Counter Culture Labs

Developing the first open source protocol to produce insulin simply and economically in addition to open source insulin production hardware. Our work may serve as a basis for generic production of this life-saving drug and provide a firmer foundation for continued research into improved versions of insulin.

Help make affordable insulin available to millions worldwide. Go to the Open Insulin website at https://openinsulin.org/donate/ and make a donation to our life saving humanitarian effort. Join us every Sunday on Jitsi video conferencing.

This Series of in person workshops will be an comprehensive way to explore mushroom cultivation and wild mushrooms. We'll meet for workshops Monday from 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM and field trip on Saturdays later in the series. Each meet up in the series covers a different topic. Participants are asked to provide their Covid vaccination record and to wear a mask indoors. Meetups are scheduled for 8/21, 8/28, 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 9/25

This week 8/21, we will focus on cloning mushrooms on agar petri plates.
Workshops in this series:

1. Workshop Title: Start mycelium on gel media to grow mycelium using fresh mushrooms, which in turn is used to grow mushrooms or spawn on sterile grain.
   August 21, 2023, Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30
2. Workshop Title: Introduction to Kingdom Fungi
   August 28, 2023, Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 8/24/23]
3. Workshop Title: Start learning how to identify mushrooms September 4, 2023, Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 9/3/23]
4. Workshop Title: Use a microscope to observe mushroom spores and other microscopic features of fungi needed for identification.
   Space is limited to five because there are 5 microscopes available.
   September 11, 2023, Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 9/9/23]
5. Workshop Title: Use culture growing in liquid culture to inoculate sterile grain mix to create spawn for later use. September 25, 2023 Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 9/24/23]
6. Workshop Title: Use fully colonized spawn to innoculate a sawdust mix, or from gel media culture to transfer/inoculate pasturized sawdust mixture. October 2, 2023 Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 10/1/23]
7. Workshop Title: Learn requirements to prepare for mushroom fruiting. How to set up a fruiting system to manage humidify and temperature to encourage mushrooms to form. October 9, 2023 Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 10/8/23]
8. Workshop Title: Learn how to collect mushrooms, make spore prints, cook, dry and voucher collections. Use iNaturalist to record your observations. October 16, Wednesday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 10/15/23]
9. Workshop Title: Take a walk to gather field collections of mushrooms. Use iNaturalist to record your observations. October 23, Saturday 10:00 to 1:00. Location and instructions TBA following registration. Children over 6 years old are welcome with an adult chaperone.
10. Workshop Title: Use mushrooms or lichen to dye natural fiber products. October 30, 2023, Saturday 10:00 to 1:00. Note: Bring your dry animal fiber, cloth or yarn already prepared in advance using a mordant for the fiber before dying. We will have the dye bath ready to use at CCL. Instructions will follow your registration on October 27, 2023.
11. Workshop Title: Group goes to the woods to foray; walk in a wild place to hunt for fungi and explore and identify our finds. If we find mushrooms for food or dye we will bring these back to use later in the lab. November 11, 2023 Saturday Morning 10 AM to 1:00 PM [registration closes on 11/08] Instructions to location will follow registration on November 09, 2023.

This Series of in-person workshops will be a comprehensive way to explore mushroom cultivation and wild mushrooms. We'll meet for workshops Monday from 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM and field trips on Saturdays after rains start in the series. Each meet-up in the series covers a different topic. Participants are asked to provide their Covid vaccination record. Meetups are scheduled for the remaining workshops are scheduled for 9/25, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30, 2023. The series will start again in November.

These workshops are co-sponsored by Bay Area Applied Mycology and Counter Culture Labs.
Suggested donation is $10.00 using meetup.com to register or contribute in person at the lab.
Some workshops have a limit of 12 so register in advance.
https://www.meetup.com/counter-culture-labs/events/
On going Workshops in this series:

***September 25, 2023, Workshop Title: Start mycelium on gel media to grow mycelium using fresh mushrooms, which in turn is used to grow mushrooms or spawn on sterile grain.
use. September 25, 2023, Monday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 9/24/23]
***October 2, 2023, DARK, or Open Lab with Dave Chamberlain and KO
***October 9, 2023, Open Lab with Theresa Halula and KO
***October 16, 2023, Workshop Title: Pray for rain. Learn how to collect mushrooms, make spore prints, cook, dry and voucher collections. Use iNaturalist to record your observations. October 16, Monday 3:30 to 6:30 [registration closes on 10/15/23]
***October 23, 2023 Workshop Title: Extract DNA from mushroom body. Prepare for sequencing the ITS gene region.
***October 30, 2023 Workshop Title: Use mushrooms or lichen to dye natural fiber products. October 30, 2023, Saturday 10:00 to 1:00. Note: Bring your dry animal fiber, cloth or yarn already prepared in advance using a mordant for the fiber before dying. We will have the dye bath ready to use at CCL. Instructions will follow your registration on October 27, 2023. Limit 12 participants