Live From Ojai Mushroom Summit

The Ojai Mushroom Summit is in full swing — I’ve been out here on a 40 acre private mountaintop retreat in Southern California over the last week consorting with some of the most heart-centered and accomplished people in the mushroom industry.

Clocking in at a full week of festivities in the bohemian ranch town between LA and Santa Barbara, highlights include a sensational 20 course kojified haute cuisine tasting from Chef Wade Fox, a hands on mushroom cultivation workshop where attendees prepared monotubs with pre-sterilized substrate and inoculated Reishi grain bags, a mycomaterials workshop by Aixarret Hernandez of Myceliumatters, nightly campfire shenanigans with mushroom-infused marshmallows to make s’mores with, and a hands on psychoactive cactus 🌵 workshop with rare cuts from across the Lophophora and Echinopsis varieties with analytical analysis of the different alkaloids provided by Chris Pauli of Tryptomics today

I hosted a live Mycopreneur Incubator on stage yesterday at the Ojai Underground Theater, interviewing three mushroom entrepreneurs back to back for the audience. These are just a few of the highlights, and there’s three more full days of programming. I’ve also been fortunate to emcee parts of the event - I hit ‘em with a fact I recently discovered about Ojai: It’s actually a Chumash word from the original indigenous inhabitants of this land which means ‘Rich Hippies’

The summit is primarily being hosted at the extraordinary Topa Institute, a 40 acre private mountaintop reserve and retreat center with a 50 year history that has hosted many delegations of influential artists and culture makers.

Last night I made a quick detour to Las Vegas today to debate Vice Media and Proud Boys Co-Founder Gavin McInnes live on the Digital Social Hour Podcast hosted by Sean Kelly, a show which has peaked at the #1 ranked Business Podcast in the world on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I don’t exactly identify as a ‘Liberal’, but I suppose the producers need to fit the show description into a nice, neat little controversial framing to maximize impact.

I’m headed Back to the summit tomorrow to keep the mushroom mojo dialed in and then taking the stage at the historic Ojai Playhouse for a Saturday night comedy show with the hilarious Robert Johnson of Mycroboost functional mushrooms.

The Ojai Mushroom summit is an extraordinary event, hats off to the organizer Omar Dasco-Uribe and team. Pound for pound this event is punching wayyy above its weight class. Kudos to the team and everyone out here.

In case you missed it, I made my writing debut for Playboy last week with an interview of Jackass and Viva La Bam icon Bam Margera. We discussed his life post television shows, including a series of guided psychedelic trips which helped him break free from a decade plus long downward spiral that saw him land in 13 rehab centers back to back for 90 days each and navigate a protracted series of legal battles which ultimately led to his firing from Jackass.

I can now say I’ve signed a contract with Playboy, how about that? Maybe next I’ll get the centerfold.

Today I published a new Mycopreneur Podcast episode with international DJ Mark Farina discussing the 35th anniversary of his Mushroom Jazz series — Mark has perennially been ranked as one of the top DJ’s in the world by various industry sources and he continues to tour internationally, with an upcoming stop in Miami on Halloween at ZeyZey with Nutritious

You can listen to the podcast here, which will be of particular interest to musicphiles and those interested in the intersection of mushrooms and music.

Next week I’m off to Austin for two events, the first being the Microdosing Summit hosted by the Microdosing Collective and featuring Hamilton Morris, Leonard Pickard, MAPS Co-Executive Director Ismail Ali, etc. while being hosted by SuperMush Founder Alli Schaper and co.

I’m doing a comedy performance titled ‘That Wasn’t A Microdose: Laughs With Dennis Walker’

Then the following day on October 22 I’ve got an another event with Texans For Greater Mental Health alongside my friends Zach Leary and host Mary Olivar

I wouldn’t be able to do these kinds of events and run the Mycopreneur Podcast, Newsletter, and weekly Incubator consistently week in and week out without support from Mycopreneur partners like Full Canopy Genetics and Real Mushrooms, which also respectively craft industry-leading mushroom products in their separate niches, so if you value this community and the offerings tied to it, I encourage you to visit both of their sites and make their products a part of your lifestyle.

I also have limited openings to work with other individuals and companies on a case by case basis, with consistent success helping to shape mushroom industry narratives at the highest level with premium features and brand-focused stories in publications like Wired, Rolling Stone, Vice, Playboy, High Times, Los Angeles Times and other international platforms alongside consistent independent press collectively reaching tens of millions of people around the world in addition to getting my colleagues linked up with top international conference speaking opportunities, podcast placements, etc. And that’s not even to mention the turnkey Mycopreneur Podcast, Newsletter, and Incubator features that have helped launch and solidify numerous careers and brand reputations in the global mushroom space.

Hit me up if you’re interested in collaborating.

Time to go get ready for this debate with Gavin McInnes, thanks for reading the Mycopreneur Newsletter and go check out today;s podcast with Mark Farina

Dennis