That… Well, it’s hard to describe… But it’s an entertaining encounter.
If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to leave a review on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever/however you listen to podcasts.
Lastly, here are few quick highlights from the interview, along with links to books and outside resources mentioned.
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• Snazzy guitar music (played by Matt) – 00:00:00
• Introduction of the show and Rachel – 00:00:10
• “Rachel, What’s your story?” – 00:00:50
• “Where are we?” – 00:01:30
• “How did Rachel become Yellow Elanor?” – 00:02:15
• “Are you a Lord of the Rings fan?” – 00:06:45
J.R.R. Tolkien – “Lord of the Rings Trilogy + The Hobbit“
• “A basic cup fungus…” – 00:08:45
• “What is the proper pronunciation of ‘fungi’?” – 00:09:10
• “You should never eat mushrooms raw!” – 00:11:05
• “Always smell your mushrooms!” – 00:12:00
Rachel/”Elanor” takes a moment to give a “smell test” to a small cluster of mushrooms she found during our hike
• “I can’t respond: ‘I do mushrooms!'” – 00:21:10
• “What are mushroom people like?” – 00:26:15
• “What are some books that everyone should read?”
Robin Wall Kimmerer – “Braiding Sweetgrass” – 00:39:35
Brené Brown – “Daring Greatly” – 00:40:45
• “What aspect of our culture seems normal today, but a generation or two from now will seem batshit crazy?” – 00:41:00
• “What’s something that you believe to be absolutely true, but your friends and family think is totally nuts?” – 00:42:35
• “How can people find you on social media?” – 00:43:35
• “If you’re a science nerd, get on iNaturalist!” – 00:44:15
• “That looks like Satan’s Dildo!” – 00:44:35
A pair of helvella mushrooms found in the woods. These are commonly called “Elfin Saddles,” though I much prefer the name “Satan’s Dildo.”
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Equipment used to record this episode: