Meet Charles Wagner of Myrkwood Mushrooms

Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Wagner.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up gardening, fishing, and birdwatching as a child. I remember my father telling me all the names of the trees, birds, and insects — how to plant a tomato up to its neck and how to skin a squirrel. My family comes from the land, descended from the sea and stones. I am so privileged to have experienced many remote and interesting places throughout my life and work such as Appalachia, the Mountain West, Alaska, Canada, the Great Lakes, Iceland, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Orkney, and the British Isles.

As such, I’ve always been interested in the land — medicinal plants, foraging mushrooms, growing food, and becoming more self-sufficient. My dream is that of the old mountain men — alone in nature, without the need for broken systems. The beauty and mystery of nature inspired me to pursue a path first in philosophy, then in plant science. Both these subjects dig deep into questions surrounding existence and survival.

I earned my Ph.D. in Plant Biology from NC State in 2020, graduating in the middle of a pandemic. As I am an ethnobotanist by training, it was not the best time to join the workforce with such a niche skillset. My dissertation focused on Medieval Celtic herbal medicine, so I ended up working as an arborist in the first year after graduating — hauling wood, using chainsaws, and climbing trees — an extremely valuable experience. With such an abundance of raw materials on the job, such as wood chips and logs, I thought that upcycling them as mushroom substrates would be an easy way to grow some food for myself. My girlfriend Katie and I had found such joy foraging for morels, chanterelles, lion’s mane, and other mushrooms during COVID that we wanted to have mushrooms around all the time.

After some success with growing blue oyster mushrooms at my house, I decided to create a small flyer and Instagram page advertising “mushroom gardens”. I reached out to local organizations such as Buddha Bee Apiary, Raleigh City Farm, Bull City Gardens, and Leaf & Limb for advice and opportunities. It cannot be overstated how much these people helped me start my small business. It started with one job a month. Then a few more. Installing a bed at the Raleigh City Farm. Doing small business events. Now we also sell live plants and mushroom supplies on Etsy and continue to do installations and events. After 6 months of being in business, I have seemingly beaten the 9-5 and we are in the green, with a small following!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I have had to up my game. Developing my skills as grower but also a communicator and entrepreneur. The soft skills seem to make up the bulk of striking out on your own.

Things have seemed to go organically, albeit at their own pace. I have found that if you encounter too much resistance to an idea or strategy, it is probably not the right course of action for the time. You really can’t rush it or force it.

All in all, my customers are great and very supportive — making the experience fulfilling and forgiving. If you are not helping people in some way, there is really no point.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Myrkwood Mushrooms?
Myrkwood (Old Norse, “dark wood” or “black forest”) is the wild, primitive forest of ancient Europe. In the Norse tradition, “crossing the Black Forest” came to signify penetrating the barriers between one world and another. In this sense, Myrkwood Mushrooms aims to connect customers with the joy and benefits of the natural world, right in your own backyard.

We specialize in installing and cultivating sustainable mushroom gardens — from simple mushroom logs and beds to large-scale custom permaculture projects. As far as we know, we are the only ones doing this sort of thing in the area. We can create mushroom compost for your garden as well! We use wild-collected specimens from local forests to create cultures for our mushroom beds. This means that the fungi are adapted to our climate and can work with the local ecosystem more effectively than something you would buy online.

The staple species of our mushroom beds is the oyster mushroom! We primarily use blue oyster for Fall, Winter, and Spring gardens. For Summer gardens we like to use golden and pink oyster. Oyster mushrooms have a high protein content and contain fiber, vitamins, minerals, and all the essential amino acids – as well as immunostimulatory beta-glucans and glycoproteins. They can grow up in as little as 6 weeks, producing pounds of mushrooms!

The big thing is that fungi are so vitally essential for the health of our planet. This includes soil health, the growth of plants, the decomposition of wood and other organic matter, recycling nutrients, and sequestering carbon. It has been suggested that 50-70% of carbon bound in the soil is actually due to fungi. A whopping 85% of all plant species require the presence of fungi to grow! Our mushroom beds and mushroom compost can reduce water and fertilizer usage in your garden by building the soil organically. We can use otherwise wasted space to sequester carbon and create habitats for insects, birds, and other biodiversity. All our beds and logs are made using recycled and sustainable materials.

If you want to do something to help the planet, grow mushrooms!

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I also work as an instructor for Cornell University teaching about medicinal plants and I am in the process of acquiring a farm.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.myrkwoodmushrooms.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myrkwood_mushrooms/
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/myrkwoodmushrooms