HAPPY NEW YEAR! A Recap of 2023

It seems when looking through our retrospectacles, 2023 all but came and went in a flash, and yet, when we look back, we are astounded at all of things we did and places we visited!

In January, we launched our most ambitious adventure schedule yet, with five mushroom adventures in Oaxaca, and co-creating the now legendary NAMA_MX23, a North American Mycologist joint project that was even beyond expectation in how beautiful of an experience it was. Zack also traveled to Oregon and California for the annual SOMA Mushroom Camp (he is leaving Oaxaca in a week to repeat the trip this year!).

In February, we hosted a couple private tours around Oaxaca for some lovely folks and worked in our garden and on landscaping of our rented piece of heaven here; and in March, we took two weeks, completed a weekend course on Syntropic Agroforestry on the coast of Oaxaca, and drove all around Chiapas to the border of Guatamala for Kim’s 40th birthday!

Photos, from top left clockwise: At Hierve de Agua, Oaxaca for a private Tour; The impossible waters of Cascada Chiffon, CHIS; Zakim at K'an K'an, a mushroom based joint in San Cristobal; Zakim at Tonalá, a Lacondon Jungle Mayan ruin.

In April, we left Oaxaca for a month, where Zack was Best Man in a wedding in San Diego, and then celebrated his birthday in the Hawaiian Islands!

We (finally!) contracted COVID in late May, likely our return flight—which didn’t stop Zack from finding the early season mushrooms—the only possible time in our busy summer we could have caught it! That was lucky! In June, Kim successfully ran her first Artisan Textile Intensive, an 11-day embroidery immersive with masters and teachers from all over Oaxaca!

Photos, from top left, clockwise: The Best Men (and the groom) in San Diego; Kim in Kuaui; Mariam and her family of master embroiderers; The edible collections during the 3rd Anniversary Party of Levadure de Olla.

In July it was on… and through the end of September, we successfully ran our six mushrooms trips in a blur of rain and mycelium, mycologists and new friends, profound depth and incredible adventures. Wow is all we can say, let’s do it again!

Just as that ended in late September we were off to Atlanta, GA for Kim’s mother’s 70th, where we were also blessed with mushrooms, family and time with the numerous nieces and nephews.

Young Hunter Sheridan, our nephew, founds a ton of mushrooms during our hikes; Debbie Snow, Kim's mom, turns 70!

We returned for a shortened month of October before launching ourselves on a 6-week road trip in our faithful Betty White that took us through eight Mexican States and eight states in the US. That was a wild ride… we saw so much family and so many friends, we dipped in hotsprings, we found copious mushrooms, and we brought back to Oaxaca the rest of our stuff from storage in Portland… some of which had been in boxes since pre-pandemic!

Photos, top left, clockwise: Nephew Bodhi in his favorite unicorn outfit finds a flower; Kim finds a huge Sparassis crispa, cauliflower mushroom; Don't look back: 8262 Miles round trip.

In December, Zack restarted his Sourdough Experimentation and suddenly we are swimming in Bagels as good as any we have had. We never knew a bagel could be used as currency, but we’ve never lived in a  bagel desert before!

After being so exhausted in 2022 from our wedding, we had a rather restful and quiet Holiday season with each other. This year, in contrast, we really dove into the holiday spirit: we got a Christmas tree, hung lights, hosted a Solstice party, attended several holiday parties, made cookies, wore ugly sweaters and enjoyed Oaxaca’s extensive holiday festivities, such as the Night of the Radishes and so many Christmas decorations and lights!

Clockwise from Top Left: Zack's first batch of Sourdough Bagels; Bagel Close Up; Zakim at the Neighborhood Holiday Party; The Night of the Radishes: a Chapulin.

Finally, last night (sunset of January 1st), in what seemed like a dream in itself, we joined our dear friend Samuel, who married us in 2022, in his community of Teotitlan del Valle for the most incredible and special gathering for the New Year we have ever been privy to witness.

Not only were we steeped in the Valley Zapotec (Beniza’a/Dixza) language everywhere—including the anouncements and presentations, but also throughout the massive crowd—but everyone builds tiny rocks houses (see Zack’s above), furnishes them with hopes & dreams for the new year and lights them with candles, amid amateur  and professional pyrotechnics, and a terrifying game where participants toss burning wood “balls” back and forth to one another… with their bare hands.

Because the event was spread over was two opposing the hills, the nighttime was magically lit with an incredible sea of hundreds and hundreds of families around their campfires, setting off fireworks and singing and laughing, apart and together, awaiting the moment the Pleiades constellation touches the sacred peak of their mountain, Picacho.

This is stuff dreams are made of… Oaxaca is endless.

Let the Adventures of 2024 Commence!

As it is tradition now to say: “We are planning our most ambitious adventure schedule yet”, and we could not be more excited to announce partnerships with incredible visiting mycologists and authors, such as Alissa Allen, returning for her third time to dye with us in the mountains of Oaxaca, and Christian Schwarz, a long-time associate, co-author of “Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast” and mycologist extraordinaire!

Our local partnerships with mycologists Iñaki Ibarrola and Ezequiel Cruz, mushroom chef master Ariadna Pinacho, guide and naturalist Celestino Mendez, the Mancomunados of the Sierra Norte, our new silk-producing friends in San Pedro Cajonos continue to blow our minds with their graciousness, ingenuity and love the natural world, not to mention their knowledge, artistry, and wisdom.

We have enjoyed such wonderful connections with fellow nature geeks, and each year with our adventures it just gets deeper and more immersive! We hope you will join us for the most in depth adventures one can cram into a short 7-day period. We are confident that your time with us will be life-changing in the most impactful way!

Join us in 2024!