Hamilton's Mushrooms — Carbondale Arts

The CCD interviews local mycology entrepreneur, Hamilton Pevec on his creations in both mushrooms and filmmaking.

You’re a filmmaker and a mushroom farmer, both seem like they require a bit of science and a bit of art. And you just finished a new film about mushrooms. Is there any connection for you between the craft of filmmaking and growing mushrooms as a creative practice?

I used to be a mushroom farmer. I could not keep up with the demand so I started to source my mushrooms from people who could grow them much better and more efficiently than I could.

Yes the connection is in the processing from mushroom to extract. Why is a story like an extract? If I told you the whole story then every movie would be 16 hours along. The story needs to be distilled, to its fundamental parts in order to be well received. And by well received I mean “bio available”

In the same way a whole raw mushroom cannot be digested, neither can an unedited story be consumed. I must extract the active compounds from the mushroom to make it more useful to you as a functional medicinal mushroom in the same way that I must extract the best elements of story to make it consumable or relatable, some details are not required. A good film needs to have a clear beginning, middle and end. A good mushroom extract should contain bio available active compounds. Both of these “extraction processes” make for better end results.

How does your interest in mycology impact your relationship or how you experience and see the Roaring Fork Valley or places you visit?

Since I became interested in mycology I see the world differently. The framework through which I understand our ecosystems is now a fungal lens.

Mushrooms, and Fungi in particular are a great metaphor for how to be in the world. To build, and to connect, to process and to create fertile spaces by way of composing the old to make room for the new. For allowing life cycles to flourish because that in part is the definition of sustainability. Fungi are both mutualistic in co-creating and decomposing. They also create integral connections between life forms all over the planet. Teaching early plants how to have roots, and in becoming the back bone/trunk of the tree of life on earth.

Fungi are everywhere and always. We could not exist without them in us and all around us. They control our inner micro biome, and our outer macro biome. Mushrooms release spores that travel into the atmosphere (50 million tons a year) ; those spores have sugars on the outer surface that attract water molecules. Those molecules collect on spores and form clouds. Those clouds produce rain, simultaneously spreading those spores around and to the earth while activating the mycelium again to produce more fruit bodies and closing the loop. There is an argument that in this way fungi control the weather. or, co evolved with the weather.

In the RFV I can imagine inoculating and nurturing indigenous species of fungi to help create more rain in our area. Because we can always use more rain. Even in our islands of moisture we call mountains. There is a clear and proven path to use fungi to do fire mitigation and reduce the risk of catastrophe in our area. Fungi hold solutions to many of humanity's problems.

Is there an aspect of mycology or the work that you do that you feel is under-appreciated by the general public?

There is so much about Fungi and their role in our lives that goes unnoticed and under appreciated. They operate out of sight, underground and microscopic. Mushrooms that we can see, the reproductive fruit of the mycelium are here today and gone tomorrow. Fruiting with the rain and disappearing only after a few days or weeks. So they are a mysterious force that is difficult for most people to grasp literally and figuratively. However, in contrast, fungi are fundamental to our wellness and place on earth. There is much to learn and share, mycology is a science with a very large frontier and many wings. We need many more people to get into the field to accelerate our understanding of these amazing organisms.

Where do you find your inspiration for the work you do?

I find inspiration in people. Every good story needs a person with an emotional arc and for the audience to witness their evolution. If we can watch people change and witness the elements that incite change we can better empathize and relate to those people and those stories. We want to see ourselves. For artwork to have an emotional impact on me, on some level, I need to see myself in the art. Stories are a pretty direct way to create that experience for an audience. This is partially why movies are such an effective art form. A tool and a toy. A place we can escape and be someone else, live another life, die another day.

I am very much inspired by the ever changing entanglement of ecosystems as the foundation of all. The animate everything. I am fascinated by coevolution. I look at a particular mushroom and I can see its relationship to the people who hunt it. Why do they hunt it, for food, for medicine, for livelihood? Its relationship to the ecology. Is it connecting by way of mycorrhizal relationships to specific trees or is it decomposing as a brown rot fungus laying the groundwork for other organisms to thrive. Each mushroom has a web of interwoven relationships and roles. This is what my documentary series is about.

What is the best part of doing this work in Carbondale or the Roaring Fork Valley?

The best part of doing this work in RFV is practical. It is the economy of this place. There is enough concentrated wealth for artists to be artists. If you are good at what you do, you can make a living doing it here in the RFV. But that doest mean you will be able to live! Since housing is a crisis situation.

There is so much support for artists here, we have a community that wants art to thrive. The beautiful mountains, rivers, lakes and valleys are a major part of my creative process and inspiration. We are lucky to live in such a place.

Where can we find your products, projects and more information about Hamilton's Mushrooms?

You can find my organic medicinal mushroom extract products on my website hamiltonsmushrooms.com and on amazon.com

My films are available via YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. My latest film AZURESCENS: Through A Blue Lens is part of the 3rd annual Fungi Film Festival and can be seen VOD through fungifilmfest.com

I am also hosting a live in person screening of FFF on December 20th 7pm at The Launchpad in Carbondale, and will be selling some of my extracts and other products at the Pop-Up Holiday Farmer’s Market, also at the Launchpad this weekend, December 17-18.

You can sign up for my email list on my website and receive content drops, discount codes and news about all the film, events, mycology and other cool things we are doing to spread the good word of the fungi.